The ion propulsion robot Berkeley showed off in 2017 was small enough to fit on the face of a penny. According to Drew, the team is now working on a larger model that's about .78 Although current versions of the ionocraft must be tethered to a power source, Drew thinks that won't always be the case -- and once they can fly freely, the tiny bots could have a variety of applications, including space exploration. "If we move towards a model of robot swarms as future interstellar explorers (e.g. Starshot), then I think EHD would be an interested propulsion mechanism," he told IEEE Spectrum.

Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your Automaton bloggers. We'll also be posting a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months; here's what we have so far (send us your events!): Let us know if you have suggestions for next week, and enjoy today's videos. Impressive new video of MIT's Mini Cheetah doing backflips, and failing to do backflips, which is even cuter. MIT'S new mini cheetah robot is the first four-legged robot to do a backflip.

Later this year, Zipline will bring its fleet of medical delivery drones (read more about them here) to North Carolina to take part in the Federal Aviation Administration's UAS Integration Pilot Program (IPP). Zipline will be working with the North Carolina Department of Transportation "to set up a network of medical distribution centers that can use drones to make medical deliveries," which is what Zipline has been doing for several years now in Africa. The FAA is being very careful and methodical with the IPP, because there are a lot of unknowns about how commercial drones can be safely and effectively integrated into a complex, crowded airspace over a crowded, complex country. Zipline is in a unique position to show both North Carolina and the FAA what's possible with drones, since the company is (as far as we know) the only one doing continuous, commercial drone delivery on a national scale. They have more experience than anyone else with things like operational-drone safety, which the FAA is understandably very concerned about, as we reported just last week.

The Navy has taken several new steps in its development of several large underwater drones designed to conduct undersea reconnaissance, search for and destroy mines, and possibly launch attacks. The Navy has taken several new steps in its development of several large underwater drones designed to conduct undersea reconnaissance, share combat essential data with submarine "motherships," search for and destroy mines and - in some cases - launch attacks on enemy surface and undersea vessels The two new undersea drones, to be configured with advanced sensors and weapons, are called the Orca Extra Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (XLUUV) and the Large Diameter Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (LDUUV). "These will help consolidate Navy vision to bring UUVs (Unmanned Underwater Vehicles) and USVs (Unmanned Surface Vessels) to the fleet, and integrate them with surface vessels and submarines," Capt. Pete Small, Program Manager for Unmanned Systems, said recently at the Surface Navy Association. The construction strategy, according to developers, is to engineer a new "upgradeable," multi-mission drone able to quickly integrate new technology and payloads as they emerge.

FedEx Corp. has today announced the "SameDay Bot" – an autonomous delivery service, designed to help retailers make same-day and last-mile deliveries to their customers. Using this machine, retailers will be able to accept orders from nearby customers and deliver items directly to homes or businesses the same day. FedEx is collaborating with companies such as AutoZone, Lowe's, Pizza Hut, Target, Walgreens and Walmart to help assess retailers' autonomous delivery needs. "The FedEx SameDay Bot is an innovation designed to change the face of local delivery and help retailers efficiently address their customers' rising expectations," said Brie Carere, executive vice president for FedEx. "The bot represents a milestone in our ongoing mission to solve the complexities and expense of same-day, last-mile delivery for the growing e-commerce market in a manner that is safe and environmentally friendly."

FedEx is getting into the pizza delivery business, but no one will be greeting hungry customers at the door. As companies scramble to develop technology to get food, groceries and shipments to customers in hours, even minutes, FedEx unveiled an early model of an autonomous delivery robot on Tuesday. The shipper is teaming up with Pizza Hut, Walmart, Walgreens and other companies on the delivery program. The initiative highlights the surging demand for speedier delivery and the race to develop autonomous technology for what's known as the "last-mile," or the final step of the logistics journey from warehouse or kitchen to a customer's front door. Experts say merchants and shipping companies will increasingly move toward automation to lower costs and speed up delivery, with fleets of drones and bots eventually dropping off goods without direct assistance from human staff.

The FedEx SameDay Bot represents the next chapter in our long legacy of delivering innovation and outstanding service, supported by an already existing FedEx logistics ecosystem,

NAYPYITAW - A court in Myanmar on Wednesday sentenced a French tourist to one month in prison with hard labor, but he is expected to be released in about a week because of time he served while awaiting trial. Arthur Desclaux was arrested on Feb. 7 for flying a drone close to the capital's parliament complex, and for bringing the device into the country. He was convicted under the Illegal Export-Import Act, which has a maximum penalty of three years' imprisonment. French consular official Frederic Inza, who attended the trial, said Desclaux, 27, admitted his guilt but said he was unaware of the restriction. "We're satisfied that his good faith and the fact that he imported this drone without having the intention of breaking the law was taken into account by the court," Inza said.

FedEx is making its first moves into autonomous delivery. The company announced today that it's working on the SameDay Bot, a small vehicle that can travel independently along sidewalks and roadsides, helping retailers make same-day and last mile deliveries to their customers. The bot is being developed using the same technology used in mobility device iBot, and will feature pedestrian-safe tech, multiple cameras, LiDAR and machine learning to help it detect and avoid obstacles, and navigate uneven surfaces. FedEx doesn't anticipate the bot replacing its existing same-day delivery services, but instead complementing them. Trials kick off this summer in a number of areas, including Memphis, Tennessee (pending city approval), and between FedEx Office locations.

In 2017, two foreign journalists for Turkish state TV station TRT World and their interpreter spent two months in a Myanmar jail for attempting to fly a drone near the legislature. The three pleaded guilty to breaching the colonial-era Aircraft Act.