Autonomous

It goes without saying that the neutralizing of underwater mines is a risky task – definitely one that you'd avoid sending a scuba diver to do, if at all possible. That's why Pittsburgh-based RE2 Robotics is designing a robotic system to do the job.

The Royal Navy has released an outline of its vision of how its Future Autonomous Fleet will operate over the next half century, including green aircraft carriers, underwater command centers, and robotic warships.

Autonomous vehicles operate in a complex environment, and recognizing traffic signs is an important part of that. A new microstructured material reflects light in rainbow rings, which can make traffic signs easier for computer vision systems to read.

While the inspection of railway tracks is an important task, such inspections have to be performed when no trains are nearby. The new rail-riding Staaker BG-300 Railway Drone offers an alternative, as it just flies off the tracks as trains approach.

Alphabet-owned Waymo is looking to gain a strong foothold in the nascent autonomous freight industry, today announcing plans to build a dedicated hub for its self-driving trucks in the state of Texas.

General Atomic Aeronautical Systems has announced that an Avenger drone managed to autonomously track and follow targets for the first time using a Lockheed Martin Legion Pod, which uses an infrared search and track system, rather than radar.

A retractable hard-top is standard fare, but how about a retractable body shell? That's what Audi explores with the new Skysphere concept, an e-roadster that transitions between autonomous touring and hard-nosed sports driving by adjusting in length.

UK startup Arrival has inched closer to what it sees as the future of safer, cleaner urban deliveries, carrying out a fully autonomous demonstration at a local parcel depot for the first time and now setting its sights on public road testing.

IBM's Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS400) has set sail across the Atlantic ocean without a crew or human control. The autonomous trimaran left Plymouth, England and en route to Plymouth, Massachusetts on a journey expected to take about three weeks.

Back in January, we covered an autonomous plastic trash collector called Clearbot that was designed to remove waste from local waterways. Now the startup behind the project has partnered with gaming titan Razer for an updated design.

Startup Carbon Robotics has wheeled out an autonomous machine for farmers that has weeds in its cross hairs, using a combination of computer vision and high-powered lasers to comb fields and take out thousands of the pesky plants an hour.

While most of us can't afford to pay a person to patrol our home at night, it would still be nice to know that something was checking up on stuff as we slept. That's where Moorebot's Scout robot is designed to come in.