We’re used to thinking of robot swarms as consisting of lots and lots of similar robots working together. What we’re starting to see now, though, are swarms of heterogeneous robots, where you get different robots combining their powers to make each other more efficient and more capable. One of the first projects to really make this work was Swarmanoid, with teams of footbots and handbots and eyebots, and researchers presented a similar idea at IROS earlier this month, using an AR Drone to help a swarm of self-assembling ground robots to climb over a hill.
The focus of this research is communication: getting a flying robot to be able to communicate with a swarm of ground robots by relying exclusively on visual feedback from LEDs. All you need to get this to work are lights, cameras, and some mildly intelligent robots: you can leave your maps, GPS, IMU, hardware IDs, and all that stuff at home. Here’s a video of the system in action:
As interesting as the communication is, it’s the applications that really make this video worth watching. Since the ground robots can’t see very far, they rely on the quadrotor to scout ahead and estimate the parameters of upcoming obstacles. Then, the quadrotor instructs the swarm on the ground how to team up to best overcome those obstacles. With the hill, for example, the quadrotor can use stereo imagery to compute how steep it is, run an onboard simulation to see how many ground robots will have to team up to make it over, and then give instruction and direction to the robots below. Very clever.
“Spatially Targeted Communication and Self-Assembly,” by Nithin Mathews, Anders Lyhne Christensen, Rehan O’Grady, and Marco Dorigo, from Universite Libre de Bruxelles and Instituto Universitario de Lisboa, was presented at IROS 2012 in Vilamoura, Portugal.
People continue to become ill as high levels of chemicals show up in random testing of soil and water supplies, after witnesses photograph KC-135s and KC-10s outfitted with what appears to be a “spraying device.” The circular device is obviously not a refueling probe. A former Air Force pilot tells a reporter, “Yeah, we have them, but were not supposed to talk about it.”
The South Coast Air Quality Management District tentatively identifies the powder wafting down from the sky as “cedar pollen.” But a biologist retorts that December is not the season when cedar pollen normally appears. And when pollen appears in the spring, it does not “explode.” Several witnesses saw a yellow cloud “exploding” in the skies over the Lake Arrowhead area.
Dramatic increase in illnesses immediatly follow Chemtrail spraying
According to a press story, community after community continue to report that hundreds of people are becoming ill at the same time-usually following heavy chemtrail activity. Three physicians report an increasing number of patients being seen for similar illness.
“Persistent hacking coughs, upper respiratory and intestinal distress, pneumonia, extreme fatigue, lethargy, dizziness, disorientation, splitting headaches, elevated arthritis symptoms and unexplainable nosebleeds are just a few of the symptoms these doctors have described. These doctors have said they are seeing larger numbers of patients with these complaints during or within days after the times that the physicians themselves have observed a larger number of chemtrails in the skies above mountain communities.”
Pharmacist Ed Burrows is sick himself. Since early December he has been suffering from a respiratory ailment that has includes a “gooey phlegm” that, despite his best efforts, he has been unable to relieve. Burrows said the issue is raising “high concern” for him that his health may be “jeopardized.” Burrows says he “feels that it is directly related” to recent chemtrail activity.
World population being lied to…
“Our government’s refusal to level with the people indicates that whatever it is they are polluting our environment with must be dangerous and/or unhealthy. There is no need to be secretive if what you are doing is beneficial,” he says. “As the former owner and pharmacist of the Lake Gregory Pharmacy for more than two decades, this is the first time in those 22 years I’ve witnessed so many in our community suffering with respiratory ailments with no apparent cause… ”
CHEMTRAILS BASES IDENTIFIED
Las Vegas reporter Marcus Dalton writes that an archeologist working throughout Nevada began noticing “all white unmarked aircraft” preparing for take-off at Nellis AFB, and at the Mancamp Complex near Tonopah in the late-90s.
“It was these unmarked planes that were constantly laying down the criss-crossing X patterns of lingering chemical-spray trails over Southern Nevada,” the archeologist stated. When he asked the military escort accompanying his civilian research team into “sensitive” areas around Nellis, about the planes, he was strongly advised, “You didn’t see anything.” [Tribune Media Group June 26/06]
Outside Dobbins Air Base in Marietta, Georgia, another observer writes: “We drove up to a light and saw the runway, and saw a large, white plane, with a blue stripe, no markings at all, taxiing to take off.”
A delivery person at Tinker AFB states “I have seen more than 30 of these white, KC-135s parked on the tarmac. I have seen six to 10 take off, one after another. They are, indeed, white with no markings.”
