Autonomous robots increasingly depend on third-party off-the-shelf components and complex machine-learning techniques. This trend makes it challenging to provide strong design-time certification of correct operation. To address this challenge, we present SOTER, a programming framework that integrates the core principles of runtime assurance to enable the use of uncertified controllers, while still providing safety guarantees. Runtime Assurance (RTA) is an approach used for safety-critical systems where design-time analysis is coupled with run-time techniques to switch between unverified advanced controllers and verified simple controllers. In this paper, we present a runtime assurance programming framework for modular design of provably-safe robotics software. \tool provides language primitives to declaratively construct a \rta module consisting of an advanced controller (untrusted), a safe controller (trusted), and the desired safety specification (S). If the RTA module is well formed then the framework provides a formal guarantee that it satisfies property S. The compiler generates code for monitoring system state and switching control between the advanced and safe controller in order to guarantee S. RTA allows complex systems to be constructed through the composition of RTA modules. To demonstrate the efficacy of our framework, we consider a real-world case-study of building a safe drone surveillance system. Our experiments both in simulation and on actual drones show that RTA-enabled RTA ensures safety of the system, including when untrusted third-party components have bugs or deviate from the desired behavior.

Artificial intelligence is being used to develop robots and drones that can operate more autonomously, allowing them to explore dangerous places beyond the reach of humans and animals. The Swiss government is now testing this technology to see how it could be used in disaster situations. Specialists from the Robotics and Perception Groupexternal link at the University of Zurich have developed a small drone that can fly through a collapsed building and find people – without a remote control. They've been testing it at a military test site in Wangen an der Aare near Bern. At the same time, developers at the Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systemsexternal link at the Swiss federal technology institute ETH Zurich are working on a four-legged robot called ANYmal. Equipped with laser sensors and cameras, it's designed to do work that is too dangerous for humans and animals.

Ibrahim al-Asiri is seen in these images supplied to Yemeni police as part of a terror suspect handbook. A top Al Qaeda bomb maker who masterminded a plot to bring down an airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day 2009 was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen last year, a senior U.S. official told Fox News Monday. The Associated Press previously reported that Ibrahim al-Asiri was dead, citing a tribal leader and an Al Qaeda-linked source who said that he was killed in the governate of Marib in eastern Yemen. The tribal leader said that al-Asiri was struck by the drone, along with two or four of his associates, as he stood beside his car. Al Qaeda itself has remained silent about its top bomb maker.

The flight was conducted Monday by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., which is a tenant at the Grand Sky aviation technology park. A recent authorization by the Federal Aviation Administration allows the drones to fly within 30 miles of the park.

BOGOTÁ, Colombia--With drug crops booming, Colombia's police are busily testing whether drones carrying defoliants can efficiently kill the leaf used to make cocaine and win the support of Trump administration officials concerned about this country's growing capacity to supply drugs to American consumers. Antidrug officials here say that in recent weeks they have deployed 10 drones, each weighing 50 pounds when loaded with herbicide, in southwest Nariño province. The small, remotely guided aircraft destroyed hundreds of acres of coca in a first round of tests, said police and the company contracted by the government to supply the drones. Colombia's new president, Iván Duque, said that he wants some kind of aerial fumigation of coca fields, which expanded 160% to 516,000 acres from 2012 to 2017, the White House reported in June. But he prefers drones over planes to drop the herbicide, which would mitigate damage to legal crops growing adjacent to coca fields.

Drones aren't just cracking down on land-based poaching in Africa -- ATLAN Space is launching a pilot that will use autonomous drones to report illegal fishing in the Seychelles islands. The fliers will use computer vision to identify both the nature of boats in protected waters as well as their authorization. If they detect illegal fishing boats, the drones will note vessel locations, numbering and visible crews, passing the information along to officials. The pilot starts in October. The technology won't be limited to any specific drone system, ATLAN Space added, and that's important for the fishing industry.

As government regulation for commercial drone usage seems to be trending in a very positive direction for the companies involved, there is an ever-growing opportunity for drone startups to utilize artificial intelligence to deliver insights without requiring much human effort. Sterblue, a French drone software startup that is launching out of Y Combinator's latest class of companies, is aiming to get off-the-shelf drones inspecting large outdoor structures up close with automated insights that identify anomalies that need a second look. The startup's software is specifically focused on enabling drones to easily inspect large power lines or wind turbines with simple automated trajectories that can get a job done much quicker and with less room for human error. The software also allows the drones to get much closer to the large structures they are scanning so the scanned images are as high-quality as possible. Compared to navigating a tight urban environment, Sterblue has the benefit of there being very few airborne anomalies around these structures, so autonomously flying along certain flight paths is as easy as having a CAD structure available and enough wiggle room to correct for things like wind condition.

As government regulation for commercial drone usage seems to be trending in a very positive direction for the companies involved, there is an ever-growing opportunity for drone startups to utilize artificial intelligence to deliver insights without requiring much human effort. Sterblue, a French drone software startup that is launching out of Y Combinator's latest class of companies, is aiming to get off-the-shelf drones inspecting large outdoor structures up close with automated insights that identify anomalies that need a second look. The startup's software is specifically focused on enabling drones to easily inspect large power lines or wind turbines with simple automated trajectories that can get a job done much quicker and with less room for human error. The software also allows the drones to get much closer to the large structures they are scanning so the scanned images are as high-quality as possible. Compared to navigating a tight urban environment, Sterblue has the benefit of there being very few airborne anomalies around these structures, so autonomously flying along certain flight paths is as easy as having a CAD structure available and enough wiggle room to correct for things like wind condition.

Google has pledged not to use its powerful artificial intelligence (AI) to create weapons of war, illegal surveillance or to cause "overall harm". On Thursday, Sundar Pichai, CEO for Alphabet Inc.'s Google, set out a series of principles about AI at the company. The announcement follows more than 4,500 Google employees having written a letter in April, calling on the company to get out of the "business of war" and cancel Pentagon work. Pichai said in Thursday's post that Google recognizes that its powerful technology "raises equally powerful questions about its use". AI is being used for good, he said, citing use cases such as machine-learning sensors being built by higher schoolers to predict the risk of wildfires; farmers using it to monitor their cows' health; and doctors who are using it to diagnose breast cancer and to prevent blindness.

"With respect to the first two, no migratory entry or exit from our country has been registered," Migrations Superintendent Eduardo Sevilla told a news conference. Peru will check if the military officials have entered Peru and proceed in accordance with "the laws in place," Sevilla added, without offering specifics.