Ready or not, autonomous robots are leaving laboratories to be tested in real-world contexts. With more and more people living in cities, these technologies offer ways to cope with ageing populations and poorly maintained infrastructures, while promoting safer transport, productive manufacturing and secure energy supplies. Urban "living labs" are one way scientists are trying to understand how autonomous robots – or Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS), to give them their full title – will affect our everyday lives. Autonomous robots are interconnected, interactive, cognitive and physical tools, which can perceive their environments, reason about events, make or revise plans and control their own actions. These technologies are designed to draw on big data and connect with the Internet of Things, to make our lives easier by increasing accuracy and efficiency.

Intel Corporation flies 2,018 Intel Shooting Star drones over its Folsom, California, facility, in July 2018. The drone light show set a Guinness World Records title for the most unmanned aerial vehicles airborne simultaneously. SAN FRANCISCO -- Three years ago, in a hallway at Intel, a small team of people working on drones discussed whether it would be possible to fly one hundred drones over the Robert Noyce Building, Intel's headquarters in Santa Clara, and have them form the shape of the company's logo. They didn't plan on pursuing it seriously but it became a pet project for Natalie Cheung, who wondered at the time how they could fly multiple drones with one pilot. Now, Cheung is the general manager of Drone Light Shows at Intel and has helped put on hundreds of choreographed drone shows -- and the drones can make a lot more shapes than just the Intel logo.

Drones have become a mainstream product for businesses and consumers over the past five years, as functionality has expanded and pricing has dropped below $999. Companies like DJI, Yuneec, and Parrot have achieved significant market growth in the space, with affordable, relatively easy-to-use drones capable of capturing high-resolution (even 4K-class) content that would have previously required highly specialized equipment. Today I wanted to take a look at Redwood City-based startup Skydio's new R1 drone--a product that I believe has the potential to disrupt the crowded $5 billion drone market. Positioned essentially as a "self-driving camera," the R1 is embedded with 13 cameras. While this makes the R1 the definitive "follow me" drone, is it worth forking over the $2,499 asking price?

Having the noble intention of cleaning up the mess we have made is just the start. The scale of that task is monumental. Aside from all the plastic floating around in the oceans and on the sea floor, spotting the waste that does turn up on beaches among pebbles and sand isn't easy. In an interview with DJI, The Plastic Tide outlined how they have been using a combination of drones and machine learning to identify and measure the amount of plastic waste on beaches. Eventually, the technology could develop into an automated aerial system, capable of guiding cleanup efforts and tracking their progress. Penning an article for DJI, founder Peter Kohler explains how he started using drones as part of his ambition to explain and understand the spread of plastic waste across our oceans. The main challenge was surveying beaches and collecting data in a way that was fast, cheap and effective.

In this time-lapse, Intel breaks its own Guinness World Record for the most drones flown simultaneously during its celebration of its 50-year anniversary and they look pretty cool while doing it. A link has been sent to your friend's email address. A link has been posted to your Facebook feed. In this time-lapse, Intel breaks its own Guinness World Record for the most drones flown simultaneously during its celebration of its 50-year anniversary and they look pretty cool while doing it.

The Pentagon is making a massive push to accelerate the application of artificial intelligence to ships, tanks, aircraft, drones, weapons and large networks as part of a sweeping strategy to more quickly harness and integrate the latest innovations. Many forms of AI are already well-underway with U.S. military combat systems, yet new technologies and applications are emerging so quickly that Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan has directed the immediate creation of a new Joint Artificial Intelligence Center. "The Deputy Secretary of Defense directed the DoD Chief Information Officer to standup the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center in order to enable teams across DoD to swiftly deliver new AI-enabled capabilities and effectively experiment with new operating concepts in support of DoD's military missions and business functions." DoD spokeswoman Heather Babb told Warrior Maven. Pentagon officials intend for the new effort to connect otherwise disparate AI developments across the services.

I suggest that every car registered in California be fitted with a "kill switch" that can be activated by law enforcement. There should be protocols that ensure proper legal protections, such as a warrant issued by a special judge based on the circumstances. The end result would be the same -- the car would slowly die and roll to a stop -- but law enforcement resources would be preserved and public safety would be enhanced.

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – The Iranian-aligned Houthi movement in Yemen said it had attacked a Saudi Aramco refinery in Riyadh on Wednesday using a drone, but the oil company said a limited fire at the plant was due to "an operational incident. "Our drone air forces have targeted the refinery of ARAMCO company in Riyadh," read a tweet on the account of the Houthi-run television channel al-Masirah. "The operation by the drone air force is a strong start in a new stage of deterring the aggression," it quoted a Houthi military spokesman as saying in a tweet. Saudi officials were not immediately available for comment. Just before al-Masirah's tweet, Aramco announced that its fire control teams and the Saudi civil defenses had contained a minor fire that erupted in the early evening in a storage containers at its refinery in Riyadh.

Airbus has unveiled its pioneering solar-powered drone. Called the Zephyr S, the aerospace giant presented the'pseudo-satellite' to crowds gathered at Britain's Farnborough airshow. In a major milestone, the massive drone completed its first test flight from Arizona on July 11, Airbus said. Airbus has unveiled its pioneering solar-powered drone. Called the Zephyr S, the aerospace giant presented the'pseudo-satellite' to crowds gathered at Britain's Farnborough airshow'This maiden flight of the Zephyr S aims to prove and demonstrate the aircraft capabilities, with a landing date to be confirmed once the engineering objectives have been achieved,' Airbus said in a statement announcing the test flight.