The white planes have also been spotted at a former AFB near Phoenix, and at the previously closed George AFB in the Mojave Desert.
One correspondent claims to have personally seen the spray planes taking off from and landing at McGuire AFB in New Jersey. Active in the Canadian military “since my birth,” Bryan says, “What I have noticed is that unusual trails have been coming from white USAF KC-135s heading to Shiloh, Alaska.
Drones & Skynet: Global Surveillance State and the reality of weaponized ‘Eagle Eye’ Artificial Intelligence, The Dangers to Privacy & the Violation of inherent Constitutional Rights, Do-it-Yourself Remote Control Drones for Hobby & Research, Beneficial Uses Explained
IAI (Israel)Northrop Grumman (US)Elbit Systems (Israel)IAI (Israel)IAI (Israel)
Italy
RQ-1B Predator
6
Air Force
General Atomics (US)
Jordan
Seeker SB7L
6
Air Force
Seabird Aviation (Jordan)
Malaysia
Aludra
?
Air Force
UST (Malaysia)
Mexico
Hermes 450
2
Air Force
Elbit Systems (Israel)
Morocco
R4E – 50 Skyeye
?
Army
DS Inc (now BAE Systems) (US)
Netherlands
Sperwer
14
Army
SAGEM (France)
Philippines
Blue Horizon 2
2
Air Force
EMIT (Israel)
Singapore
Searcher Mk2Hermes 450Heron
42
?
1
Air Force
Air Force
Air Force
IAI (Israel)Elbit Systems (Israel)IAI (Israel)
South Africa
Seeker 2
?
Air Force
Denel (South Africa)
South Korea
Night IntruderSearcher
?
3
Air Force
Air Force
KAI (South Korea)IAI (Israel)
Spain
Searcher MK2
4
Army
IAI (Israel)
Sri Lanka
SeekerBlue Horizon 2Searcher Mk2
1
?
2
Army
Air Force
Air Force
Denel (South Africa)EMIT (Israel)IAI (Israel)
Sweden
Sperwer
3
Army
SAGEM (France)
Switzerland
ADS-95
4
Army
RUAG Aviation (Swiss) & IAI (Israel)
Thailand
Searcher
?
Army
IAI (Israel)
Turkey
Gnat 750Heron
18
10
Air Force
Air Force
General Atomics (US)IAI (Israel)
UK
Hermes 450Watchkeeper[6]MQ-9 Reaper[7]
?
?
5
Army
Army
Air Force
Elbit Systems (Israel)Thales (UK) & Elbit (Israel)General Atomics (US)
USA
I-GnatRQ-5 HunterGrey Eagle[8]MQ-8 Fire ScoutGlobal Hawk[9]MQ-1 PredatorMQ-9 Reaper[10]RQ-170 Sentinel
3
45
4
6
30
175
65
?
Army
Army
Army
Navy
Navy
Air Force
Air Force
Air Force
General Atomics (US)Northrop Grumman (US)General Atomics (US)Northrop Grumman (US)Northrop Grumman (US)General Atomics (US)General Atomics (US)Lockheed Martin (US)
Info Sources:The Military Balance 2011,IISS; Jane’s Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Targets 2011; US Unmanned Aerial Systems, Congressional Research Service, 2012; Various press reports.
[1] Class 2 and 3 drones only. Small/Micro/Mini drones not included. Also does not include large drones in service with police, border patrol, National Guard or CIA. Given secretive nature of military list is almost certainly not complete.
[2] It is difficult to be certain if China’s drones are in development or in service
[3] Euro Hawk, based on Global Hawk is just coming into service. German has ordered five.
[4] India has expressed a requirement for up to 50 Heron UAVs
[5] It is possible that Israel has other unknown drones in their inventory
[6] UK plans to acquire 54 Watchkeeper UAVs
[7] UK plans to acquire 10 Reapers
[8] US plans to acquire 152 Grey Eagle
[9] Estimate – US plans to acquire up to 50 Global Hawks
[10] US plans to acquire 400 Reapers
Estimated 170 crew members required to keep a Predator drone airborne for 24 hours.
Many more are required to plan, oversee and debrief a drone-directed attack by multiple gunships. Civilian contractors are often on-site participants.
