The Ongoing Mission To Teach Drones To Think For Themselves

The popular term “drone,” which conjures images of remote-controlled flying zombies, is becoming less and less descriptive of the latest unmanned aerial vehicles.

 New applications are requiring more autonomy and intelligence from UAVs.

“When people think about drones, they largely think of big military assets that are flying high in the sky where there’s not a whole lot of anything to hit,” says Nick Roy, director of CSAIL’s Robust Robotics Group.

“But there are a lot of applications for smaller scale UAVs working closer to the ground that require more autonomy, such as agricultural monitoring, package delivery, and situational awareness for first responders.”

Teaching UAVs and other robots to think for themselves is RRG’s central mission. “We want UAVs to be able to operate in urban environments, to get useful things done, and interact with people,” says Roy.

 “We want them to become as intelligent as they need to be for the task at hand.”

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Meet The FBI’s Secret ‘Eye In The Sky’ Overseeing The Baltimore Riots 

As the controversy surrounding the upcoming Jade Helm military exercises has made abundantly clear, Americans are growing more distrustful of a federal government they perceive as being increasingly willing to infringe upon the civil liberties of US citizens. Fears that Washington is conducting clandestine activities aimed at gathering intelligence about the US populace and the notion that we are witnessing a creeping militarization of US cities has many Americans on edge and as the following story from the Washington Post makes clear, it’s not paranoia if they’re really watching you.

Via WaPo:

As Benjamin Shayne settled into his back yard to listen to the Orioles game on the radio Saturday night, he noticed a small plane looping low and tight over West Baltimore — almost exactly above where rioting had erupted several days earlier, in the aftermath of the death of a black man, Freddie Gray, in police custody.

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Drone 'Containing Radiation' Lands On Roof Of Japanese PM's Office 

Japanese authorities have launched an investigation after a small drone reportedly containing traces of radiation was found on the roof of the prime minister's office Wednesday, sparking concerns about drones and their possible use for terrorist attacks. The drone was about 50cm in diameter and had four propellers, carrying a small camera and a plastic bottle with unidentified contents inside, according to Tokyo's Metropolitan police department. The drone was also decorated with a symbol that warns of radioactive material, according to NHK.

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