Video Friday: Even Robots Know That You Need a Mask

Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your Automaton bloggers. We’ll also be posting a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months; here’s what we have so far (send us your events!): CLAWAR 2020 – August 24-26, 2020 – [Online Conference] Other Than Human – September 3-10, 2020 – Stockholm, Sweden ICRES 2020 – September 28-29, 2020 – Taipei, Taiwan AUVSI EXPONENTIAL 2020 – October 5-8, 2020 – [Online Conference] IROS 2020 – October 25-29, 2020 – Las Vegas, Nev., USA CYBATHLON 2020 – November 13-14, 2020 – [Online Event] ICSR 2020 – November 14-16, 2020 – Golden, Colo., USA Let us know if you have suggestions for next week, and enjoy today’s videos.

Japan on Track to Introduce Flying Taxi Services in 2023

Last year, Spectrum reported on Japan’s public-private initiative to create a new industry around electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles (eVTOLs) and flying cars. Last Friday, start-up company SkyDrive Inc. demonstrated the progress made since then when it held a press conference to spotlight its prototype vehicle and show reporters a video taken three days earlier of the craft undergoing a piloted test flight in front of staff and investors. The sleek, single-seat eVTOL, dubbed SD-03 (SkyDrive third generation), resembles a hydroplane on skis and weighs in at 400 kilograms. The body is made of carbon fiber, aluminum, and other materials that have been chosen for their weight, balance, and durability. The craft measures 4 meters in length and width, and is about 2 meters tall. During operation, the nose of the craft is lit with white LED lights; red lights run around the bottom to enable the vehicle to be seen in the sky and to distinguish the Continue reading Japan on Track to Introduce Flying Taxi Services in 2023