Wildfires are destructive and inflict massive, irreversible harm to victims' lives and natural resources. Researchers have proposed commissioning unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to provide firefighters with real-time tracking information; yet, these UAVs are not able to reason about a fire's track, including current location, measurement, and uncertainty, as well as propagation. We propose a model-predictive, probabilistically safe distributed control algorithm for human-robot collaboration in wildfire fighting. The proposed algorithm overcomes the limitations of prior work by explicitly estimating the latent fire propagation dynamics to enable intelligent, time-extended coordination of the UAVs in support of on-the-ground human firefighters. We derive a novel, analytical bound that enables UAVs to distribute their resources and provides a probabilistic guarantee of the humans' safety while preserving the UAVs' ability to cover an entire fire.

Amid severe labor shortages, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles to perform human tasks is sure to grow, and DJI, the world's biggest drone-maker, is ready to respond, the firm's Japan head said. Drones for industrial uses ranging from agriculture to infrastructure maintenance and security are becoming more popular, said Allen Wu, DJI's head of Japan operations. But he said he is doubtful about the potential for drone-based product delivery. "For quite some time, we've figured that our main market in Japan is industrial, so our team has been focusing on it more," Wu said in an interview Wednesday. Shenzhen-based SZ DJI Technology Co. dominates the global drone market and according to reports is estimated to have a market share of more than 70 percent.

Drones have been around for a few years now, but the truth is their usefulness largely has been limited to providing visual information to users in the form of photos and video captured by their onboard digital cameras. That's great if you're a photographer, need to inspect an inaccessible piece of equipment or some farm acreage, or require mobile surveillance. Other than that, commercial drones are little more than fun (and expensive) high-tech toys -- great for a cool selfie or a stunning aerial shot of the sunset, but not much more. But future iterations will be far more versatile. Drones that assist with operations are on the market, and this category is still growing. They complete tasks normally counted among the "three Ds"--dull, dirty, or dangerous, such as window washing.

A drone has been likened to a grasshopper because of its unique ability to leap into the air using its specially designed legs. The cargo-carrying automated vehicle is equipped with legs that let it jump 6.5 feet (two metres) into the air, taking off almost vertically. The craft, dubbed the Sparrow, costs £30,000 ($40,000) and can fly up to 62 miles (100km) at a speed of 112 mph (180kph). Delivery firms are pioneering a host of new technologies to tackle the last mile of deliveries. It is hoped the vehicles can cut the inefficiencies, and hence costs, of the final stage of delivery, in which packages are taken from a central hub to your door.

Sheer cliff faces present a traversal challenge for most wheeled robots on the market, but researchers at the University of Tokyo say they've developed a two-robot framework that works pretty reliably in their testing. In a newly published paper on the preprint server Arxiv.org "[We] propose a novel cooperative system for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and an Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) which utilizes the UAV not only as a flying sensor but also as a tether attachment device," the authors of the paper explain. "[It enhances] the poor traversability of the UGV by not only providing a wider range of scanning and mapping from the air, but also by allowing the UGV to climb steep terrains with the winding of the tether." The UGV is permanently attached via mechanized winch and cable to the UAV, a custom-made quadcopter with an Nvidia Jetson TX2 chipset, a flight controller, and a raft of sensors including a modular fisheye camera, time-of-flight sensor, inertial measurement unit (IMU), and laser sensor.

An extended 5km (3.1 miles) no-fly zone for drones has come into force around airports in the UK after reported sightings at Gatwick, Heathrow and Dublin airports in recent months grounded hundreds of flights and left thousands stranded. Previously, only a 1km (0.6 mile) exclusion zone was in place. But despite the negative reputation they have received, the use of drones isn't all bad. From finding missing people to delivering takeaways, here are some of the ways the unmanned aircraft can be beneficial. A Norfolk man who went missing in June last year was only found when a police drone spotted him stuck on a marsh.

CHIBA - With the market for business-use unmanned aircraft looking promising in coming years, a large-scale drone expo that kicked off Wednesday showed more companies are eager to get involved with the trend. Companies ranging from the small to the powerful are showing off their business solutions using drones at Japan Drone, an annual exhibition at Makuhari Messe in Chiba that features more than 200 firms and runs until Friday. Telecom giant KDDI Corp. is showcasing its "smart" drone platform connected to KDDI's mobile communication networks across the country, which allows a drone to navigate a wider swath of territory via remote control. "One merit of using our service is that drones can be remote controlled through our communication networks anywhere in Japan, unlike most drones exhibited at this event, which tap Wi-Fi networks with limited coverage," said So Yamazaki, a KDDI official. KDDI will launch the service to corporate customers in June and lists surveillance, inspection, land survey and analysis as the envisioned applications.

Tokyo-based Drone Fund has invested in the Aerodyne Group, a Malaysia-based drone service provider with offices in 10 nations around the world. The amount of the investment was not disclosed. In addition to resources the deal will give Aerodyne access to the Drone Fund's stable of innovative drone-related entrepreneurs as well as its established technology partners, Aerodyne said in a statement. "This partnership with Aerodyne is important for the drone start-ups we have invested in to make further inroads into the growing Asian market and beyond. Aerodyne is truly a leading industry solution provider with DaaS (Drone as a Service) and SaaS (Software as a Service) solutions that leverage the power of AI (artificial intelligence)," said Soki Ohmae, a Drone Fund executive board member.

The E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System is a joint Air Force - Army program. The Joint STARS uses a multi-mode side looking radar to detect, track, and classify moving ground vehicles in all conditions deep behind enemy lines. The Air Force is massively speeding up a new networked surveillance system intended to collect, organize and disseminate pressing attack information in extremely high-risk environments including enemy stealth fighters, advanced air defenses and armed drones. "We do not want to recap JSTARS but create that same capability that protects soldiers and marines on the move. We want to replicate the technology, yet make it survivable," William Roper, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force, Acquisition, Technology & Logistics, told an audience recently at an Air Force Association Symposium.

Three seasons down the line, the fledgling Drone Racing League (DRL) is still not a household name. But it continues to draw major broadcasters and is now set to make its debut on social media. For its upcoming world championship season, the DRL is making the switch from ESPN to the home of NASCAR: NBC and NBC Sports. For the first time, viewers will also be able to tune in on Twitter via the official @DroneRaceLeague account. For the uninitiated, the races consists of minute-long heats that see pilots -- with monikers, like "Jet" and "ShaggyFPV," that wouldn't look out of place in an eSports tournament -- flying custom-built drones through neon-lit shapes on winding tracks at speeds over 90 miles per hour.