San Francisco, land of unrestrained tech wealth and the attendant hoodies and $29 loaves of bread, just said whoa whoa whoa to delivery robots. The SF Board of Supervisors voted on Tuesday, December 5 to severely restrict the machines, which roll on sidewalks and autonomously dodge obstacles like dogs and buskers. Now startups will have to get permits to run their robots under strict guidelines in particular zones, typically industrial areas with low foot traffic. And even then, they may only do so for research purposes, not making actual deliveries. It's perhaps the harshest crackdown on delivery robots in the United States--again, this in the city that gave the world an app that sends someone to your car to park it for you.

As drones and their components get smaller, more efficient, and more capable, we've seen an increasing amount of research towards getting these things flying by themselves in semi-structured environments without relying on external localization. The University of Pennsylvania has done some amazing work in this area, as has DARPA's Fast Lightweight Autonomy program. At NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, they've been working on small drone autonomy for the past few years as part of a Google-funded project. The focus is on high-speed dynamic maneuvering, in the context of flying a drone as fast as possible around an indoor race course using only on-board hardware. For the project's final demo, JPL raced their autonomous drones through an obstacle course against a professional human racing drone pilot.

Shares of AeroVironment Inc., a drone manufacturer based in Monrovia, soared Wednesday after the company reported strong second-quarter earnings, boosted by a growth in sales of unmanned aircraft systems. AeroVironment stock was up as much as 34% on Wednesday morning before losing some of its gains. It was up 26% at $54.49 around noon Pacific time. The company held its second-quarter earnings call with analysts Tuesday afternoon and reported revenue of $73.8 million, a 47% increase compared with the same period last year. AeroVironment attributed the gain to increased sales of unmanned aircraft systems, which includes drones, on-board cameras and sensors and ground control stations.

South Korea planned to introduce a new counter to North Korea's burgeoning nuclear weapons program: drones. South Korean news wire agency Yonhap reported Tuesday that the nation planned to roll out a new weaponized drone unit next year. "The Army plans to set up a special organization to lead the development of dronebots, establish a standard platform and expand the dronebot program by function," an Army official told Yonhap, asking not be named because they weren't authorized to discuss the matter. "To begin with, we will launch a dronebot combat unit next year and use it as a'game changer' in warfare." The drones primary function will be for surveillance -- North Korea has launched a number of ballistic missile tests this year and many of them came without warning.

As more people shoot pictures and videos from consumer drones, researchers in Singapore have found a way round the frustrating task of framing and taking photos while manually piloting the craft. More than 2.8 million consumer drones are expected to be sold this year, up from 2 million last year, says research firm Gartner. Most carry some kind of camera. Picture taken November 27, 2017. The user tells the drone to take photographs from different angles of the subject, such as a statue. Next, the shot is composed by moving objects on photos from a sample gallery.

"We want to enable more intuitive and natural interaction with the flying drone to take photos autonomously - even for the novice user who has not used drones before," said Ziquan Lan, one of four researchers behind the project.Their innovation, called XPose, works in several stages. The user tells the drone to take photographs from different angles of the subject, such as a statue. Next, the shot is composed by moving objects on photos from a sample gallery.

Industrial Robotics and Automation - According to Jacobs, "while many believe robotics has only recently become a viable technology, some firms have been involved in the space for decades. Industrial automation sector includes robotics companies in the Asia Pacific." Non-Industrial Robotics - " We view robotics & AI as a transformational theme because its disruptive force is not limited to industrial manufacturing. Health care is one non-industrial segment that is rapidly adopting robotics technology," said Jacobs. Unmanned Vehicles and Drones - "Although militaries remain the predominant users of drone technology, commercial usage is accelerating as firms incorporate drones into parcel delivery, agriculture, inspections, and emergency response. According to the FAA, commercial drone usage is expected to grow 10-fold from 2016 to 2021," said Jacobs.

Peregrine falcons attack their prey on the wing as if they were air-to-air guided missiles, a study has found. Lessons from the birds' control strategy could aid the development of robot interceptors designed to bring down rogue drones, scientists believe. For the study, researchers obtained a birds-eye-view of falcons in flight using miniature video cameras attached to the birds' backs. Peregrine falcons attack their prey on the wing as if they were air-to-air guided missiles, a study has found. For the study, researchers obtained a birds-eye-view of falcons in flight using miniature video cameras attached to the birds' backs (pictured) The scientists were surprised to find that the peregrine falcon's'terminal attack' trajectory followed a mathematical guidance law used to steer homing missiles to their targets.

Engineers have been spotted testing a prototype drone that should allow Amazon packages to be dropped off safely. The prototype was seen being lowered up and down by a huge crane as tests are carried out to ensure the drone can avoid obstacles and land safely in gardens. Seattle-based Amazon is believed to be testing its sophisticated'sense and avoid' technology at a secret location in the Cambridgeshire countryside. Seattle-based Amazon is believed to be testing its sophisticated'sense and avoid' technology This would enable the drones to eventually fly for ten miles at 400ft (121m) and carry packages of up to 5lbs (2.2kg) to people's homes in under 30 minutes. The size of the drones is unknown, with various shapes and sizes being tested, but some have been estimated as measuring between 17 and 25 inches wide.

"With this in mind, the UASTF recommends that the Legislature consider legislation that would prohibit interference with a key facility, as currently defined in statute with a UAS. This legislation should include no specific airspace restriction, but rather a prohibition on a certain conduct such as'interference' or similarly defined term," the task force's report states.