The eruption of the Agung volcano in Bali, Indonesia has been devastating, particularly for the 55,000 local people who have had to leave their homes and move into shelters. It has also played havoc with the flights in and out of the island, leaving people stranded while the experts try to work out what the volcano will do next. But this has been a fascinating time for scholars like me who investigate the use of drones in social justice, environmental activism and crisis preparedness. The use of drones in this context is just the latest example of the "computerisation of nature" and raises questions about how reality is increasingly being constructed by software. Amazon drone delivery is developing in the UK, drone blood delivery is happening in Rwanda, while in Indonesia people are using drones to monitor orangutan populations, map the growth and expansion of palm oil plantations and gather information that might help us predict when volcanoes such as Agung might again erupt with devastating impact.

WeDoSky's Drone Data Science solutions that lets geographical area that needs to be monitored, has raised funding from Mumbai Angels after bootstrapping for over 2 years. WeDoSky is a data science company focused on generating actionable business insights using drone imagery, to assist various industries like mining, construction, energy & solar. The data extraction and analysis is done using their proprietary software'visualAI'. WeDoSky counts titans like Adani Enterprises, Tata Power, Azure Power, and ACC Cement amongst its many clients. The company was founded 2014.

This was a busy year for robotics! The 10 most read Robohub articles in 2017 show an increased interest in machine learning, and a thirst to learn how robots work and can be programmed. Highlights also include the Robohub Podcast, which just celebrated its 250th episode (that's 10 years of bi-weekly interviews in robotics), the Robot Launch Startup Competition, and our yearly list of 25 women in robotics you need to know about. Finally, we couldn't skip over some of the remarkable events of 2017, including a swarm of drones flying over Metallica, and Sophia "gaining citizenship".

Two years after World War II, billionaire Howard Hughes personally piloted his "Spruce Goose" troop transport aircraft on the first and only flight of the largest seaplane ever built. It lasted barely a minute. Now, more than 70 years later, a U.S. startup is testing a new seaplane concept--one that could evolve into huge cargo drones that fly 109 metric tons of freight across the Pacific, touch down autonomously over water, and unload at ports around the world. The startup Natilus was founded in 2014 with a dream of building large cargo drones to deliver international freight for about half the price of piloted aircraft, and much faster than ships. In December, Natilus planned to test the water-taxiing capabilities of a small prototype drone with a 9-meter wingspan in San Francisco Bay.

Two years after World War II, billionaire Howard Hughes personally piloted his "Spruce Goose" troop transport aircraft on the first and only flight of the largest seaplane ever built. It lasted barely a minute. Now, more than 70 years later, a U.S. startup is testing a new seaplane concept--one that could evolve into huge cargo drones that fly 109 metric tons of freight across the Pacific, touch down autonomously over water, and unload at ports around the world. The startup Natilus was founded in 2014 with a dream of building large cargo drones to deliver international freight for about half the price of piloted aircraft, and much faster than ships. In December, Natilus planned to test the water-taxiing capabilities of a small prototype drone with a 9-meter wingspan in San Francisco Bay.

A California couple was arrested after using a drone to transport drugs out of their home and into the hands of nearby waiting customers, police say. Benjamin Baldassarre, 39, and Ashley Carroll, 31, of Riverside, California, were arrested on several charges including possession of controlled substances, conspiracy to commit a crime and child endangerment. Riverside police were investigating a potential drug house in the area when they witnessed a drone carrying small packages flying overhead. The drone was going back and forth from a nearby yard and then hovering over a parking lot at East Hills Church, KCBS-TV reports. The small packages were dropped down to waiting customers in the parking lot who would then drive by the couple's home and throw money into their lawn as payment.

Authorities say two Southern California people used a drone to deliver illegal drugs to their customers. Benjamin Baldassarre and Ashley Carroll, of Riverside, were charged Tuesday with possessing controlled substances for sale. They also face charges of child endangerment. It was unclear Wednesday if they have attorneys who can comment on the charges. Riverside police said they arrested Baldassarre and Carroll last Thursday after neighbors suspected the two were selling drugs.

The vast majority of the fancy autonomous flying we've seen from quadrotors has relied on some kind of external localization for position information. Usually it's a motion capture system, sometimes it's GPS, but either way, there's a little bit of cheating involved. This is not to say that we mind cheating, but the problem with cheating is that sometimes you can't cheat, and if you want your quadrotors to do tricks where you don't have access to GPS or the necessary motion capture hardware and software, you're out of luck. Researchers are working hard towards independent autonomy for flying robots, and we've seen some impressive examples of drones that can follow paths and avoid obstacles using only onboard sensing and computing. The University of Pennsylvania has been doing some particularly amazing development in this area, and they've managed to teach a swarm of of a dozen 250g quadrotors to fly in close formation, even though each one is using just one small camera and a simple IMU.

New Delhi [India], Dec 14 (ANI): Higher in resolution than Google Earth/Maps and updated as often as daily, WeDoSky's Drone Data Science solutions help answer the'What' and the'Where' for a geographical area that needs to be monitored. WeDoSky is a data science company focused on generating actionable business insights using drone imagery, to assist various industries like mining, construction, energy and solar. The data extraction and analysis is done using their proprietary software'visualAI' . This is also offered as a standalone SaaS platform for Drone-enabled businesses across the globe. WeDoSky counts titans like Adani Enterprises, Tata Power, Azure Power, and ACC Cement amongst its many clients.

RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA – Authorities say a Southern California couple used a drone to deliver illegal drugs to their customers. Benjamin Baldassarre and Ashley Carroll, of Riverside, were charged Tuesday with possessing controlled substances for sale and child endangerment. Police arrested the couple last Thursday after neighbors suspected they were selling drugs. Authorities say a drone delivered drugs to customers at a nearby parking lot. The customers would then drive by the couple's home and throw their payments on the lawn.