Weaponized drones, Walmart tries to catch up with Amazon, drone swarms and UFOs, disinfecting a stadium with a drone, converting old biplanes to unmanned aircraft, and a video of whales swimming with surfers.
The i9 is a weaponized drone created for the UK’s Strategic Command by an unnamed company. It’s a human-operated, 6-rotor drone, about a meter across and intended as a breaching weapon for urban warfare. It uses machine vision to identify targets and carries twin shotguns.
There is some resistance to lethal autonomous weapons, including weaponized drones, although the i9 is reportedly not autonomous. The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots says the “US, China, Israel, South Korea, Russia, and the UK are developing weapons systems with significant autonomy in the critical functions of selecting and attacking targets.” They are concerned that taking lives without human intervention crosses a moral threshold. The organization published the paper “Country Positions on Negotiating a Treaty to Ban and Restrict Killer Robots” [PDF] which lists 30 countries that have called for a prohibition on fully autonomous weapons. The UK and the US are not included.
Walmart partnered with drone delivery company Flytrex to deliver “select grocery and household essential items” with automated drones. Walmart is also partnering with Zipline for health and wellness products. Delivery test trials are scheduled for 2021. In addition, Walmart is partnering with Quest Diagnostics and DroneUp for at-home COVID-19 self-collection kits. Amazon and Walmart are pursuing different strategies: Amazon is developing their own drones while Walmart is relying on 3rd parties.
Verge Aero provides drone light shows and the software needed to produce them, making them experts in drone swarming. They’ve assisted the History Channel with their series Unidentified: Inside America’s UFO Investigations. That show wanted to know if drone swarming technology could lead to UFO sightings.
American football is proceeding with caution. Some games are being played with no spectators and others are allowing a small number of fans into the stadium. Mercedes-Benz Stadium, home to the Atlanta Falcons, has partnered with Lucid Drone Technologies as part of their...
