Mesodyne, a company that has developed a power generator for unmanned systems that require high endurance, was named the winner of the
Show Daily (XPO 2020)
Show Daily (XPO 2020)
Dr. Cara LaPointe provides an overview of Assured Autonomy, the theme of Xponential 2021
As autonomy and artificial intelligence continue to be integrated into systems across society, making sure these systems work properly continues to be of the utmost importance.
“It’s really important to make sure these systems work like they’re supposed to, but it can be really hard,” says Dr. Cara LaPointe, co-director, Institute for Assured Autonomy, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.
The goal is to reach a point of assured autonomy, where people can be confident that the autonomous systems around them are, and will, operate the way they are designed to. Reaching this point requires making sure that these systems are safe, secure, resilient and capable of operating within an ecosystem alongside humans and other technologies.
The winners of the 2020 XCELLENCE Humanitarian and Public Safety Awards
The winners of the 2020 XCELLENCE Humanitarian and Public Safety Awards, sponsored by DJI, were announced on Thursday, Oct. 8.
The winners in the Humanitarian Project/Program category are Nepal Flying Labs for its Drones Optimized Therapy Systems, the UMD UAS Test Site for its Human Organ Transplant Delivery UAS program, and WildTrack for its Footprint Identification Technique (FIT).
The winners in the Public Safety Project/Program category are the Chula Vista Police Department for its Drone as a First Responder (DFR) Program, DRONERESPONDERS for its DRONERESPONDERS Public Safety Alliance, and Verity for its efforts to make drones safer with its Failsafe by Verity.
Industry, Navy collaborating to develop highly capable unmanned and autonomous surface ships
When it comes to unmanned and autonomous surface ships, the U.S. Navy will have “a lot” of them “very soon,” says Craig Perciavalle, president of global ship builder and defense prime contractor Austal USA.
“As we talk about autonomy, one thing’s for sure: it’s certainly not a question now if the Navy will have unmanned or autonomous surface ships in the fleet,” Perciavalle says during a session titled “Designing & Constructing Autonomous Naval Ships.” “It’s more a question of when and how many.”
As the Secretary of Defense and the Navy have made it clear that unmanned and autonomous vessels are the future of the Navy, the efforts to bring that vision to reality sooner than later have become a priority.
Boston Dynamics leverages cognitive and athletic intelligence to create human-like robots
Known for its advanced robots such as the BigDog, Atlas, Spot and Handle, Boston Dynamics leverages a combination of cognitive and athletic intelligence to enable its robots to handle all types of tasks.
According to Dr. Marc Raibert, the founder and chairman of Boston Dynamics, cognitive intelligence has to do with everything going on inside the head that helps you perform tasks like planning out what you're going do, solving problems, and understanding communications with other people.
The winners of the 2020 AUVSI Chapter/Member of the Year Awards
The winners of the 2020 AUVSI Chapter/Member of the Year Awards were announced on Wednesday, Oct. 7.
AUVSI Cascade was named the Chapter of the Year. Adrian Doko of the AUVSI Lone Star chapter was named Chapter Leader of the Year.
AUVSI North Carolina took home two awards, including the award for Chapter Communications, as well as the award for Chapter Recruitment. AUVSI Indiana won the award for Chapter Development.
IQ Motion Control launches latest motor module for UAS and robotics
IQ Motion Control, a tech startup that delivers high performance motor modules for commercial UAS and robotics applications, announced the launch of its latest motor module, the Vertiq 6806, on Tuesday, Oct. 6. The first commercial-grade UAS and robotics module in its class, the Vertiq 6806, which IQ is presenting during Xponential, will allow users to leverage IQ’s advanced calibration and control software in a more powerful package.
“IQ Motion Control’s launch of the Vertiq 6806 is the next step in bringing the most advanced motor control technology to commercial UAVs and robotics devices,” the company says.
The winners of the 2020 XCELLENCE Awards
Xponential 2020 host DanRam announced the winners of the 2020 XCELLENCE Awards on Tuesday, Oct. 6.
There were five categories under the Technology & Innovation umbrella. In the category of services, InNovo Partners LLC took first place for its iPaaS - InNovo Platform as a Service, while SqwaQ took second place for its SqwaQbox.
In the category of software, Verity took first place for its Failsafe by Verity, Airbus took second place for its project Wayfinder, and Perceptive Automata took third place for its Bringing Human Intuition to Autonomous Trucks.
Developing a positive public perception of UAS is a collaborative effort between stakeholders
The UAS industry has an excellent safety record, but the occasional bad actor can still dominate media coverage, which can have an immeasurably negative impact on the industry's public perception.
“The coverage of bad incidents is so much heavier than the coverage of the everyday useful commercial flights that are happening safely,” says Miriam McNabb, CEO & contributing editor, JobForDrones & DRONELIFE, during a session titled “Public Perception of Unmanned Systems – How to Positively Shape Public Perception by Educating the Media, and Working Together as an Industry.”
Dr. Robert Ballard highlights discoveries of Titanic, unique underwater creatures using ROVs and deep-sea submersibles
Widely considered a pioneer in the development of deep-sea submersibles and remotely operated vehicle (ROVs) systems, Dr. Robert D. Ballard provided an overview of some of his most legendary discoveries and accomplishments during the Tuesday morning keynote at Xponential.
