Ukrainian military began deploying Shrike drones equipped with US-developed AI autonomy from Auterion in mid-July, enabling the $400 drones to track and home in on moving targets without operator control. The companies plan to deliver 50,000 equipped drones in coming months. Operators can now designate targets up to half a mile away and switch drones to autonomous fire-and-forget mode instead of requiring continuous manual flight.
MIT Technology Review·2 months ago·
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● 13 sources
The Trump administration's FTC issued a ban on importing advanced foreign robots, citing national security and domestic industry protection. The ban blocks Chinese robots like Unitree's four-legged models ($4,600) that US researchers depend on, with 90% of recent US university robotics papers using Unitree robots. The restriction could hamper US robotics research and development despite aiming to boost domestic companies, since American alternatives cost vastly more and aren't yet at scale.
Northwestern University researchers built a prototype drone called "Phantom Twist" that rotates its entire airframe up to 25 times per second to exploit human vision's motion blur rather than using traditional camouflage. The team used AI optimization algorithms to test 20,000 configurations, selecting components and layouts that minimize visual detection from all angles while maintaining flight stability. The prototype measures roughly ten times less perceptible than conventional quadcopters, potentially enabling wildlife monitoring and environmental surveys with less observer disruption, though it remains audible and partly visible.
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