Drones

USA, Russia and China next generation fighters will have Photonic radar for long range detection of stealth planes

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Russia, China and the USA will have ultra-high resolution photonic radar on future planes to spot and target stealth fighters. Russia has started to invest in military applications of photonic radar technology. The Pentagon has a lead with photonic radar technology. The Pentagon has several photonics-based technology development program underway for radars, signals intelligence and …

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Claimed attack on Venezuela Madura will be justification for a purge

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Firefighters say the “claimed assassination drone attack” was actually a gas tank explosion inside an apartment. President Maduro was giving a live televised speech in the capital city of Caracas on Saturday when, a government spokesman said, explosive-carrying drones went off near the president. Communications Minister Jorge Rodríguez called the incident an “attack” on the …

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China also making large low-cost robotic submarine drones

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China is developing large, smart and relatively low-cost unmanned submarines according to scientists involved in artificial intelligence (AI) projects. These robotic submarines are expected to be deployed in the early 2020s. The AI-powered subs are expected to be vastly larger than existing torpedo sized robotic underwater drones. Torpedos are about 12 feet (4 meters long). …

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DARPA looks to win the future by making drone swarms and out-building China

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DARPA has admitted that stealth technology has reached its limit and the US may no longer be able to asset air dominance against China and Russia. DARPA wants to accomplish its goal without air superiority. DARPA wants to use a combination of overwhelming performance (e.g. hypersonics) and overwhelming numbers (e.g. swarming low-cost weapons). They want …

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Doubling or tripling the pace of robotics and AI should not cause mass unemployment

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Productivity growth (a.k.a. “automation”) has been very weak for the last decade, averaging just over 1.0 percent annually. The Congressional Budget Office is only forecasting 1.8% per year productivity growth. Productivity growth averaged 3.0% annually from 1947 to 1973 which had low unemployment and rapid wage growth. Tripling the robots in manufacturing would be the …

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Google Alphabet’s newest Other Bets are Loon and Wing

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Loon (stratospheric balloon internet) and Wing (drone delivery) are graduating Google’s X-lab to become two new independent businesses within Alphabet. Loon will work with mobile network operators globally to bring internet access to unconnected and under-connected people around the world. Wing is building a drone delivery system to improve the speed, cost, and environmental impact …

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Liquid Piston gets more DARPA funding for 30KW engine 30 times smaller than todays engines

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DARPA has awarded LiquidPiston an additional $2.5 million to continue development of its 30kW X4 rotary diesel engine prototype, bringing DARPA’s total funding of the engine technology to $6 million. When development of the fully packaged engine is complete, the 30kW X4 engine is expected to weigh just 30lbs and fit into a 10” box, …

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Drones spreading millions of sterile mosquitos to combat Zika and other diseases

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Aedes mosquitos, responsible for the spread of diseases like Zika, dengue and yellow fever, do not disperse for more than 100 meters in their lifetime. They are also fragile, and high-altitude releases by airplanes can damage their wings and legs. Drones are being used to spread millions of sterile mosquitos a week. Sterile mosquitos were …

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