Astro Teller has an unusual way of starting a new project: He tries to kill it. Teller is the head of X, formerly Google X, the advanced technology lab of Alphabet. At X's headquarters not far from the Googleplex in Mountain View, Calif., Teller leads a group of engineers, inventors, and designers devoted to futuristic "moonshot" projects like self-driving cars, delivery drones, and Internet-beaming balloons. To turn their wild ideas into reality, Teller and his team have developed a unique approach. It starts with trying to prove that whatever it is that you're trying to do can't be done--in other words, trying to kill your own idea. As Teller explains, "Instead of saying, 'What's most fun to do about this or what's easiest to do first?' we say, 'What is the most likely reason this project won't make it?' The ideas that survive get additional rounds of scrutiny, and only a tiny fraction eventually becomes official projects; the proposals that are found to have an Achilles' heel are ...

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Delivering objects via drone is a tempting notion bound by hard constraints: drones are small, so the cargo has to be small. Drones need power to fly, and any additional weight requires more power to cover the same distance, which further limits the size of the cargo. For a drone delivery to make sense, then, the small cargo has to justify both its weight and the urgency of a drone flight. Pound for pound and ounce for ounce, few cargoes match that limitation better than blood. In a study published in the journal Transfusion, Johns Hopkins researcher Timothy Amukele demonstrated that drones are a safe and efficient way to get blood pouches to remote locations.

Security officials, police and legal experts from around the world are gathered in London for a global conference on tackling the threats posed to prisons, airports, nuclear facilities and other infrastructure by consumer drones. The Countering Drones conference, which organisers describe as the first of its kind, reflects concerns that increasingly high-powered and affordable models of drones are posing new and wide-ranging security challenges for police and other protection forces. Nearly 80% of people surveyed by Defence IQ, the conference organisers, said they believed a major security incident involving drones in civilian airspace was strongly likely or almost certain to happen in the next five years. In some areas, such as at airports and in prisons, drones are already causing widespread disruption, but the conference also highlights areas such as at sporting events and seaports, where threats posed by unmanned aircraft are still emerging. The conference is sponsored by defence companies Thales and Rheinmetall with tickets starting at £599 a head.

Paramedics and rescue teams can't always afford to wait for blood supplies, especially when they're in remote locations where most vehicles would take too long (or can't visit at all). However, they might not have to worry for much longer. Johns Hopkins researchers have determined that it's safe to carry large bags of blood products (such as transfusions) using drones. In a study, they discovered that the robotic fliers didn't affect the chemical, hemotological or microbial traits of samples flown at an altitude of 328 feet, even when carrying it as far as 12 miles away. So long as the blood is kept in a temperature-monitored cooler, it's usable almost right away.

The history of robotics is littered with inspiration from animals. Called biomimicry, it has often been used by scientists to solve complex structural and design problems. In a new related development, researchers from University of California, Berkeley, designed a small robot, which has "the highest robotic vertical jumping agility ever recorded." Known as Salto (short for saltatorial locomotion on terrain obstacles), the robot is 10.2 inches tall when fully extended and can jump up to 1 meter (almost 3.3 feet), which is more than three times its full height. Its development was inspired by galago, a small African primate known for its jumping ability.

Boeing Co. will acquire floating-drone maker Liquid Robotics, the aerospace giant said Tuesday. Based in Sunnyvale, Liquid Robotics developed the Wave Glider, a surfboard-shaped drone that floats on the ocean surface and collects data, propelling itself for up to a year using wave and solar power. In 2014, Liquid Robotics formed a partnership with Boeing to develop a military version of the Wave Glider called SHARC -- the Sensor Hosting Autonomous Remote Craft -- that combines Liquid Robotics' platform with Boeing's sensor technology. Boeing said it sees the SHARC as a way to connect intelligence-gathering efforts between underwater vehicles, aircraft and satellites. Liquid Robotics' headquarters will remain in Sunnyvale, though the company will be part of Boeing's autonomous systems unit, which is based in St. Louis.

Radical'tailsitter' drone can carry as much weaponry as a Predator and turn ANY ship into an aircraft carrier Will be used to allow small Navy boats to launch drone attacks 30ft wide tern drone has to have'single wing' design Concept was first tested in the 1950s and will be flown in 2018 Darpa plans to build a full-scale demonstrator system of a medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned air system (UAS) designed to use forward-deployed small ships as mobile launch and recovery sites. Astronomers find water DOES exist... Christmas crackdown on DRONES: FAA tells owners they will... The drone that will CHASE thieves: Security UAV will follow... Astronomers find water DOES exist... Christmas crackdown on DRONES: FAA tells owners they will... The drone that will CHASE thieves: Security UAV will follow... Initial ground-based testing, if successful, would lead to an at-sea demonstration of takeoff, transition to and from horizontal flight, and landing--all from a test platform with a deck size similar to that of a destroyer or other small surface-combat vessel. The American Lockheed XFV (sometimes referred to as the Salmon) was an experimental tailsitter prototype.

They don't transport people around, but drones would fall under Elaine Chao's purview if President-elect Donald Trump's nominee is confirmed as secretary of Transportation. In the role, Chao -- who was Labor secretary under George W. Bush -- would oversee the nation's transportation systems and infrastructure, a wide-ranging job that also encompasses cars, trains and ships. Among the questions she'll have to answer on the drone front: whether the unmanned aerial vehicles will eventually be allowed to fly farther than their operators can see, function autonomously and fly over people on the ground. Silicon Valley voted heavily for Hillary Clinton, but companies working on driverless cars seem overjoyed with President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for transportation secretary, Elaine Chao. Chao will wield great power over how driverless cars and other automated vehicles will be regulated –... Silicon Valley voted heavily for Hillary Clinton, but companies working on driverless cars seem overjoyed with President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for transportation secretary, Elaine Chao.

As the Chevrolet Bolt EV finally starts to arrive in dealerships this month, General Motors has a new approved accessory, AeroVironment's new 32-amp EVSE-RS charger. With an official EPA-estimated driving range of 238 miles, the Bolt is far less likely to require opportunistic charging during the course of an average day than prior mainstream electric cars. But in order to make sure you don't actually need to be on the lookout for public chargers when you're out and about, you'll want to make sure you leave home every day with a full battery and that's where AeroVironment comes into the picture. GM and AeroVironment have a long relationship when it comes to electric cars. The California company actually developed and built the original GM Impact concept that was eventually transformed into the production EV1.