For years tech companies such as Amazon, Alphabet and Uber have promised us delivery drones bringing goods to our doorsteps in a matter of minutes. So why are they taking so long to arrive? If our skies are to become as crowded as our streets, airspace rules need updating to prevent accidents, terrorist attacks, and related problems, such as noise pollution. But that's easier said than done. According to a recent study by Nasa, the noise made by road traffic was "systematically judged to be less annoying" than the high-pitched buzzing made by drones.

Postmates has revealed a cute autonomous delivery robot called Serve, which seems to take a design cue or two from Wall-E, with its big eyes and yellow finish. While the company has tested third-party autonomous delivery options in the past, it decided to build Serve from the ground up. When Serve shows up at your front door or office, you'll use your phone or a code to unlock the compartment and retrieve your items. The robot can carry up to 50 pounds of goods and can travel up to 30 miles on a single charge. Postmates also plans to collect items with Serve (especially in busy areas) and return them to its delivery hubs so delivery drivers can bring them to you. Serve uses Velodyne Lidar and cameras to help it navigate, and Postmates claims it safely moves alongside pedestrians at walking speed and navigates obstacles such as fire hydrants.

Hanging on the wall of Postmates' stealth R&D laboratory, there's a framed photo of an iconic scene from Star Wars, Luke Skywalker bent down beside R2D2. Except someone has used Photoshop to replace Luke's face with Ali Kashani, Postmates' VP of Robotics. Nevermind that Kashani has never seen Star Wars (he considers this a point of pride). Kashani recognizes the symbolism of his face in a world where robots roll around next to people, where bots act almost like friends. Kashani joined Postmates a year and a half ago, with a special mission to bring robots to the company. In the seven years since its founding, Postmates has been on the forefront of the on-demand revolution, averaging 4 million deliveries each month in over 550 cities.

Farmers can use drones to monitor their fields, but they have their limits when they can rarely fly for more than 20 to 30 minutes at a time. University of Washington researchers might have a smarter way: recruit some insect friends. They've developed sensor backpacks that are light enough (about 0.0035 ounces) and efficient enough to ride on a bumblebee, but capable enough to collect data for seven hours at a time over relatively long distances. You wouldn't have to replace packs very often, either, as they could just fly into their hives to wirelessly recharge and transmit data. The trick was to find a way to track the bees' locations without using power-hungry GPS.

While the likes of Uber, Airbus and Porsche tinker away on their respective passenger and transportation drones, a lesser-known startup is taking an altogether different approach. Instead of getting mired in the logistics and regulatory frameworks of city-wide drone rides, Lift Aircraft wants you to use its 18-rotor "Hexa" aircraft for short recreational flights. The large drone -- which weighs 432 pounds and is capable of 10-15 minutes of continuous flight with a single passenger -- could be available to the public as early as next year. Lift is promising flight experiences at hubs located in "scenic, uncongested areas" in 25 cities across the US. Because the Hexa doesn't count as a "real" aircraft (it's a "powered ultralight") it doesn't require a pilot's license.

New rules mean drones are set to take off in India at last. But the legislation also requires pilots of all but tiny craft to get approval for every flight, even a zip around the local park. The regulations came into force earlier this month, overturning a 2014 ban on drone use by anyone other than government agencies. Now, commercial and recreational drones can fly during daytime, as long as they stay below 120 metres and within sight of operators.

Inspired by listening one of the episodes of the podcast Data Crunch by Vault Analytics, on the topic: "Drones and AI", it came to my mind how drones are being used nowadays, not only as a hobby but for commercial purposes, too. Drones are getting popular in the community and different industries such as film and photography. Game of Thrones TV show pays a lot of money to get amazing shots! You can get more interesting photos using a drone than a traditional camera. Just imagine the unique perspective from a drone's view, they definitely offer impressive and incredible shots.

Bats – long vilified in fairytales or onscreen for sucking people's blood or being carriers of a bunch of scary diseases may help engineers take UAV technology to the next level. According to Science Nordic, researchers from the University of Lund in Sweden are examining slow-motion footage of bats flying to learn more about exactly how they move through the air. Bats fly in such a unique manner, it difficult to observe with the naked eye. According to the research team, not much is yet known about bats method of flight as they navigate the open skies. In order to learn more about how bats fly, the researchers trained bats to fly in wind tunnels (yes – really).

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), more commonly known as drones, are growing at a rapid rate for both consumer and professional markets. Market research firm IHS Markit forecasts the professional drone market will manage a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 77.1% through 2020 driven by industries such as agriculture, energy and construction using the technology for surveying, mapping, planning and more. Meanwhile, the consumer drone market will maintain a CAGR of 22.1% through 2020 with companies such as DJI, Parrot and 3D Robotics driving the market with a wide range of devices for photography, recreational use and racing. While these markets will be the main drivers for the next few years, one industry that isn't discussed often as a main driver is the insurance market. However, according to professional services company PwC, the addressable market of drone powered solutions in the insurance industry is valued at $6.8 billion.

Donald Trump's commitment to "remain[ing] a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia," despite the regime's gruesome torture and murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey, is clearly symptomatic of the malignantly self-serving nature of US foreign policy, which has long propped up dictatorships and enabled atrocities around the world for the sake of profit and power. However, many of Trump's most vocal critics on the Saudi file show signs of an equally dangerous pathological condition: a profound historical amnesia that permits some of the most prominent proponents of the US' own torturous and murderous policies to now parade as champions of human rights, without any apparent sense of irony. Obama-era CIA Director John Brennan, for instance, has insisted that "the US should never turn a blind eye to this sort of inhumanity [referring to the murder of Khashoggi] … because this is a nation that remains faithful to its values" - a curiously self-righteous stance for a man who not only repeatedly turned a blind eye to the inhumanity of past and present CIA practices such as extraordinary rendition, torture, and drone assassination, but actively defended and (in the case of drone use) expanded them. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell decried the brutal murder of Khashoggi as "completely abhorrent to everything the United States holds dear and stands for in the world". Yet he praised another perpetrator of abhorrent deeds, CIA "black site" torture prison manager Gina Haspel, as an "excellent choice" for Director of the CIA.