Optimus Ride has announced plans to deploy its self-driving vehicles at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and Fairfield, California's Paradise Valley Estates. With these deployments, residents and workers at both sites will have access to efficient and convenient self-driving mobility within defined, geofenced areas, according to Optimus Ride. The Brooklyn Navy Yard deployment, which is expected to launch in the second quarter of 2019, will be the first commercial self-driving vehicle program in the state of New York. The vehicles will operate on the Brooklyn Navy Yard’s private roads, as they provide a loop shuttle service to connect NYC Ferry passengers to Flushing Avenue outside the Yard’s perimeter.

Researchers at the University of Washington are working on a robotic system that can feed people who need someone to help them eat. The robot identifies different foods on a plate, and then strategizes how to use a fork to pick up and deliver the desired bite to a person’s mouth. “Being dependent on a caregiver to feed every bite every day takes away a person’s sense of independence,” says Siddhartha Srinivasa, the Boeing Endowed Professor in the UW’s Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering. Srinivasa is a corresponding author in a series of papers that the researchers published their results in.

Cambridge Consultants has unveiled its autonomous robot, Mamut, which is built to explore crop fields, and capture data on health and yield at the level of individual plants on a large scale. According to Cambridge Consultants, Mamut automates data capture, providing growers with regular, precise and actionable information on their crops, which allows them to predict and optimize yields. Powered by artificial intelligence, Mamut is equipped with a wide range of sensors, and can map and navigate its surroundings without GPS or a fixed radio infrastructure. Its cameras capture detailed crop data at the plant level as it makes its way through rows of a field, orchard or vineyard, allowing for accurate predictions of yield and crop health.

ParaZero Technologies Ltd has announced the release of the SafeAir Phantom System to the market for sale on its website. Described as a smart parachute system, the SafeAir Phantom System, which is ASTM compliant, monitors UAS flight in real time, identifies critical failures, and autonomously triggers a parachute, a flight termination system and an audio-warning buzzer. ​Over the last year and a half, ParaZero has worked with several entities including the FAA and DJI to create a standard for small UAS parachutes that would enable flight over people. Released in Sept. 2018, the standard (ASTM F3322-18) defines the requirements for the design, manufacturing and testing of small UAS parachute systems.