Lifeboat Foundation

The UK’s development of an urban airport for flying cars and drones could inspire other nations to follow suit.

Nanoscale defects and mechanical stress cause the failure of solid electrolytes.

A group of researchers has claimed to have found the cause of the recurring short-circuiting issues of lithium metal batteries with solid electrolytes. The team, which consists of members from Stanford University and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, aims to further the battery technology, which is lightweight, inflammable, energy-dense, and offers quick-charge capabilities. Such a long-lasting solution can help to overcome the barriers when it comes to the adoption of electric vehicles around the world.

A study published on January 30 in the journal Nature Energy details different experiments on how nanoscale defects and mechanical stress cause solid electrolytes to fail.

Continue reading “New Lithium Metal Battery Lets Drones Fly 70 Percent Longer” »

AI that can make it seem as if you said something you didn’t.

In this How Nifty video, this new AI (artificial intelligence) called Flawless just broke the entire film industry… and more!

Continue reading “This New AI Just BROKE The Film Industry” »

With its state-of-the-art design, it provides endless possibilities for exploration and adventure!

A research team at the Chinese University in Hong Kong recently demonstrated that, despite giving off an aura of extraterrestrial technology to onlookers, it’s not out-of-this-world for objects to traverse between water and air in the blink of an eye.

Mirs-X-a revolutionary new quadcopter prototype.

Continue reading “This drone can soar through the skies and swim like a fish underwater” »

Scientists and roboticists have long looked at nature for inspiration to develop new features for machines. In this case, researchers from Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland were inspired by bats and other animals that rely on echolocation to design a method that would give small robots that ability to navigate themselves — one that doesn’t need expensive hardware or components too large or too heavy for tiny machines. In fact, according to PopSci, the team only used the integrated audio hardware of an interactive puck robot and built an audio extension deck using cheap mic and speakers for a tiny flying drone that can fit in the palm of your hand.

The system works just like bat echolocation. It was designed to emit sounds across frequencies, which a robot’s microphone then picks up as they bounce off walls. An algorithm the team created then goes to work to analyze sound waves and create a map with the room’s dimensions.

In a paper published in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, the researchers said existing “algorithms for active echolocation are less developed and often rely on hardware requirements that are out of reach for small robots.” They also said their “method is model-based, runs in real time and requires no prior calibration or training.” Their solution could give small machines the capability to be sent on search-and-rescue missions or to previously uncharted locations that bigger robots wouldn’t be able to reach. And since the system only needs onboard audio equipment or cheap additional hardware, it has a wide range of potential applications.

Gravitilab.

The firm, called Gravitilab, flew its specially-modified LOUIS UAV quadcopter to an altitude of 2,000 feet (600 meters) before purposefully dropping a capsule carrying scientific experiments.

A British startup has performed a first-of-its-kind microgravity experiment using a drone.

The company, called Gravitilab, flew its adapted quadcopter to an altitude of 2,000 feet (600 meters), where it dropped a specially designed capsule carrying scientific experiments.

Social media company and Snapchat maker Snap has for years defined itself as a “camera company,” despite its failures to turn its photo-and-video recording glasses known as Spectacles into a mass-market product and, more recently, its decision to kill off its camera-equipped drone. But that hasn’t stopped the company from envisioning a future where AR glasses are a commonly used device, and one, as the company revealed on Tuesday’s fourth-quarter earnings call, that will eventually be powered by AI technology.

Investors wanted to get a sense of how Snap was thinking about the latest developments in AI — particularly in buzzy areas like generative A.I. which has benefitted from advances in algorithms, language models, and the increased processing power available to run the necessary calculations. One pointed to the AI image generator Midjourney’s bot for Discord, as an example of how AI could lead to increased user engagement within an app.

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel agreed that, in the near term, there were a lot of opportunities to use generative AI to make Snap’s camera more powerful. However, he noted that further down the road, AI would be critical to the growth of augmented reality, including AR glasses.

MIT lincoln laboratory and US-based sharrow marine have proposed unique toroidal propellers that could revolutionize aerial + marine sectors.