A Robinson R22 helicopter was converted by UAVOS to an unmanned drone. UAVOS— which specializes in the design, development and manufacturing of unmanned vehicles and autopilot systems — successfully completed in-air programmed missions with the unmanned helicopter. The first flight this spring of the modernized helicopter lasted more than one hour and was performed in a fully self-piloted mode, reaching an altitude of up …
SpaceX goes big for launch
SpaceX, the rocket company founded by Elon Musk, successfully launched in May its first five dozen Starlink telecommunications satellites. This is the first step in the Starlink project, which aims to create an ultra-fast global internet service. SpaceX broadcast the inaugural Starlink mission, which launched aboard a Falcon 9 rocket at 10:30 p.m. ET. A little more than an hour after liftoff, …
Amazon’s new transforming Prime Air delivery drone
Amazon has unveiled the latest version of its Prime Air delivery drone, a hybrid aircraft that’s capable of vertical takeoff and landing as well as sustained forward flight. The company says it wants to launch a delivery service using the drone in “the coming months,” but has not said where this might take place or how many customers it might cover. …
Introducing Scale-Up NZ: The gateway to innovation ecosystem
A free online platform has just been launched to connect New Zealand businesses with funders, incubators, multinationals and other collaborators. Scale-Up NZ, from Callaghan Innovation, shines a light on our thriving innovation ecosystem.It delivers accurate insights on ambitious, innovative New Zealand companies, removing information gaps that too often prevent our businesses from achieving their potential. The late physicist and entrepreneur …
World-First Approval For Drone Deliveries Of Food And Medicine In Australia
Google’s parent company has launched a world-first commercial air delivery business in Canberra’s north, delivering gelato and golfing equipment by drone directly to homes. Wing, run by Google’s overarching company Alphabet, has been trialling delivering burritos, coffee and medication by drone in a suburb on the fringes of Canberra for a year. For months, a depot in Canberra’s industrial suburb …
Trimble Unveils Next-gen Mixed-reality Device with Microsoft HoloLens 2
Trimble has announced a new wearable hard hat compatible device that enables workers in safety-controlled environments to access holographic information on the worksite—the Trimble® XR10 with HoloLens 2. In addition, an expanded set of Trimble software and services will be available to provide field-oriented workflows that leverage constructible 3D models and mixed reality to solve daily work tasks. The announcement …
Drone sets a new world record
During FPT Industrial’s Tech day, FPT Industrial and Forvola broke the Guinness World Record for the heaviest payload lifted by a drone. With 16 propellers giving it enough oomph to lift hefty objects, Forvola’s megadrone lifted a 5 ft. box of FPT Industrial spare parts that weighed in at about 220 lbs. The drone held this weight for more than …
Delair Launches Aerial Intelligence Platform
Delair, a leading supplier of commercial drone solutions, has unveiled Delair Aerial Intelligence, a comprehensive platform for converting drone-based images into actionable business insights. The new cloud-based solution provides a complete integrated workflow to manage, analyse and share data, streamlining the process for unlocking the true potential of aerial surveying. Industry-optimised analytics for a wide range of specific industries and …
Drone delivery takes off in Australia
At Amsterdam Drone Week, James Burgess of Google X spinoff Wing showed a system of drone delivery that’s made over 2500 customer flights in a test outside of Canberra, Australia. In the last nine months, Wing – graduated from Project X and now independent under parent company Alphabet – has worked on a widespread test of drone delivery in a …
DroneSeed automating tree planting
Wildfires are consuming North American forests and grasslands faster than we can replace them. It’s a vicious cycle of destruction and inadequate restoration rooted, so to speak, in decades of neglect of the institutions and technologies needed to keep these environments healthy. DroneSeed is a Seattle-based start-up that aims to combat this growing problem with a modern toolkit that scales: …