On Thursday, February 6, 2020, Major General Poss (ret), USAF, published an open letter to the FAA on the agency’s proposed remote identification requirement (RID) for unmanned systems, in an article posted by InsideUnmannedSystems[dot]com titled “Draft Remote ID Rules: The Good and The Wait . . . What??”. We recommend reading General Poss’s insightful observations on the draft rules, which could impact in many ways not just drone operators but also thousands of radio control (RC) modelers at RC clubs nationwide. The proposed rules address everything from securing new RC flying fields to ensuring use of rule-compliant RID dongles onboard remotely piloted aircraft to who bears responsibility for avoiding collisions between drones and manned aircraft—and much more.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: IRVINE, CA, February 03, 2020 - Adsys Controls, Inc. has delivered their XSight 1721 next generation video processor to its first customers. The XSight 1721 provides advanced video processing solutions for applications that require reduced Size, Weight, and Power (SWaP). In a form-factor the size of a business card, it provides a multitude of video processing features including target tracking, object detection, object classification, digital stabilization, video encoding, and video translation on up to four simultaneous video streams. The XSight 1721 enables edge computing with significant processing power for various applications including remote sensing, robotic sensing, security surveillance and other scientific applications.

On its 130th anniversary, 15 January, 2020, in Kyoto City, Japan, Kubota, a Japanese firm producing tractors and assorted mechanized vehicles announced a new autonomous unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) offering, the “X tractor – cross tractor”. It is an esthetically pleasing design with robust functionality. It is interesting to briefly compare its features with those of the venerable Norway, Maine-based c-Link Systems Forager UGV, which has seen a variety of iterations since the early 2,000’s and, today, serves markets ranging from construction to Search & Rescue.

CareerCast.com tracks the Top 10 Best Jobs in Engineering on an annual basis in its Job Rated Report, and describes the jobs and prevailing compensation levels. As noted there, "according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts, virtually all engineering careers have a positive projected growth outlook.” The top locations for both employment and income for some of the best engineering jobs are Texas, California, Oklahoma, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan areas, and Alaska. The three highest average incomes for the engineering profession are in Chicago, Dallas and Anchorage, Alaska.”

The NAVY wants future robotic warships, or unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) to not only abide by the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS), but also to have the capability to communicate their status in standard English. COLREGS lay down the rules for how 2 ships should navigate when drawing near each other, and computer software onboard USVs is said to currently manage this, but when 3 or more USVs converge, things get more complicated. When 3 or more manned ships converge, bridge crews typically sort out navigation verbally via VHF radio, so the question is how will USVs overcome the current “bottleneck” when one encounters a 3-ship interaction but with no ability to converse?

The DOD is, by all accounts, moving quickly in the unmanned ground combat systems arena. According to DefenseNews[dot]com, the U.S. Army has picked QinetiQ North America to build 4 “light” robot combat vehicle (RCV) prototypes, and Textron to build 4 “medium” scale RCV prototypes, pending completion of contract negotiations. DefenseNews[dot]com further announced that “Through a rapid contracting mechanism, the National Advanced Mobility Consortium is coordinating the Army’s awards to industry, and the service expects to be officially under contract with both companies by mid-February, according to the statement.”

“STEAM” is an expanded version of STEM, and stands for “science, technology, engineering, arts and math”. The "RoboGuts™ S.T.E.A.M. Education Program", which uses the RoboGuts™ circuit board, is an education program that is positioned to be competitive with VEX, LEGO MindStorms, and Arduino STEM learning systems. In its favor, the RoboGuts™ STEAM Education teaches the whole manufacturing process, and includes a beginner’s section using BASIC language to teach structured programming style. The system will be exhibited at the upcoming CES show in Las Vegas.

The U.S. Army’s Combat Capabilities Development Command, a DOD group, recently released a study noting that eye, ear, muscular and brain enhancement is “technically feasible by 2050 or earlier.” It is expected that the civilian healthcare market will be a strong driver in the development of new cyborg military technologies.

On 14 September 2019, relatively inexpensive drones were used to temporarily disable 5% of the world’s oil supply in an attack on the state-owned Saudi Aramco oil processing facilities in eastern Saudi Arabia. A new form of low-cost but technically sophisticated drone warfare was upon us. In a study released today, the National Robotics Education Foundation (NREF) reviews major players developing counter-unmanned aerial systems (C-UAS) weapons. C-UAS systems are being urgently deployed to protect our municipal buildings, stadiums, airports, universities and commercial businesses from drone attacks whether by individual machines or massive drone swarms.

Boston Dynamics just announced, yesterday, Spot Release 1.1! This dog-like robot performs data collection, infrastructure monitoring, hazmat inspections and can be used in dangerous missions such as disposal of IEDs. Other applications include security and even package delivery. Boston Dynamics states it is prioritizing business customers, so hobbyists note, Spot is not at this time being marketed to consumers as a robot pet.

The Army Research Laboratory on May 29 published footage of soldiers scrambling through an urban training exercise site at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland with 22-pound M249 and 25-pound M240B machine guns affixed to the end of their harnesses. This was a step up from the 20-lb defensive shield tested last year. One sergeant using the third arm with a carbine "dove into a prone fighting position from a sprint ... [and] the Third Arm provided immediate stabilization to improve marksmanship for the soldier."