Tag: Drone

Developed by researchers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the waterproof Mirs-X autonomous drone is capable of both flying AND swimming underwater using its same four rotors for propulsion. It positions itself vertically to swim up or down and tilts itself horizontally to swim side to side or at an angle.

Appropriately piloted by a man dressed as Elvis, the Ryse Recon electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) craft was recently flown over the old Las Vegas strip. And, because the hexacopter is classified as an ultralight aircraft, it doesn’t require a pilot’s license to fly.

Clearly unafraid to utilize the latest in flying technology, Santa is experimenting with delivering presents this year via a drone disguised as his sleigh and reindeer. Available from Firebox, the Flying Santa Drone is a radio-controlled drone featuring the likeness of Santa and four of his reindeer.

Turning unwanted drone surveillance into an impromptu surprise party, the US Department of Defense’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is developing a new anti-drone countermeasure that fires confetti-like streamers to entangle a spy-copter’s rotors, bringing it back down to earth like a drone-shaped rock.

Putting out fires in high-rise buildings can pose all kinds of challenges. Beyond using sprinklers inside of the building, it can be very difficult for firefighting equipment to reach floors that are taller than the pressurized fire hoses.

If you grew up any time in the latter half of the 20th century or later, you’ve been promised that flying cars (and personal jetpacks) would someday take to the skies on a regular basis. While there certainly have been a number of concepts and prototypes over the years, living like the Jetsons has yet to materialize.

Daniel Riley of Stratus Productions built a super bright 1,000W LED flashlight. Then, he did what any inventive geek would – he managed to mount it to a powerful Freefly Alta drone. The result is a flying machine that can crank out some truly breathtaking aerial effects.

Amazon has been working on delivery by drone for a while now. And now the world’s largest online retailer has revealed its latest drone variant. The newly-revealed Amazon Prime Air delivery drone flies using a similar approach to VTOL aircraft, taking off and landing vertically, but orienting itself horizontally once airborne.

Drone designer Adam Woodworth has created some cool drones in the past like Imperial Star Destroyers for instance, but this one is even better: a giant LEGO helicopter. It looks like it came out of a genuine LEGO set, except it’s much bigger.

Like bugs? The Robo Firefly is being called the first insect-like consumer drone. So if you have ever dreamed of piloting your very own insect in the skies, this is your chance. This flying critter is modeled after an insect, so this doesn’t make a lot of noise when it flies.

If you aren’t afraid of drone attacks on humans in the near future, you should be. And if your plan was to simply knock them out of the sky, well, forget that. Drones can now dodge balls that are thrown at them.

Typically, when you use a life preserver, you just throw it to the man overboard and hope for the best. If you suck at throwing, the person being rescued has to swim further to get to the life preserver, and that can put them in danger for longer.

Russian arms manufacturer Almaz-Ante has a quirky looking flying machine that can actually fire rounds of ammo. The “experimental prototype combat drones violator” is a drone, a rifle, offering up its brand of death from above.

It looks like a UFO, but the conceptual ‘Feuxzy‘ drone has very earthly origins. It was created as a solution to keep forest fires at bay in rural areas and prevent them from getting out of control.

Generally speaking, drones have either vertical takeoff capabilities or they need a runway. However, a South African startup has a better way. Their solution is to add some legs to their drone. The Passerine Sparrow Jumper has fixed wings and legs and feet for takeoff and landing.

DJI is a maker of all sorts of slick drones that are meant for the series amateur or pro photographer wanting images from the sky. At CES 2019 DJI has announced a new Smart Remote controller with an integrated display.