ROS is primarily used by ground-based robots, but there is a user group here on DIY Drones who is exploring its use for drones, too. (Any Arduino-based platform can become a ROS node). Now there's a 101 tutorial for people are want to learn more about ROS.

From …

From the Google Earth blog:

Around a year ago Paul van Dinther shared a cubic spline curve that identified a …

For some, the word "drone" may conjure images of scary flying machines going off to battle.…

Amazing to see this picture, which is from the Tahoe ski resort we often visit (now totally devoid of snow). A drone in this familiar square brings both the mainstreaming of drones and the severity of current California drought into sharp focus for me.

From the …

From New Scientist:

A drone with legs can perch just like a bird – or land and walk on flat surfaces. Bhargav Gajjar of Vishwa…

Good news from Andrew Tridgell and the rest of the APM:Plane (ArduPlane) dev team: they've pushed out a major new release (2.77). Major changes include: lots of updates for PX4 and Pixhawk, dual sensor support on Pixhawk and new throttle arming code.

The following is from Tridge's release announcement. Please post any questions or comments there. 



Pixhawk…

From The Wire:

To reinforce her concerns about the use of commercial drones, California Senator Dianne Feinstein told…

If you're in the Bay Area, this is just a reminder that MAKE is hosting a drone fly-in at the Paintball Jungle in Vallejo on Monday, 1-4pm. I'm planning to be there with some kids, who have been wanting to try their hand at paintball. Presumably the drones and paintball fighting will be separated, but who knows?.  [UPDATE: Turns out that the paintball field will be closed for this event, so it's drones-only. If it's…

A great exercise in using CAD and 3D printing to improve drone design from MAKE and 3D Systems:

My job at 3D Systems gives me the 3D tools to tinker at a high level. The highest level, really, considering we’ve got scanning, design, and 3D printing right…

From Make:

Next Tuesday, Jan. 21, we release Volume 37—the “homegrown drones” issue. The magazine will be filled with profiles, projects, and stories about maker friendly multicopters. As part of our coverage online we want to see how and where the…

I agree! From The Verge:

In today's Senate drone hearing, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) got personal, describing a rally held outside her home earlier this year. "I went to the…

First cool thing: ArduCopter is on the cover of the new MAKE magazine, which is all about drones! Second, they're hosting a drones fly-in:

This coming Tuesday we are excited to release Volume 37 of the magazine. The issue, which is the first of…

From Poynter.org:

Last Wednesday, The (Spokane, Wash.) Spokesman-Review published a minute-long, aerial video of a local…

Interesting research from UCSD on using the innovative Sony QX100 for UAVs. 

The QX100…

Just launched at CES from AirDroids: the $500 Pocket Drone. Looks good! APM-based and well-engineered. From the Kickstarter listing:

We saw a lot of kits out there that…

Sounds like sub-$1000 UAV-quality IR camera are coming soon. FLIR announced an IR camera for smartphones today, along with the low-cost sensor package (Lepton) behind it. 

FLIR Systems, Inc.announces the launch of…

From IEEE Spectrum:

A group of researchers from the Center for the Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets at the University of Kansas is right…

If I had to guess, I would have predicted that Parrot would announce an outdoors quadcopter with better camera than the AR.Drone to compete with the DJI Phantom Vision, but instead they went even further into the toy realm with a "MiniDrone" that has no camera at all.…

From The Verge:

In October, PETA launched the Air…

From Makezine:

This cool project was built by a Danish company, Valhalla Drone Solutions, a group of seven engineers from the University of Southern Denmark in Odense. It’s a…