Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: drones

Tesla Kills Dojo for AI6! Here’s Why

Questions to inspire discussion.

🚗 Q: How will AI6 be used in Tesla vehicles? A: AI6 will be used for FSD inference, with two chips in every car, enabling advanced autonomous driving capabilities.

🤖 Q: What role will AI6 play in Optimus? A: AI6 will enable on-device learning and reinforced learning in Optimus, enhancing its AI capabilities.

🔋 Q: Will AI6 be used in other Tesla products? A: AI6 will be integrated into every edge device produced by Tesla, including Tesla Semi, Mega Pack, and security cameras.

Technical Specifications.

💻 Q: What is the architecture of AI6? A: AI6 will use a cluster model of individual chips with a software layer on top, similar to Dojo 3 for training.

Continue reading “Tesla Kills Dojo for AI6! Here’s Why” | >

Video: China claims first drone hunt of ‘hostile warship’

The People’s Liberation Army has released rare footage showing its reconnaissance drones tracking a ‘hostile warship,’ highlighting China’s increasing integration of unmanned systems with intelligence operations.

The video, aired in Forging Ahead, the PLA’s latest military documentary, depicts a coordinated mission involving the WZ-7 and WZ-10 unmanned aerial vehicles. Both are high-altitude, long-endurance platforms built by the Aviation Industry Corp (AVIC) of China for surveillance missions.

Small but mighty: A seed-inspired monocopter idea takes flight

From a seed-inspired design to a 26-minute flight time on a single rotor, a new monocopter developed by SUTD researchers marks a 10-year journey towards redefining how efficient small flying robots can be.

When Singapore celebrated its 50th year of independence in 2015, a team of student researchers led by Associate Professor Foong Shaohui from Singapore University Technology and Design (SUTD) embarked on an ambitious challenge: to design and build a drone capable of 50 minutes of sustained flight.

At the time, most hobbyist quadcopters could barely manage half of that. The SG50 Multi-Rotor Drone project succeeded, but to fly that long, the craft had to be large, complex, and heavy.

GIGANTIC: Humanoid Robots $100 Trillion+ (deep dive)

Questions to inspire discussion.

Data and Autonomy.

📊 Q: Why is vision data valuable in AI development? A: Vision data is worth more than zero if you can collect and process yataflops and yataflops of data, but worthless without collection capabilities, making the world’s visual data valuable for those who can collect and process it.

🚗 Q: How does solving autonomy relate to AI development? A: Solving autonomy is crucial and requires tons of real world data, which necessitates tons of robots collecting real world data in the real world, creating a cycle of data collection and AI improvement.

Company-Specific Opportunities.

🔋 Q: What advantage does Tesla have in developing humanoid robots? A: Tesla has essentially built the robot’s brain in their vehicles, allowing them to transplant this brain into humanoid robots, giving them a massive head start in development.

Continue reading “GIGANTIC: Humanoid Robots 0 Trillion+ (deep dive)” | >

Bat-Inspired AI-Powered Echolocation Technology Helps Drones Navigate in Darkness

In a remarkable leap forward for machine navigation, researchers funded by the U.S. Army have developed a synthetic echolocation system inspired by the natural sonar abilities of bats and dolphins.

This cutting-edge technology enables drones, autonomous vehicles, and robots to detect and identify objects in complete darkness, relying not on traditional visual sensors like cameras or LIDAR, but on ultrasonic pulses processed by artificial intelligence (AI). The result is a system that promises to transform how machines operate in low-visibility environments, offering new possibilities for military operations and civilian applications alike. From navigating smoke-filled battlefields to aiding search and rescue missions in disaster zones, this bioinspired innovation could reshape the future of autonomous systems.

