Lifeboat Foundation

After less than eight months of development, the algorithms are helping intel analysts exploit drone video over the battlefield.

Earlier this month at an undisclosed location in the Middle East, computers using special algorithms helped intelligence analysts identify objects in a video feed from a small ScanEagle drone over the battlefield.

A few days into the trials, the computer identified objects — people, cars, types of building — correctly about 60 percent of the time. Just over a week on the job — and a handful of on-the-fly software updates later — the machine’s accuracy improved to around 80 percent. Next month, when its creators send the technology back to war with more software and hardware updates, they believe it will become even more accurate.

Continue reading “The Pentagon’s New Artificial Intelligence Is Already Hunting Terrorists” »

https://youtube.com/watch?v=EaJ1RiQSt0g

From 2008–2011, Sandia National Labs and Northrop Grumman designed nuclear drones that would be able to fly for many months.

China has put $3.3 billion into making new highly compact nuclear reactors which would also use for nuclear powered drones.

Continue reading “Nuclear drones are not technically challenging and could fly for years” »

after two years of development in a secret location in sydney, australian start-up alauda reveals the airspeeder mark 1, a new class of airborne racing vehicle – a flying car that could predict the future of sports. the company’s turning to kickstarter to not only help build the final product but the beginnings of a community that could usher in a new age of sport.

the body is modelled after a 1960’s Formula V images courtesy of alauda.

coining it ‘airspeeder sport’, the alauda is hoping to push the technology to the mainstream whilst looking ahead to their first official test race which will see two of their vehicles racing against one another next year. in the lead-up alauda has test raced with drones, developing a flight-control system before creating their much larger ‘speeders’.

Continue reading “World’s First Flying Car Race Could Predict The Future of Sports” »

This cyborg dragonfly is half insect half drone.

I saw hundreds of homes in one subdivision destroyed (8900 homes were destroyed in total in the fires). We must seek out better technological solutions to stop wildfires in California. Lives are at risk and hundreds of billions of dollars are at stake. The state is getting drier, and innovative technologies—especially drone surveillance—can help spot fires before they get too large to easily contain. AI can also tell us, based on weather conditions, where fire protection resources and first responders should be stationed. Quickly putting out fires that do occur is the key to protecting the state.

Good idea, they could use the help!!

Updated at 5 p.m. ET

Continue reading “FAA Approves Drone As ‘Cell Phone Tower In The Sky’ For Puerto Rico” »

As if the mere phrase “killer robots” weren’t scary enough, AI researchers and policy advocates have put together a video that combines present-tense AI and drone technologies with future-tense nightmares.

The disturbing seven-minute movie is being released to coincide with a pitch being made on Monday in Geneva during talks relating to the U.N. Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, or CCW.

And it is on Singles’ Day, automation, robots, AI and machine learning will be widely applied to all aspects of the annual shopping ritual, right from product selection to delivery.

This year’s November 11 shopping ritual will engage a recommendation algorithm, robots, and chatbots capable of understanding human emotion.

China’s heaviest cargo unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) AT200 prepares for its maiden flight in Neifu Airport in Pucheng, northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, Oct. 26, 2017. China’s heaviest cargo unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) completed its maiden flight in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province Thursday. With a maximum take-off weight of around 3.4 tonnes and a payload of 1.5 tonnes, the AT200 could be one of the world’s most powerful civilian UAVs. (Xinhua)

BEIJING, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) — China’s heaviest cargo unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) completed its maiden flight in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province Thursday.

The AT200 drone, jointly developed by several research institutes and companies, made a successful 26-minute maiden flight, according the Institute of Engineering Thermophysics.