Starting next week, a drone will hover over Houston, assessing the damage Hurricane Harvey caused and finding areas that need more help. The American Red Cross will conduct the survey in one of the most badly affected areas of the city for a week as part of the first drone disaster-relief program in the US. This week-long pilot period involves the use of a Cyphy drone that's tethered to a generator, so it can operate for lengthy periods of time, and has a 30x zoom camera to provide miles of visibility from 400 feet above ground. According to the Red Cross, the images the drone takes will help it funnel aid to areas that need it the most. They will also be used to evaluate billions of dollars of damage for insurance, since that's a necessary step towards the city's recovery.

Avitas Systems, a GE subsidiary based in Boston, is now using drones and robots to automate the inspection of infrastructure such as pipelines, power lines, and transportation systems. The company is using off-the-shelf machine-learning technology from Nvidia (50 Smartest Companies 2017) to guide the checkups, and to automatically identify anomalies in the data collected. The effort shows how low-cost drones and robotic systems--combined with rapid advances in machine learning--are making it possible to automate whole sectors of low-skill work. While there is plenty of worry about the automation of jobs in manufacturing and offices, routine security and safety inspections may be one of the first big areas to be undermined by advances in AI. Drones have been used on some industrial sites for a while (see "New Boss on Construction Sites Is a Drone"), and various companies, such as Kespry, Flyability, and CyPhy, offer aerial systems for monitoring mines, inspecting wind turbines, and assessing building insurance claims.

According to Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, if you want to see the makings of the next data revolution, all you need to do is look up. "Look up" at drones, that is, Krzanich told the audience during his keynote at the InterDrone conference in Las Vegas. Drones possess the ability to capture precise data for industries like agriculture, construction and infrastructure inspection, even in the most demanding situations and environments. As such, unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs (the industry's preferred term for drones) are one of the most important technologies of the data age, Krzanich said. Intel has a special interest in the future role of UAVs in business.

The future of the U.S. military may be focused on artificial intelligence (A.I.), an effort that could improve cybersecurity, precision weaponry and other military functions. A recent report from the Harvard's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs states that advancements in the last five years have made it possible for the U.S. military to expand its use of A.I. in the near future-- but only if certain questions are addressed first. "Though the United States military and intelligence communities are planning for expanded use of A.I. across their portfolios, many of the most transformative applications of A.I. have not yet been addressed," the report, written by Greg Allen and Taniel Chan, states. "We propose three goals for developing future policy on A.I. and national security: preserving U.S. technological leadership, supporting peaceful and commercial use and mitigating catastrophic risk." The researchers examined nuclear, aerospace, cyber and biotech opportunities to develop recommendations for national security policy involving A.I .funding

Whether you think drones are super-great or want to shoot them out of the sky, they've become increasingly vital for missions like crop spraying, inspection and filming. Yet, it's impossible for operators to get the kind of detailed weather info that airplane pilots have because UAVs generally fly at much lower altitudes. Now, a company called Earth Networks is unveiling Sferic DroneFlight, "hyperlocal, low-altitude weather weather forecasting for drone operators. Earth Networks will deliver detailed regional forecasts from 10 to 400 feet of altitude (in 10 foot increments) at any location in the world. You'll see hourly forecasts for wind speed and direction up to six days ahead of time, making it easier to plan tricky missions.

Optimus, a drone manufactured by Airobotics, the Israeli drone maker that says it has recently been granted the first certificate in the world to fly a fully automated drone, with no human operator, is seen during a demonstration for Reuters near their offices in Petah Tikva, Israel March 20, 2017. Picture taken March 20, 2017.

Automation seems to be the future, with top tech firms racing to dominate drone delivery by land, sea and air. The world's first unmanned ghost ships could take to the seas by the end of the decade, but they also pose unique problems that will need to be overcome. In an article for The Conversation, Christian Matthews, head of maritime technology at Liverpool John Moores University, explains the challenges ahead. Norway-based Yara has revealed its plans to develop the world's first all-electric and autonomous container ship that is predicted to remove 747 tons (678 tonnes) of carbon dioxide from the air by reducing diesel-powered truck haulage by 40,000 journeys a year Researchers have developed the world's first autonomous, zero-emissions cargo ship, The Yara Birkeland. Developed by agriculture company Yara International ASA and high-technology systems firm Kongsberg Gruppen, will be capable of autonomous mooring and route planning.

Appearing as a giant saucer, the Silicon Valley site near the 280 Highway will be home to 13,000 Apple employees. There will be jogging and cycling trails, with more than a thousand bikes kept on site at all times, which staff can use to make their way around. The Spaceship will have 360-degree curved glass fronted walls and central courtyard as well as a 1,000-seater auditorium, a gym and 300,000 square feet of'research' space. Apple Campus 2 will additionally have underground parking hidden from view, meaning 80 per cent of the site can be covered in trees. The site was previously owned by Hewlett Packard and the majority of the area is currently covered in asphalt.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Chinese manufacturer SZ DJI Technology Co Ltd, the world's largest civilian drone maker, said on Wednesday it was hunting for security flaws in its flight-control software after coders found its apps could be "hot patched" to circumvent scrutiny by Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc.

I have many jobs, but one of my favorite is finding crazy stuff on the internet and using physics to see if it is real or fake. In this case we have a video that shows a drone carrying a human in a hammock. I'll go ahead and say it--this is probably fake. You can't tell if the video is real or fake without first understanding the basics of drone flight. In particular, we need to look at the physics of what makes a drone hover.