Drones

Mavic Air 2 released last year, met the excitement of the tech community by a good measure. Now, DJI has released the successor to the drone, called the “Air 2S.” It has dropped the Mavic from the name, but the quadcopter doesn’t drop on any features from its predecessor. In fact, it builds on them, and the overall performance of Mavic Air 2. The noteworthy ones being the bump-up in photography and video shooting abilities.

Continue Reading

DJI has revealed its newest consumer drone, with the DJI Air 2S pairing the portability the Air range is known for, with a new, larger camera sensor for better video and images. The 1-inch sensor is capable of 20-megapixel still images or 5.4K video, DJI says, and there's new post-flight software which promises to do some of the heavy lifting around editing for you as well.

Continue Reading

It has just been a month since DJI unveiled its FPV drone, perhaps one of the more interesting products it launched in the past few months. It is, however, still not done and another drone might just be around the corner. Like the DJI Mini 2 last year, it seems that the company is slowly retiring its "Mavic" brand if this upcoming DJI Air 2s is a close relative. Despite the name, however, it actually represents a rather major jump in terms of specs and features, almost making it worthy of being a DJI Air 3 instead.

Continue Reading

After a first few awkward and ill-fated attempts, drone shows have become a bit more common these days, at least for companies and organizations that can afford to deploy as many drones possible to create a captivating nighttime show. If you thought Intel's 1,218 drones in the 2018 Winter Olympics was already breath-taking, then the more than 3,000 drones that lit up central Shanghai might be even more enchanting, courtesy of Hyundai's luxury marque Genesis.

Continue Reading

Dreams of delivering products via drones or even self-driving cars have been around for years, maybe even decades. The current pandemic, however, made such contactless systems seem almost even more necessary than before. Those technologies and the laws around them are still in development but some have already started to pave the way to make that the new normal. In Ireland, for example, Samsung will be delivering some of its most recent mobile devices via drones to make the process not only safe but also faster.

Continue Reading

The latest example of drones supporting healthcare in rural regions comes from Gavi, UPS, and Zipline, which have delivered hundreds of COVID-19 vaccine doses to remote regions in Africa using small autonomous aircraft. The first delivery took place on March 2 in Ghana's Mpanya, where a Zipline drone delivered a payload of 250 COVID-19 vaccine doses.

Continue Reading

Autonomous submersible probes and drones are of use to scientists all around the world for exploring the oceans. There are challenges with designing underwater drones and other autonomous underwater vehicles because they can be intrusive to the environment and have trouble fitting through confined spaces. Researchers at Purdue University have created a new underwater drone that's highly maneuverable and low cost.

Continue Reading

DJI has revealed its latest drone, with the DJI FPV promising a first-person viewpoint for pilots and a new, single-handed motion controller for easier flying. Described by the company as a hybrid drone, it claims to combine the speed and agility of a racer while still delivering the cinematic camerawork of a traditional model.

Continue Reading

Autonomous drone company Skydio has just raised another $170 million in funding, with its "flying robot" tech earning it a $1+ billion valuation as it evolves beyond its initial consumer products. Revealed back in 2016, and launching commercially in early 2018 with the Skydio R1, Skydio's technology borrowed concepts more familiar from self-driving car projects to make anybody a pro-pilot.

Continue Reading

DJI seems to have a leak problem so bad that you might begin to wonder if it's an intentional marketing ploy instead. After all, it's one thing to have photos and anonymous hands-on videos running around the Web and quite another when people can just walk into a retail store and buy one ahead of a new model's official announcement. It seems that DJI's first-ever FPV or First-Person View drone is no exception with an unboxing video now circulating a month before it officially takes to the skies.

Continue Reading

Researchers have been conducting an investigation into dragonflies in hopes that details on how the insects fly and remain stable in the air could be used to inspire new designs for drones and other small aerial aircraft. The team used high-speed cameras and CGI technology to learn the dragonfly's built-in mechanisms for righting itself if it's thrown off balance in the air.

Continue Reading

Drones have been a controversial topic in the aviation industry, with regulators still on the fence about approving these unmanned aerial vehicles for commercial use. The pandemic, however, may have made the need for drones, which reduced the need for human contact, even more urgent. While the US Federal Aviation Administration has given its green light for the use of many drones, those came with rather hard requirements when it came to the involvement of humans. Now the FAA has lifted that restriction for one drone maker, removing the need for having a human nearby.

Continue Reading