On this week's news update…

AI Racing Drone

An AI racing drone beats champion pilots…

Giraffe Surgery

a baby giraffe has surgery…

Wearable Sat Nav

and a wearable device that helps with navigation. 

First up…

FPV drone racing

FPV or first-person view drone racing is a sport where pilots compete to be the fastest to fly their drone around a race track.  

Pilots use VR goggles connected to their drone’s onboard camera, which allows them to see from their drone’s perspective during the race. 

Normally, pilots race against other human drone operators. But now, there’s a new kind of competitor: Swift is a computer system that uses AI to pilot an FPV racing drone.  

To test its abilities, Swift took part in a series of races against three champion drone pilots. 

During the races, Swift flew close to 100kmph while also responding to what its camera saw—just like human pilots!    

Swift won most of the races, and achieved the fastest lap by half a second.   

This is the first time that an AI drone  has successfully performed at championship level in a real-world sport.  

The designers hope that Swift's high-speed performance could be used in other situations such as forest monitoring, or rescue missions! 

Up next …

Vets treat a wide range of animals—some bigger than others!

Meet Turtle, an 8-month-old giraffe.

He had a bone fragment in his right rear leg that was affecting how he walked. If left untreated, it could have become life-threatening.  

Giraffe surgery is complex, so vets at Zoo Miami had to call in a team of specialists to lead the operation. 

 Turtle weighs more than 500 pounds and is almost 10 feet tall. More than 12 people were needed to transport and monitor him during the 2-hour procedure. 

Once he was safely immobilized, the team took digital x-rays of Turtle’s leg to determine the best approach. With the bone fragment successfully removed, Turtle received a massage and even acupuncture to help him heal quicker. And he is now recovering well at his home in Zoo Miami.   

And finally…

Engineers at Rice University in Texas, have created a wearable device that can give directions using the sense of touch!

A device that uses touch to give a user information is known as haptic technology.

haptic technology

This new device has fewer electronic components than other haptic technology, making it less bulky.    

Each sleeve contains up to six pouches, attached to a small tank of carbon dioxide worn on a belt.  

The device uses the carbon dioxide to inflate the pouches on the sleeves in different ways, creating sensations like vibrations, taps, or squeezes. These sensations indicate a direction, or movement instruction. Using carbon dioxide gas in the control system means the team can reduce the amount of electronics needed, making the device more compact.       

In real world tests, a user was able to travel through Houston using only the device to navigate.  

Now engineers are looking at how their technology could be developed for other everyday uses, from helping those with visual impairments, to improving cinema or gaming experiences. 

That's all for this week, we'll see you next time!