After setting a world record for the longest distance traveled on Earth's surface by a robot, Liquid Robotics today unveiled the latest version of its Wave Glider technology.
The updated platform is capable of autonomously prowling the world's seas while analyzing, processing, and transmitting data gathered from a wide variety of on-board sensors.
The new Wave Glider SV3 is essentially a self-powered sea-faring data center, a system that gives users the ability to investigate the world's water ways for months on end. The SV3 features a hybrid propulsion system, Silicon Valley's Liquid Robotics said, that can drive the Wave Glider on either wave or solar power. It also comes with a vectored thruster that lets the robot continue its missions in high seas and dead calms alike.
At its heart, the SV3 is meant to carry a heavy duty load of sensors designed to serve everything from the oil and gas industry to fisheries to coast guards and the military. Its power management systems were designed, the company said, so that its on-board servers can continuously bring in data, and simultaneously analyze the information before transmitting conclusions via satellite communications.
The SV3 was also designed with a data center-like architecture allowing multiple users to each have their own data gathering and crunching take place at the same time, all totally independent of the other. And because the computers are meant to be strong enough to do most of the processing locally, the new Wave Glider can send back conclusions via high-bandwidth, low-power connectivity rather than large amounts of raw data that must then be analyzed once they arrive.
In a sense, Liquid Robotics is hoping that the Wave Glider SV3 can be the Amazon Web Services -- a floating server rack -- of the open oceans, said the company CEO Bill Vass. The system can be dynamically configurable, with multiple ARM-based processors, and can use either solid-sate or spinning disk storage. Customers can choose whatever combination works best for them.
The SV3 is also fully backward compatible with Liquid Robotics' previous generation Wave Glider SV2.
April is Safety Month on Diydrones.com to check out how you can help(Click Here!)
As is customary and traditional, we celebrate every new 1,000 members here and share the traffic stats. This time it's 37,000!
There were almost 2.1 million page views this month! (we get around 70,000 page views a day on average). It took us just 20 days to get this latest 1,000 members--we're averaging one new member every 30 minutes.
Thanks as always to all the community members who make this growth possible, and especially the moderators who approve membership applications and blog posts and otherwise answer questions and keep things ticking here.
(Over 700,000 Visits to the Site in the last Month)
*** This Group's Main Focus is to Help Assist in Any Way in the Development of the Fighting Walrus Radio for iOS telemetry***
This is a group dedicated to networking and organizing/discussing Group Fly Events in and around the Minneapolis area for all Drone,RC,and UAV Hobbyists!
Useful Links to the Fighting Walrus Dev Group and Blogs
This is a concept idea that I want to share with you folks. It's still very much a rough draft until I receive all the pieces and parts I ordered. So please bear with me and my not so artistic drawings/sketches :)
Is this a project you would like to tackle as a community and is this a project you would like to see become more serious?! As a community would you like me to build a discussion or group around this project?! Let me know what you think.
Get your hands on the GYRO Heli command 3.5CH Electric RTF Voice Control RC Helicopter. You can actually control the movements of this amazing helicopter with your voice! Use voice commands like "Take Off" and "Turn Around" to control the helicopter. There are a total of 16 voice commands that you can speak into the included headset as well as a full function transmitter. Use both voice and transmitter controls at the same time for a new and unique way to fly your RC Helicopter. It can also be operated with two people at the same time with one using the Transmitter and one using the Headset! The Heli command features a coaxial rotor and a single rear rotor for precise movement and increased stability whether flying or hovering. This RC helicopter has a metal body making it strong yet light weight so you don't have to worry about breaking anything when you land it a bit too rough. It can go forward, backward, up, down, left, right and hover. At 8 inches long, an 8 inch wingspan and at 4 inches high this RC is the perfect size for indoor use! This product is suitable for ages of 8 and up and is ready to fly, there is no assembly necessary. The Heli command's integrated rechargeable battery charges off the transmitter, all you need to do is put 6 AA batteries (not included) into the transmitter and you're good to go. A must have for fans of helicopters, get the GYRO Heli command 3.5CH Electric RTF Voice Control RC Helicopter today!
