UAVOS has joined the High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS) industry Alliance to promote the use of high-altitude solar-powered autonomous aircraft for facilitating global research missions, communication, connectivity, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance from the stratosphere. By joining the HAPS Alliance, UAVOS will collaborate with member companies towards accelerating the development and adoption of HAPS technology into the evolution of the high altitude unmanned platforms market. UAVOS says that its HAPS knowledge is based on test flights for more than 1000 hours of HAPS flight tests at altitudes of up to 66,000 feet. The ApusDuo project is the second generation of UAVOS’ HAPS solar airplane.

Following successful tests conducted at the end of May, Chinese construction machinery manufacturer XCMG has unveiled its autonomous Road Roller, which it developed in collaboration with the Sichuan Railway Investment Group and Tsinghua University. The autonomous Road Roller made its debut along the Panda Expressway, which is currently under construction between Panzhihua, Sichuan Province and Dali, Yunnan Province. “Over 81% of Panda Expressway consists of bridges and tunnels, making it one of China's key smart transportation infrastructure projects,” says Cui Jisheng, general manager of XCMG Road Machinery.

Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor for DARPA’s Squad X program, has awarded BAE Systems a $3.5 million contract to provide key autonomy and artificial intelligence capabilities that would not only advance the effectiveness of tactical robotic air and ground vehicles, but also create true partnerships between ground warfighters – Soldiers and Marines – and machines at the small-unit level.

RE2 Robotics will continue the development and commercialization of its technology under the Dexterous Maritime Manipulation System (DM2S) program after receiving $2.5 million in funding from the Office of Naval Research.  Equipped with RE2’s DM2S technology, Navy personnel will be able to autonomously perform mine countermeasure (MCM) missions. During the next phase of the program, RE2 Robotics will upgrade its dual-arm prototype, known as the Maritime Dexterous Manipulation System (MDMS), for deep ocean use. To enable autonomous manipulation capabilities, the company will also apply computer vision and machine-learning algorithms. Lastly, RE2 says that it will integrate with underwater vehicles that can autonomously navigate.