.JPG Technology

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Drones What is UAV UAV stands for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, which functions exactly as it sounds. It is controlled by a remote controller either by a human or autonomously with a computer system. UAVs were originally developed for military operations that were unsafe for soldiers. Through extensive research and demand of these products for commercial and individual use, today we enjoy a wide variety of UAVs, namely drones. These drones are used for a vast spectrum, such as surveillance, photography, racing and delivering packages. The drones I am discussing are called quadcopters, using 4 rotor propellers to provide lift. Two propellers spin clockwise while the other two spin counterclockwise, by adjusting the speed of specific rotors it can create thrust and torque for the drone. Why do we need them Drones are revolutionary in the way we can capture visual data and mine it for computer models. With their relatively ease of deployment and cheap costs t...

The future of swarm robotics What is it? Swarm robotics is a promising idea of using small robots that carry out simplistic tasks on the small scale to create complex objectives. These robots communicate with each other to increase their efficiency, much like how ants and other insects work together in a hive to achieve objectives, such as collection of resources, defense and scouting. Many engineers have studied group and swarm dynamics of insects to provide a better understanding of how to design an effective swarm. To be effective, the swarm bots must cooperate, have awareness, use strong coordination and distribute the work load between the robots. What makes a swarm? There are a few key factors that defining swarm robotics over other multi-purpose machines. The robots are autonomous, with the ability to observe their surroundings, taking them into account. Their ability to sense their environment and other swarm robots assists them in collaboration. There can be swar...