Features:
Electric Powered
Built In GYRO
3.5CH Transmitter
Coaxial Main Rotor
Single Rear Rotor
Metal Construction
Ready To Fly
Voice Commands:
Take Off
Fly Up
Fly Down
Backward
Forward
Turn Left
Turn Right
Turn Around
Spiral Up
Drop Down
Dance
Three Point Maneuver
Circle Strafe
Orbit
Drift Maneuver
Double Dash
Includes:
GYRO Heli command 3.5CH Electric RTF Voice Control RC Helicopter
Drones and robotics are being integrated into our lives at an extremely fast pace. Do you ask yourself why? It's because computer/robotics programs can preform tedious tasks over and over at a very high success rate. Their is some kind of unmanned system in almost every piece of technology you own or use today. If you own a Smart Phone for example they are very cheap affordable systems that are being converted at a low cost into amateur robotics and even corporate robotics.
With this fast paced integration of robotics into cars/transportation, medicine/healthcare, and our hobbies their will be people out there that will fear this. It's our job as robotics hobbyists to help inform and educate the people who aren't informed.
With all the Military Drone news most people see on TV they have a bad image painted in their heads. The amateur news articles showcasing great uses for these systems that could revolutionize our lives are often brushed aside. I've seen hundreds of podcast's, video, and projects that are soon going to be hitting the market. These products are going to change everything in our lives and the amount of free time we have in our lives. The Google Map Cars for example have been driving around for years unmanned while avoiding accidents with unpredictable human drivers all around. Soon we will be enjoying TV, Books, and entertainment all inside of our cars on our car rides. We won't be driving cars soon just ridding in them.
I hope that fellow hobbyists feel the urge that I feel to educate and share with the misinformed that the technology that fuels our hobby is safe. With all this technology and fast passed growth and expansion comes the laws and regulations. Over the next 10 years we will see a rise in laws, regulations, permits, rules surrounding our hobby. If we inform more people on the great uses the better the odds will be that Drone/Robotic Regulation will be less harsh on the average robotics/Drone hobbyist. Everyday these technologies get cheaper and cheaper to produce and innovate new affordable products with. Stay informed and educated so you don't miss out on this fast paced hobby.
***Please take all Military Conversation, Political Debates, and other such Debates over to Dronecafe.com***
Nearly 13 hours after he started, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., ended a dramatic, old-fashioned filibuster early Thursday morning -- having held the floor for most of the day and night to rail against the administration's drone program while holding up the nomination of John Brennan for CIA director.
Business in the Senate ground to a halt Wednesday as Paul, aided by colleagues from both parties, launched into the filibuster as he challenged the president’s authority to kill Americans with drones.
Paul's filibuster was longer than most in U.S. history, as most flame out by the 10-hour mark. Paul finished speaking around 12:40 a.m. local time, and his filibuster lasted 12 hours and 52 minutes.
"My legs hurt. My feet hurt. Everything hurts right now," Paul told Fox News shortly after stepping off the Senate floor, saying he believes "we did the best that we could."
"I would be surprised if we didn’t hear back from the White House," Paul said.
Watch Paul discuss his filibuster on Fox News at 2:05 p.m. ET on Thursday.
In a show of support, Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell came to the Senate floor and congratulated Paul for his "tenacity and for his conviction." McConnell also called Obama's choice of Brennan a "controversial nominee."
The late Rep. Strom Thurmond holds the record for the longest filibuster, at more than 24 hours.
Paul is one of several lawmakers -- on both sides of the aisle -- who has raised concerns about the legal justification for launching drone strikes against Americans overseas. But Paul took to the floor after receiving a statement from Attorney General Eric Holder that creaked open the door to the possibility of using a drone to kill an American inside the United States.
