Infi-Zeal's Blog

At the Center for the Study of the Drone This fall season has been a busy one for the drone industry, and, for some a very lucrative one. The past few months have seen a spike in the sale of military unmanned systems, especially U.S. technologies that were previously restricted for export, while the commercial industry has seen a number of bold moves from startups and established industry leaders alike as market competition heats up. Here’s what you need to know. News A U.S. drone strike in Afghanistan reportedly killed Khan Sayed, a commander of a breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban. The strike took place in Khost Province, near the border with Pakistan. At least 12 other militants are believed to have been killed in the strike. (New York  Times ) Switzerland concluded a deal with Israeli drone manufacturer Elbit Systems to purchase an unspecified number of Hermes 900 drones, a medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned reconnaissance aircr...

When engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, outfitted a six-legged robotic bug with wings in an effort to improve its mobility, they unexpectedly shed some light on the evolution of flight. Even though the wings significantly improved the running performance of the 10-centimeter-long robot -- called DASH, short for Dynamic Autonomous Sprawled Hexapod -- they found that the extra boost would not have generated enough speed to launch the critter from the ground. The wing flapping also enhanced the aerial performance of the robot, consistent with the hypothesis that flight originated in gliding tree-dwellers. The research team, led by Ron Fearing, professor of electrical engineering and head of the Biomimetic Millisystems Lab at UC Berkeley, reports its conclusions online on Oct. 18, in the peer-reviewed journal Bioinspiration and Biomimetics . Using robot models could play a useful role in studying the origins of flight, particularly since fossil evidence is so ...