An excellent 2,200-page investigative report of drone-directed attack on civilians was published by CENTCOM which describes staffing and procedures of a drone-attack operation:
That the U.S. is routinely killing innocent civilians in multiple Muslim countries is one of the great taboos in establishment media discourse. A film that documents the horrors and Terror brought by the U.S. to innocent people — and the way in which that behavior constantly strengthens the Terrorists, thus eternally perpetuating its own justification — threatens to subvert that taboo. So this filmmaker is simply kept out of the country, in Pakistan, where he can do little harm to U.S. propaganda (as usual, U.S. government claims of secrecy based on national security are primarily geared toward ensuring effective propagnada — of the American citizenry). Isn’t it time for another Hillary Clinton lecture to the world on the need for openness and transparency? “Those societies that believe they can be closed to change, to ideas, cultures, and beliefs that are different from theirs, will find quickly that in our internet world they will be left behind,” she so inspirationally intoned last month. – Glenn Greenwald
Drones: As military Use Expands, Civil Use Being Developed
Meanwhile preparations aimed at enabling the use of unmanned drones to fly in civil airspace continues at a brisk pace both in the US and the UK.
Yesterday the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that it had met the deadline for the first changes demanded by the new FAA Act aimed at allowing drones to fly in US civil airspace by September 2015. The Act mandated that the FAA must streamline the process for government agencies to gain Certificates of Authorization (COA) to fly drones within US civil airspace within 90 days.
According to The Engineer, BAE has fitted an “autonomous navigation system” on a Jetstream 31 passenger aircraft to enable it to fly without a pilot – although a pilot was on board in case of problems.
When the 2012 national Know Drones Tour comes to Baltimore on Thursday, May 3, it will challenge Congressperson C.A. “Dutch” Ruppersberger, a member of the House Unmanned Systems (Drone) Caucus, to reallocate $190,000 in campaign contributions[1] that he has received from drone makers and related businesses to benefit children in US drone strike zones and to the Baltimore City Schools.
“The Congress has done no effective oversight of US drone warfare and has opened US skies to drones carrying weapons and to drone surveillance of the US public,” said Nick Mottern, director of the Know Drones Tour. “Congressman Ruppersberger, as a member of the House Armed Services Committee and the House Permanent Committee on Intelligence, has direct responsibilities related to drone war and drone surveillance,” Mottern continued, “and he can avoid any appearance of conflict of interest by sending his drone industry campaign contributions to kids who are being harmed by the US infatuation with drones and by resigning from the drone caucus, a lobbying group for the drone industry within the Congress.”
Max Obuszewski, a long-time advocate for peace and justice made this observation: “It is shocking that the Obama administration has used drone strikes to murder U.S. citizens. This horrible affront to due process suggests that the Bill of Rights is being shredded.”
The tour, endorsed by Baltimore Pledge of Resistance, the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance, Code Pink, War Resisters League and others (below), uses 8’ long replicas of the MQ-9 Reaper drone to do sidewalk education on the legal, ethical and civil liberties concerns raised by the surge in US drone warfare and drone surveillance.
The Know Drones Tour is endorsed by: American Civil Liberties Union (Philadelphia),American Friends Service Committee, Brandywine Peace Committee, Bryn Mawr Peace Coalition, Brooklyn For Peace, Bryn Mawr Peace Coalition, Catholic Peace Fellowship (Philadelphia), Coalition for Peace and Justice (Southern New Jersey), Code Pink, Interfaith Peace Network of Western New York, Granny Peace Brigade (Philadelphia), International Action Center,Occupy Wall Street – Anti-War, National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance, Pakistan Solidarity Network, Pax Christi – Greensburg, PA, Peace Action New York, Peace Center of Delaware County (PA), Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore, United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC), Upstate NY Coalition to Ground the Drones & End the Wars, Veterans for Peace, Chapter #128 (Buffalo, NY), Veterans for Peace (Philadelphia), Voices for Creative Non-Violence, War Resisters League, WESPAC Foundation, Western New York Peace Center, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (Philadelphia), World Can’t Wait.
August 6, 2012 – DCMX Radio: Another Mass Shooting, Related News, Drones, Surveillance & Skynet Artificial Intelligence, Do it Yourself Hobby & Research Benefits
Drones & Skynet: Global Surveillance State and the reality of weaponized ‘Eagle Eye’ Artificial Intelligence, The Dangers to Privacy & the Violation of inherent Constitutional Rights, Do-it-Yourself Remote Control Drones for Hobby & Research, Beneficial Uses Explained
This is an exert from the movie The Great Dictator starring Charlie Chaplin. Statements made then, Should be held true today. Stand up and fight my brothers and sisters. Raise up your arm to those who oppress and Tyrannize.