“To allow one man to accuse you in secret -- you never get notified you've been accused,” Paul said on the floor. “Your notification is the buzz of propellers on the drone as it flies overhead in the seconds before you're killed. Is that what we really want from our government?”
Paul said he’d be raising the same complaints under a Republican president.
“No one politician should be allowed to judge the guilt, to charge an individual, to judge the guilt of an individual and to execute an individual. It goes against everything that we fundamentally believe in our country,” he said.
The senator, speaking for hours, was later joined by Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, as well as fellow Republican senators -- all of whom dragged out the filibuster by asking Paul lengthy and drawn-out questions. At one point, after the filibuster neared it's eleventh hour, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas began reading numerous Tweets in favor of Paul.
That tactic allowed Paul to take brief breaks -- which included a snack break when the senator ate a Milky Way candy bar -- before resuming his speech.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid briefly interrupted to ask Paul if he planned to allow a vote to end debate. When Paul said he wouldn't, Reid concluded that other senators should acknowledge that their work for the day is "through" and plan to come back Thursday.
Paul, who started speaking shortly before noon, said he will filibuster Brennan's nomination “until I can no longer speak,” though he later suggested he would back down if he received a written assurance from Attorney General Eric Holder that the administration would not carry out drone strikes on noncombatant Americans.
This kind of filibuster is rare – typically, senators “filibuster” by refusing to grant the majority the 60 votes needed to proceed to a final vote on certain bills.
Paul, though, said he wanted to raise the “alarm” about the drone issue.
He spoke after receiving letters from Holder on drone authority.
In one letter, Holder said the U.S. has never carried out a drone strike against one of its citizens on American soil, and called a situation where such a strike may occur "entirely hypothetical" and "unlikely to occur."
However, Holder did not entirely rule out that such a scenario may occur in the future, and indicated that such a strike would be legal under the Constitution.
“It is possible, I suppose, to imagine an extraordinary circumstance in which it would be necessary and appropriate under the Constitution and applicable laws of the United States for the president to authorize the military to use lethal force within the territory of the United States," Holder said.
Holder said "catastrophic" attacks such as the Sept. 11 attacks or the attack on Pearl Harbor are examples of circumstances where the president could conceivably feel such an action is necessary.
Testifying on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, Holder agreed that it would be unconstitutional to use a drone on American soil against a U.S. citizen and suspected terrorist who did not pose an imminent threat.
Brennan has been a staunch supporter of the administration’s drone program. But, after members of the Senate Intelligence Committee extracted key documents on the program from the administration, the panel on Tuesday voted 12-3 to approve the nomination.
Fox News' Chad Pergram contributed to this report.
Drones continue to come home. Nine states, including Minnesota, are working on domestic drone legislation, and a Government Accountability report released last week raises questions about where the federal government is in opening up the skies domestically.
If you need further evidence of how drones are invading our everyday life, there is now a Drone Journalism Lab, a product of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s College of Journalism and Mass Communications.
The American Civil Liberties Union reports that the domestic drone legislation that is perhaps the furthest along is in Florida, where a bill would ban drones with exceptions for certain emergencies, suspected terrorism and surveillance that’s been approved by a judge. The measure is moving through the Legislature even as law enforcement has suggested there should be exceptions to allow monitoring of crowds at things like football games, which, in Florida, often translates into civil disturbance.
Last year, we went to North Dakota to see how the domestic drone debate was playing out. At the time, the federal government was trying to come up with rules and regulations to control the use of drones in domestic airspace. Current domestic use of drones is limited to activities such as law enforcement, search and rescue, forensic photography, border security, weather research and the collection of scientific data.
But drones have a future in everything from pipeline safety to monitoring crops to film production to the real estate industry. The Federal Aviation Administration estimates that about 30,000 drones will be flying over the United States in the next 10 years.
Last week, the Government Accountability Office released a report that said the FAA has made progress but still faces challenges. North Dakota hopes to become one of six test sites for drones, known in military parlance as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, but that process is being delayed by privacy concerns. Other concerns: Drones have yet to successfully develop a “sense-and-avoid” technology to keep from hitting other aircraft.
