For drones and other autonomous vehicles to carry out lengthy, meaningful assignments such as ongoing aerial surveillance or a day of delivering packages, they will need a reliable way to recharge their batteries with little or no human intervention. Seattle-based startup WiBotic, a spinout from the University of Washington, is developing a suite of wireless charging technology and battery management software that would enable a drone to land on a base station for a quick fill-up, or a slow, battery-friendly overnight recharge. The company, which recently raised a $2.5 million seed funding round from Tsing Capital and other investors, is one of several startups and more established companies trying to crack wireless power, using various technologies, for a wide range of applications. Just in the Seattle area, there's Ossia, which is developing its Cota technology, designed to charge multiple devices in a room, and LaserMotive, which aims to send beams of power to drones in flight or vehicles in space. Wireless charging has been around in concept for a long time.

In January, we wrote about a cybernetic micro air vehicle under development at Draper called DragonflEye. DragonflEye consists of a living, slightly modified dragonfly that carries a small backpack of electronics. The backpack interfaces directly with the dragonfly's nervous system to control it, and uses tiny solar panels to harvest enough energy to power itself without the need for batteries. Draper showed us a nifty looking mock-up of what the system might look like a few months ago, but today, they've posted the first video of DragonflEye taking to the air. The unique thing about DragonflEye (relative to other cyborg insects) is that it doesn't rely on spoofing the insect's sensors or controlling its muscles, but instead uses optical electrodes to inject steering commands directly into the insect's nervous system, which has been genetically tweaked to accept them.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) is taking steps to regulate and help develop the market and intends to create permits for uses such as filming and agricultural spraying, Xinhua quoted the CAAC's deputy director of traffic management, Zhang Ruiqing, as saying.

FAA officials said they were investigating to ensure the deliveries followed federal rules governing commercial drone use in populated areas. The FAA has rules that govern drone altitude, proximity to airports, and flying over people who are not part of the crew flying the drone. The organizers said they took care to comply with regulations.

DRONES are sending back snaps from the deep. Uncrewed vehicles that scour the ocean floor for submerged mines can now beam back images to human operators in close to real time. The technology, developed by Canada's Department of National Defence, could also be used to autonomously map the locations of starfish colonies, for example, or study deep-sea hydrothermal vents. The torpedo-shaped drones constantly scan the ocean floor using sonar, reaching speeds of around 2 metres per second. They use image recognition to search for shapes that look like a submerged mine.

It's hard to believe it's been almost three years since Amazon announced its plan to deliver packages via drone. The first air delivery occurred last December in the UK and the retailer continues to refine the concept with futuristic ideas to perch the flying couriers on streetlights and deploy them from flying warehouses. In a new patent discovered by GeekWire, Amazon's next step is an "Aerial Package Delivery System," a delivery label that includes one of those parachutes that could make shipping via an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that much easier. The patent documents describe a simple workflow for delivery via drone parachute. The images show the steps, which include "Pack item, attach parachute shipping label," "Attach to UAV" and then "Drop at delivery location."

In a saturated eCommerce market, Chinese eCommerce giant Alibaba and its biggest competitor, Tencent Holdings Limited, have their eyes on diversification, and Alibaba is losing ground. Like their American counterpart Amazon, Alibaba and Tencent are fashioning themselves identities that have less and less to do with online shopping and more to do with an integrated life approach. Alipay, Alibaba's mobile payment platform, released a version in Hong Kong dollars this week. Previously, payments could only be made in yuan. Alibaba took an 18 percent stake in supermarket and convenience store operator Lianhua Supermarket Holdings, catapulting the company's stocks as much as 34 percent during Monday morning trading (May 29).

The days of eagerly waiting for the postman to deliver your package could soon be a thing of the past. Amazon has patented a bizarre new system that adds a parachute to a shipping label. The device could help to make sure that packages delivered by drone or other airborne crafts make a soft landing. Amazon has patented a bizarre new system which appears to be shipping label with a built in parachute. Amazon's patent shows a shipping label that conceals a parachute as well as a system of cords and a harness to keep the package in place.

The new DJI Spark drone says it responds to hand gestures for flights. How easy is it to master? Jefferson Graham takes it out for a first flight to find out on #TalkingTech. Over the weekend, I took the DJI Spark out to the beach, performing a series of exercises to control the $499 device that made me look like I was either Jedi master or Tai Chi practitioner. With the force of my hand wave, I could control a digital device -- a magical feeling. Often, the Spark worked as advertised.

General Atomics' new predator drone has broken a company endurance record for non-stop hours in flight. The MQ-9B'SkyGuardian' drone flew for 48.2 hours in a row, with reserve fuel left. The company's previous record was held by the Predator XP drone, which flew 46.1 hours in 2015. The MQ-9B's test flight took off on May 16th, 2017 from Laguna Airfield at Yuma Proving Grounds, Arizona, with 6,065 pounds (2,750 kilograms) of fuel. It flew between 25,000 feet (7,620 meters) and 35,000 feet (10,668 meters) high and landed on May 18th, with 280 pounds (127 kilograms) of reserve fuel left.