Robotics Introduction

Robots are coming for your job ... and that's not all – Tech Weekly podcast

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Announcing Solo Version 1.2

Solo Version 1.0 brought you Smart Shots and an array of other breakthrough features with the world’s first smart drone. Version 1.1 brought you the Solo Gimbal, delivering three-axis intelligent stabilization, automated cinematic camera pointing and the ability to start and stop recording directly on your GoPro from the ground.

This new Solo Version 1.2 is the next step up, with significant improvements to the robustness of the Solo system across the board.

This is to say we’re doing better than one system update every other month. Which to me, from a layperson’s perspective, is actually pretty amazing: Our engineers can change physical properties of Solo through software, which is essentially an intangible means. That’s why we can deliver continual improvements and features for free, and why your Solo will only get better with time.

We’ve also been committed since Solo’s release to keeping an ear to the ground and listening to what our users have been experiencing. These updates will not only deliver new features and improvements from our end, but will directly address things on your end as well.

The new Solo software Version 1.2 will be released today, 10/6, with an accompanying app update for iOS and Android coming soon, and which is currently pending the app review process.

Here’s a brief rundown on Version 1.2

Smoother gimbal performance at all tilt angles
Improved gimbal initialization
New gimbal motor protection algorithm—you can push its limits further
Networking improvements to increase range in crowded WiFi environments
Automatically shut down the GoPro with Solo’s power button
Smoother controls in and out of Smart Shots
General reliability improvements

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Jumping Spider Robot Uses Tether for Controlled Jumps

Spiders use silk tethers to help them make controlled jumps, and now robots do too
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3DR: World’s first—and best—Follow drones

Solo, the world’s first Smart Drone, also has the ability to follow and film your every move. It’s not the only drone out there that can do this—3DR launched the world’s first follow drone software in June of last year, which worked with 3DR’s IRIS and IRIS+ personal drones that preceded Solo. Follow (sometimes called “Follow Me”) has since become such a high-demand feature that several companies have developed their own versions; some drones are even built now to function exclusively as follow drones.

However, those drones are still following 3DR. Solo’s Follow mode—one of its four computer-assisted Smart Shots—is a step ahead. Smart enough to work dynamically with the subject you’re filming, Solo’s Follow doesn’t simply keep the camera on you so you stay in the center of the action; you can interact with Follow in real time on the Solo app, changing its parameters for truly dynamic shots that you can’t replicate with any other system. 3DR’s Follow is like giving your GoPro a superpower.

Here’s what we mean—and watch the video below for Follow in action, from setup to execution.

Go completely hands-free. Whether you’re taking the road less traveled with your friends, cruising your boat around the lake or just out exploring the world, Solo will automatically keep up with the action from the air—at air speeds up to 55 mph. By taking the camera operation out of the equation, Solo frees you to focus on doing what you love. Now your aerials can track with cars and other vehicles without incurring the expense or risk of a manned helicopter.

But this follow drone is not only ideal for filming from incredible and previously impossible angles in adventure and action sports, it’s also an amazing and truly dynamic storytelling tool. Solo’s exclusive onboard computer intelligence gives you the added flexibility of changing angles, distances and altitudes while in flight—even have Solo orbit you for a wraparound shot as you move; all possible because Solo can control camera position. Right in the Solo app you can change the length of Solo’s virtual “leash” and even its position in space. The app even lets you combine Follow with an orbit, so with just a couple of taps Solo will circle your subject at a distance you select, even as your subject moves.

Taken all together, this means that with Follow you’re not just the director behind the camera; but you can also be an actor and participate in the adventure that you’re filming. And as a director, you can now do a whole lot more with a truly dynamic Follow. The possibilities are vast, dynamic and exciting. Plus, Solo can really haul, keeping up with the action even at highway speeds.

It’s this easy: Launch Solo and choose Follow. Now Solo is locked onto the GPS signal from your mobile device—which must remain with your controller—and you’re ready to film all the action. The GPS signal refreshes 30 times every second, and it changes based on velocity as well—this ensures that when Solo is in Follow it will always be keyed on your position. And unlike any other drone system out there, Solo also controls camera position and tilt (through the Solo Gimbal), so all of your follow drone shots are sweeping and smooth. And since all of the flight and camera control are fully automated, you’re completely hands-free to focus on the activities you love as Solo captures it all. Check it out below!

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After driverless taxis, where next for robots? | Joel Golby

Increased automation means humans will soon be able to delegate menial tasks such as putting out the bins and watching The Wire

Driverless robot taxis are set to be trialled in Fujisawa from March next year, which is either an irreversible stepping stone on the path towards the inevitable robot apocalypse – our destruction coming not from Skynet launching a nuke at us while we all play innocently in a playground surrounded by a chain link fence, but instead from a load of cabs turning en masse and ramming into us until we’re ground down to nothing but mince and bone debris – or, less importantly, just one step towards wiping out cabbies altogether.

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Driverless robot taxis to be tested in Japanese town

About 50 residents of Fujisawa will be ferried around in driverless cars which, if successful, could be used to transport spectators for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics

Dozens of people in Japan will be whisked to the local shops in driverless taxis from next year in an experiment with robot technology that could be fully commercial by the time Tokyo hosts the Olympics in 2020.

From March 2016 the taxis will take about 50 residents of Fujisawa, a large coastal town near Tokyo, from their homes to supermarkets along the city’s main roads in journeys of about 3km.

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