***Please take all Military Conversation, Political Debates, and other such Debates over to Dronecafe.com***
FERGUS FALLS, MINN. - A few years ago, the folks in Otter Tail County thought they had come up with an efficient and inexpensive way to map county land and check for beaver dams in drainage ditches.
They built their own drone with a couple thousand dollars worth of computer equipment, a garage door remote control, a digital camera they bought at Wal-Mart, and a paper and balsa 9-pound plane anyone could buy on the Internet. Using GPS and Mosaic mapping equipment, they could survey 80 acres of farmland 400 feet overhead in about 20 minutes, a job that could take hours on foot in hip boots or cost thousands if they hired a pilot to fly overhead.
That was until the cease and desist letter came from the federal government. The plane has been grounded since then.
"Somebody from Washington called and said, 'What are you doing?' recalled Brian Armstrong, spatial address coordinator with the county's GIS Department. "I said, 'I'm doing this.' And he said, 'You can't do that.'"
County officials recently sought approval from the FAA to begin flying their drone again, in the process becoming embroiled in the larger debate over the increased domestic use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, more commonly known as drones. Otter Tail County showed up on a list of groups seeking to fly above U.S. skies that included the military, the FBI, Border and Customs Patrol, and NASA.
When the list was made public by a group called the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based consumer digital advocacy group, questions were raised among civil libertarians and conspiracy theorists about why the likes of quiet Otter Tail County in west-central Minnesota would need its own drone. Ever since, Brian Armstrong has been explaining that his drone would be used for surveying, not surveillance.
"I got caught up in the 'Why are you spying on us?' program," he said, "In other countries, people use this for monitoring crops, managing wildlife. There's a lot of uses people have for these small remote-controlled aircraft."
When it was operating, the Otter Tail County drone was never anything more than what you could fly with your kids in the park on a Sunday. Armstrong operated the plane with two people on each end of the flight path, with two additional spotters strictly to watch for "hot air balloons, 747s and fighter jets so it wouldn't crash into anybody at a whooping 400 feet above the ground," Armstrong said.
When he inquired about what would be needed to qualify for federal approval, he was told he had to be a registered pilot and that his ground crew needed to pass airmen physicals.
"All to sit in a lawn chair with a pair of binoculars to watch a plane 400 feet above the ground snapping photographs."
***Please take all Military Conversation, Political Debates, and other such Debates over to Dronecafe.com***
Please let me know what you think about the website and having a place to have drone political debates and other hot issues! The site is geared towards providing a place for the types of political debates on drones that doesn't fit diydrones.com main purpose and terms of service. Also watch the video if you want to learn more about the current status of the site and more.
***If anyone has any knowledge in voice control, programming, Siri code, or anything useful to this project please help contribute. You can do that by giving me all the information that you think I would find useful in completing my goals for this project.***
Many R/C and Robotics enthusiasts build Robotic Vehicle parts using 3D printing and find the technology very useful. A group of scientists from the European Space Agency took it to the next level!
***Footage of how the helicopter flies is in the second half of the video***
Drone Cafe - Episode 8 - Micro Siri Heli - Part 1
***Part 2 I am going to open up the Heli for the first time and make a video about whats inside, how much space is available, and what my options are***
If anyone has any knowledge in voice control, programming, Siri code, or anything useful to this project please help contribute. You can do that by giving me all the information that you think I would find useful in completing my goals for this project.
Every Wednesday At 12:00AM CST I am releasing a new DIY Episode that will feature ways to modify simple R/C's that people new to R/C's and Drones can understand and preform on their vehicle.
***Their is also a Diydroneslive Chat group I made on Skype so we can mass communicate and assist each other as a community***
I'm providing anyone that need's assistance with anything diydrones.com related issues, concerns, or questions with 24/7 Live or IM Assistance via Skype. Add me on Skype if you would like Live Assistance or just want to have a great conversation about drones, robotics, uavs, etc.
