Robotics manufacturing in the US will be getting federal support to match business or startup investments via the new Advanced Robotics Manufacturing (ARM) Institute. Perhaps more importantly, the ARM Institute can act as a conduit to connect and amplify robotics innovations between regions of the USA. As the global robotics ecosystem becomes flooded with interest, and investors, any technological lead the USA currently has is rapidly disappearing. The ARM Institute is now one of 14 Manufacturing USA institutes and the 8th funded by the DOD. Each Manufacturing USA Institute focuses on a technology area critical to future competitiveness – such as additive manufacturing, integrated photonics, or smart sensors.

From linear classifiers to neural networks, image classification has been a widely explored topic in mathematics, and many algorithms have proven to be effective classifiers. However, the most accurate classifiers typically have significantly high storage costs, or require complicated procedures that may be computationally expensive. We present a novel (nonlinear) classification approach using truncation of local tensor singular value decompositions (tSVD) that robustly offers accurate results, while maintaining manageable storage costs. Our approach takes advantage of the optimality of the representation under the tensor algebra described to determine to which class an image belongs. We extend our approach to a method that can determine specific pairwise match scores, which could be useful in, for example, object recognition problems where pose/position are different. We demonstrate the promise of our new techniques on the MNIST data set.

Is it possible to kill an entire category of sports before the world really knows about? A new bill, set to regulate drones in the state of California, contains a single vague line that could shut down an entire world of drone sports. In its current form, California Senate Bill 347 says "A person shall not weaponize a remote piloted aircraft or operate a weaponized remote piloted aircraft." Without exceptions for sporting use or clarifying what, exactly, a weaponized drone is, California's "State Remote Piloted Aircraft Act" could end drone duels, and limit what exactly a future sport could be. Drone combat, originally done under the moniker "Game of Drones," is like a flying version of BattleBots, with human pilots steering unmanned machines into combat against each other, with the last machine still flying declared the winner.

In space, grabbing onto things is hard. A new robot that uses grippers inspired by gecko feet could solve that problem, helping clear up the mess of debris that orbits Earth. The toaster-sized device can grip, hold onto and move around even large, smooth surfaces in microgravity, on both flat and curved objects. To do this, it uses a "dry adhesive" material created by Hao Jiang at Stanford University in California and his colleagues. "This ability to grab onto an object nearly anywhere, instead of needing a specific grapple point that may not even be there, is really advantageous," says Matthew Spenko at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.

Earlier this month, a resident in a rural province of South Korea found a small, sky-blue unmanned plane perched nose-up against a tree in a remote forest. The drone belonged to the North Korean military and apparently had flown south for five hours, capturing images of a sensitive new U.S. anti-missile system before crashing. It lacked missiles or other weapons like the larger, more advanced models used by U.S. forces in the Middle East. But South Korean officials and security experts consider such flights unlawful incursions. As world powers focus on North Korea's emerging nuclear capabilities, its drone program is raising concerns about espionage and aggravating already tense relations with its southern neighbor.

Next month will mark the 47th anniversary of Apollo 13. The film that recounts the story is a favorite of mine, probably because it so masterfully captures the incredible suspense, fear, and hope felt by people everywhere, that I personally recall very well. I also know how an organization's digital transformation can generate similar reactions! Apollo 13 was likely a casualty of the space program's incredibly aggressive schedule. NASA, with U.S. political and military leaders, was motivated by competition from the U.S.S.R. and fear of the potential consequences of not being first.

NASA's Curiosity rover has sent back a pair of very curious photos since March that have resurfaced in conspiracy circles as evidence of a "genuine spaceship" and "thigh bones" visible on Mars. Alien hunters and UFO enthusiasts are celebrating after two photos appear to show distinct signs of life on Mars. The first photo causing jaws to drop in the reddit conspiracy theorist group Martian Archaeology shows what appears to be fossilized bones or petrified wood protruding from the red planet's surface. The photo dates back to 2014 and NASA responded to the online uproar then by acknowledging -- but dismissing -- that the "alien thigh bone" could be linked to extraterrestrial life. The debris pile from the Curiosity's photograph already has convinced some wishful-thinking alien enthusiasts of extraterrestrial activity on Mars.

DRONE warfare, once the sole pursuit of the US military, is being democratised. Islamic State (ISIS) has deployed consumer drones carrying grenades in the battle for the Iraqi city of Mosul, creating the most daunting problem US Special Operations Command troops faced in Iraq during 2016, according to their commander Raymond Thomas. Groups around the world are taking advantage of the increasing accessibility of drone technology to build and deploy them as weapons (see "Home-grown drones"). And it's not hard to imagine them being used in an attack in the West; the bomber responsible for the May attack on a concert Leader: "Drone blowback: High-tech weapons come home to roost"

The RAF may drop bombs on people launching cyber attacks that hit Britain, according to the defence secretary. Speaking after a huge attack on the parliamentary network – but soon before the Petya attack spread across the world, including to the UK – Michael Fallon said that the country could launch responses to online attacks "from any domain - air, land, sea or cyber". The comments have already attracted some criticism because it is usually almost impossible to say with certainty who carried out a hack. Experts may sometimes identify the country or state that appears to be behind any given cyber attack – but even that identification can be intentionally spoofed by hackers. The I.F.O. is fuelled by eight electric engines, which is able to push the flying object to an estimated top speed of about 120mph.

Security experts have found a'vaccine' for the ransomware that has been causing chaos around the world. It was initially thought to be a variant of known malware Petya, but is now claimed to be a completely new infection, which Kaspersky has dubbed'NotPetya'. However, it's still widely being referred to as'Petya', as well as'Petna' and even'SortaPetya'. It has affected a number of large organisations around the world, including WPP in the UK. The I.F.O. is fuelled by eight electric engines, which is able to push the flying object to an estimated top speed of about 120mph.