by Scott Kesselman

A roundup of noteworthy news in the unmanned systems and robotics world this week, including robot-human jam sessions, unmanned aircraft firsts and widespread approval for driverless car testing in the Netherlands.



Skymatcis became the first to fly an unmanned aircraft commercially in downtown Edmonton, Canada, gathering footage of two construction site projects for Dialogue Design. (Global News)



Future Aerial Innovations is working with engineering consultants Xeiad in Bristol, U.K., to perform a detailed survey of two kilometers of a cliff face for the city council, cutting down on the dangers and costs of this reoccurring inspection project. (Bristol Post)



Musical machines at Georgia Institute of Technology have achieved autonomous improvisation and path planning to jam with a live musician. (New Scientist)



The Dutch infrastructure and environment ministry agreed to enable large-scale testing of driverless cars in the Netherlands. (Phys.org)



Researchers in New Zealand have developed a robotic device that can accurately predict if someone will have a stroke and may have implications in earthquake predictions as well. (The New Zealand Herald)



Team Indus out of Bengaluru, India, won a $1 million prize from Google’s Lunar Xprize to land a robot on the moon, travel 500 meters and send data back to Earth. (The Economic Times)



Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory are developing an unmanned helicopter designed to take off and land from the 2020 Mars rover to help scientists plan longer daily travel routes. (Computer World)

<< Back to the News