The U.S. Army’s investment in this research, supported by the Army Research Office and the DEVCOM Ground Vehicle Systems Center, reflects a growing need for machines that can function effectively where human senses or conventional technology falter. By drawing on the way bats and dolphins use sound to perceive their surroundings, this system provides a robust alternative to light-dependent sensors, which struggle in conditions such as darkness, fog, or dust. Its potential extends beyond defence, with researchers envisioning its use in fields as varied as medical imaging, industrial inspection, and underwater exploration. What makes this development particularly exciting is not just its versatility, but the clever way it was created—using simulated data to train AI, paving the way for a cost-effective and adaptable solution.

Turkish firm unveils world’s 1st low-altitude multipurpose drone at defense expo in Istanbul

Turkish firm Solid Aero unveiled the Talay unmanned aerial vehicle, which was introduced as the world’s first low-altitude multipurpose UAV last year, on the global stage with a production-ready model at the International Defense Industry Fair (IDEF 2025) in Istanbul.

The Talay UAV was introduced at the SAHA Expo last year. The craft will enter mass production once its maritime test missions are completed.

The aircraft proved itself with its free flight capacity at a 100-meter altitude using the “Wing-in-Ground” principle.

Solid Aero will soon begin the testing and production of the craft in collaboration with Istanbul-based Yonca Shipyard.

The Talay UAV was developed to be used for low-altitude operations over sea as an effective and high-performance platform for defense, attack, and deterrence missions.#

Gliding just above sea surface to avoid detection, Solid Aero’s Talay UAV to be used for defense, attack, deterrence, coastal missions — Anadolu Ajansı

Continue reading “Turkish firm unveils world’s 1st low-altitude multipurpose drone at defense expo in Istanbul” | >

Photonaire develop laser propulsion

Imagine a drone that glides through the air without the familiar buzz of propellers or the hum of motors, a machine so quiet and still that it seems to defy the very principles of flight. This is no longer a vision confined to science fiction. A French startup, Photonaire, based in the vibrant city of Lyon, has brought this concept to life with a drone that flies using nothing but light.

By tapping into the power of concentrated laser beams, this groundbreaking invention generates thrust through a phenomenon known as “optical lift,” offering a glimpse into a future where aerial and space technology could be transformed. Photonaire’s creation weighs a mere 90 grams, a featherweight by any standard, yet it carries the weight of innovation on its delicate frame.

Unlike traditional drones that rely on mechanical components to lift off and manoeuvre, this device uses high-powered lasers reflected off ultra-thin metamaterials—materials engineered with precision to harness light in ways that conventional substances cannot. Drawing inspiration from solar sail technology, which uses sunlight to propel spacecraft, and the subtle forces of quantum pressure, the drone hovers and adjusts its path by altering the angle of these reflective surfaces in real time.

2025 UP.Partners Moving World Report

Emerging technologies, such as autonomous vehicles, drones, and humanoid robotics, are rapidly transforming industries and revolutionizing transportation, logistics, and other sectors, driven by decreasing costs, economic incentives, and significant investments.

Questions to inspire discussion.

Emerging Technologies 🚁 Q: How are drones revolutionizing delivery services? A: Drones are delivering millions of goods with insane energy efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and convenience, exemplified by Google’s Wing program partnering with Walmart and DoorDash, and Zipline saving half a million lives delivering medicine worldwide. 🤖 Q: What roles can humanoid robots fill in the workforce?

New approach allows drone swarms to autonomously navigate complex environments at high speed

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones, are now widely used worldwide to tackle various real-world tasks, including filming videos for various purposes, monitoring crops or other environments from above, assessing disaster zones, and conducting military operations. Despite their widespread use, most existing drones either need to be fully or partly operated by human agents.

In addition, many drones are unable to navigate cluttered, crowded or unknown environments without colliding with nearby objects. Those that can navigate these environments typically rely on expensive or bulky components, such as advanced sensors, graphics processing units (GPUs) or .

Researchers at Shanghai Jiao Tong University have recently introduced a new insect-inspired approach that could enable teams of multiple drones to autonomously navigate complex environments while moving at high speed. Their proposed approach, introduced in a paper published in Nature Machine Intelligence, relies on both a deep learning algorithm and core physics principles.

/* */