IHP
IHP
Autonomous shuttle service headed to Albemarle County, Virginia
An autonomous shuttle service is headed to Albemarle County, Virginia, thanks to the recently announced $600,000 partnership between Albemarle County, robotics software company Perrone Robotics (PRI), and “XR solutions provider” JAUNT Inc.
The location of the service has yet to be decided, but the partners say that the service will allow riders to get on and off the autonomous shuttle along a fixed route.
The shuttle will operate autonomously, but a safety-trained transit “ambassador” will be on-board to answer customer questions, offer any required assistance, and take over as a driver if necessary.
Ford and Walmart partner to deliver goods using self-driving vehicles
On Nov. 14, Ford announced that it is teaming up with Walmart to explore how self-driving vehicles can deliver everyday goods to people.
The companies are using the infrastructure of Postmates—whom they both had an existing partnership with before—to quickly establish and launch a pilot program that explores how Ford’s self-driving vehicles can complement Walmart’s existing delivery offerings.
“Like Ford, Walmart believes that self-driving vehicles have an important role to play in the future of delivery, and that true success comes from first learning how individuals want to use them in their daily lives,” Ford says in a company blog post.
Australian safety authority to use ROVs to search for containers lost from ship
On Nov. 8, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) signed a contract to begin operating remotely operated underwater vehicles, or ROVs, to investigate the containers lost from the YM Efficiency container ship.
The ship lost dozens of cargo containers in the summer due to a massive storm. In July, the ship’s insurer, Aus Ship, and operator, Yang Ming, conducted survey operations in the area and located approximately 37 containers, but there have been delays in further search operations as a result of weather and sea conditions. An analysis by AMSA of the completed surveys indicates that there are as many as 42 containers still missing.
Universal Robots hires more than 20 Rethink Robotics staff members
Universal Robots (UR) has hired more than 20 Rethink Robotics staff members, merging its Boston office with Rethink’s former headquarters in Boston’s seaport area “with immediate effect.”
UR says that Rethink’s personnel brings “extensive” collaborative robotics experience in engineering, product development, and customer applications. This experience, combined with UR’s expertise, will help UR continue to develop new and innovative collaborative robotics platforms.
University of South Florida to host USF Brain-Drone Race in early 2019
On Feb. 9, 2019, the University of South Florida (USF) will host the 2019 USF Brain-Drone Race, which will feature teams from around the world racing drones using brain-power.
The event, which is free and open to the public, is being organized by USF Assistant Professor Marvin Andujar, PhD, Department of Computer Science and Engineering in the College of Engineering.
Andujar, who led the University of Florida group that first started the competition in 2016, says that the 2019 event will be the world’s first international competition of brain-drone racers, as teams from the United Kingdom, Japan, and Brazil compete against teams from across the U.S., as well as several teams from USF.
Lone Star UAS Center to provide UAS support following natural disasters in Nueces County, Texas
After signing an interlocal agreement with Nueces County, Texas, the Lone Star UAS Center of Excellence and Innovation (LSUASC) at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi will begin providing UAS support in response to future natural disasters in the county.
Through the agreement, which was signed on Oct. 31 by Loyd Neal, county judge and emergency management director for Nueces County, the Nueces County Emergency Operations Center will have more support at its disposal when helping with response efforts in the county.
Skyfire Consulting selected to join San Diego's UAS IPP team
The City of San Diego has selected Skyfire Consulting to join its UAS Integration Pilot Program (IPP) team.
Considered a leading provider of public safety UAS technologies in the U.S., Skyfire Consulting was selected to be a part of San Diego's IPP efforts thanks in large part to its substantial experience with FAA regulations related to public safety UAS use.
Additionally, the Atlanta-based UAS consultancy has as already worked to obtain the first two certificates of authorization (COAs) for the Chula Vista Police Department, which is also a part of the San Diego IPP team.
Tulsa students learn about UAS during 'Tulsa Research Kids' Drone Fly-In' event
On Friday, Nov. 2, more than 140 area students gathered at Tulsa Community College’s Riverside Community Campus and Aviation Center for the Tulsa Research Kids’ Drone Fly-In event.
During the event, which was the result of a partnership between Tulsa Community College, Flight Night and the Tulsa Regional STEM Alliance, several businesses discussed UAS and the available careers within the industry to an audience made up of students ranging from kindergarten to 12th grade.
MIT researchers believe autonomous system could guide fleet of UAS during searches for lost hikers
This week during the International Symposium on Experimental Robotics conference, MIT researchers will present a paper in which they describe an autonomous system for a fleet of UAS that would enable UAS to search for lost hikers in forests.
GPS signals used to guide UAS can be unreliable or nonexistent in forest environments, so the MIT researchers propose a strategy where UAS only use onboard computation and wireless communication—effectively eliminating the need for GPS—as they collaboratively search under dense forest canopies.