Elon Musk and many of the world's most respected artificial intelligence researchers have committed not to build autonomous killer robots. The public pledge not to make any "lethal autonomous weapons" comes amid increasing concern about how machine learning and AI will be used on the battlefields of the future. The signatories to the new pledge – which includes the founders of DeepMind, a founder of Skype, and leading academics from across the industry – promise that they will not allow the technology they create to be used to help create killing machines. The I.F.O. is fuelled by eight electric engines, which is able to push the flying object to an estimated top speed of about 120mph. The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session A man looks at an exhibit entitled'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Electrification Guru Dr. Wolfgang Ziebart talks about the electric Jaguar I-PACE concept SUV before it was unveiled before the Los Angeles Auto Show in Los Angeles, California, U.S The Jaguar I-PACE Concept car is the start of a new era for Jaguar.

DUBAI (Reuters) - The Iran-aligned Houthi movement in Yemen said on Wednesday that one of its drones had attacked the Saudi state oil company ARAMCO's refinery in Riyadh, according to Houthi-run al-Masira TV, based in Yemen.

"The drone racing league is a sport. We do an annual season. We have a clear rule system and scoring system," Nick Horbaczewski, founder and CEO of the Drone Racing League (DRL), enthuses in a small business suite located on the second floor of the Circus Circus Casino in Las Vegas. With a deal with ESPN in the bag, his league is poised to bring the sport mainstream, and within moments of our introduction, he's let me know he's serious. Horbaczewski has delivered this pitch before; his whole business depends on it.

Light cofounder and CEO Dave Grannan raised $121 million for his imaging platform on the promise of its value to robotics, drones, and, especially, self-driving vehicles.Courtesy of Light In February, Dave Grannan, cofounder and CEO of imaging startup Light, flew to Tokyo to meet SoftBank's Masayoshi Son for the first time since beginning conversations with the Japanese billionaire's venture-capital arm. After two more meetings, in Tokyo and Silicon Valley, Son agreed to lead a massive $121 million investment in Light, through his SoftBank Vision Fund. Leica Camera also joined the deal. A big reason that Light was able to attract so much funding is the promise of robots, drones and, especially, self-driving cars. Light uses complex algorithms to combine images from multiple camera modules into a single, high-quality image with depth.

Machine learning is the idea that describes computers that can essentially "learn" and process new information without specifically being programed to do so. If you give a computer a task, it will more-or-less get better at that task the more it has a chance to engage in it. Object detection is a subset of this idea and is of particular relevance to photos. Not only does object detection let you know which objects are in a photo (hence the name), it also gives you insight into precisely where they are, too. But out of all the industries and activities where object detection is poised to make a big impact, drone services are undoubtedly right at the top.

Boeing says it's aiming to create a traffic management system for drones that makes use of artificial intelligence, blockchain technology -- and one of the companies in its investment portfolio. SparkCognition will be Boeing's partner in the traffic management project. Last year, the Texas-based AI company benefited from a $32.5 million investment round that included funding from Boeing HorizonX Ventures. Boeing is also creating a new business group, known as Boeing NeXt, to leverage the company's research and development activities and investments in areas such as autonomous flight, smart cities, advance propulsion and other parts of the wider transportation ecosystem. "We're at a point in history where technological advances and societal trends are converging to demand bold solutions and a different way to travel," Greg Hyslop, Boeing's chief technology officer, said today in a statement issued to coincide with this week's Farnborough International Airshow near London. "Boeing has the experience and expertise to safely and efficiently shape this emerging world of travel and transport," Hyslop said.

For 36 hours the company will be discounting new drones such as the foldable Mavic Pro and the Spark by up to $300. The Mavic Pro Fly More Combo will be on sale for $999 (typically $1299) while the mini Spark Fly More Combo will be $499 (typically $549). The Phantom 4 will come with an extra Intelligent Flight Battery and a wrap pack if its ordered during Prime Day. Once Prime Day wraps DJI will be extending the savings to many of their refurbished products.

Prototypes of BVLOS drones, so called because they travel "beyond the visual line of sight" of operators, are being tested by Italy's Snam, Europe's largest gas utility, and EDF's network subsidiary, RTE in France. Snam told Reuters they have been doing field-testing with BVLOS drones in the Apennine hills around Genoa. It hopes to have it scouting a 20 kilometer (12.4 miles) stretch of pipeline soon. RTE has also been testing a long-distance drone that have flown 50 kilometers (31 miles) inspecting transmission lines and sending back data that allowed technicians to create a virtual model of a section of the grid. RTE plans on investing 4.8 million euros ($5.6 million) on drone technology over the next two years.

Follow us to connect with the drone flying community!

If you've ever been chastised for throwing your entire body around during gaming (because physically leaning into track corners definitely helps somehow), here's a bit of science-backed vindication. Researchers in Switzerland have discovered that using your torso to control a drone is far more effective than using a joystick. The team from EPFL monitored the body movements and muscular activity of 17 people, each with 19 markers placed all over their upper bodies. The participants then followed the actions of a virtual drone through simulated landscapes, via virtual reality goggles. By observing motion patterns, the scientists found that only four markers located on the torso were needed to pilot a drone through an obstacle course, and that the method outperformed joystick control in both precision and reliability.