1. 32 | UNMANNED SYSTEMS
Everyone has heard about the driver-
less car craze by now, as driver-assist
features become more pervasive and
available for public use, and even
more futuristic systems are promised.
It may be some time before we see
completely autonomous motor ve-
hicles traversing the National Highway
System. However, within the next year or two, many car compa-
nies, including Mercedes, Tesla and Audi, will start offering cars
that can operate autonomously in traffic or slow urban settings
by staying in lanes and maintaining following distance.
On the defense side, Oshkosh Defense has adapted sonar and
laser proximity warning technologies to its hulking TerraMax UGVs,
which would be possibly the largest implementation of driver assis-
tance to date if not for the presence of autonomous mining vehicles
in Australia.
Rio Tinto in the Australian Outback, for instance, uses a fleet of 900 trucks in its au-
tonomous haulage system, the largest of which weighs more than 100 Boeing 737 jets.
In other driverless news, BMW partnered with Baidu to test its geo-database in
China, several U.S. states now allow the testing of self-driving cars and Audi broke the
driverless car speed record in Germany, hitting 149 mph while executing flawless lines
around the track.
The unmanned systems in-
dustry is generally divided
into ground, air and mari-
time systems, but some in-
novative technologies defy
such strict classification.
Advanced Tactics’
Black Knight transformer
combines a large jeep-like
vehicle with rotors to make
it the first full-scale vertical
takeoff and landing ground system.
Singular Aircraft took it one step further with its amphibious UAS,
named FLYOX 1. The FLYOX can take off and land on ground or water
and can operate for extended periods of time in all three domains.
TOP 10
I N N O V AT I O N
C AT E G O R I E S
This year Unmanned Systems
is counting down the top 10
innovation categories of 2014
to show how quickly and
broadly the unmanned
systems industry is growing.
Hybrid Systems
The Road to Driverless
The FLYOX 1 amphibious UAS sits on the
runway. Photo courtesy Singular Aircraft.
The Audi RS7 speeds around the
Hockenheimring racing circuit in
Germany. Photo courtesy Audi AG.
10
9
TOP INNOVATIONS
OF 2014
BY SCOTT KESSELMAN

2. UNMANNED SYSTEMS | 33
Can’t wait for a truck to
bring you the next “Game
of Thrones” book? Maybe
a drone can do it.
From aerial Mexican
food deliveries to parcel
delivery, everyone wants
to grab a piece of this burgeoning UAS delivery market.
Customers are still a long way away from receiving Ama-
zon orders by the company’s Prime Air UAS or Google’s
rival Project Wing; however, many companies made great
strides in the market and began testing platforms this year.
Australia-based Flirtey partnered with Zookal to deliver
textbooks on college campuses, and DHL began testing
delivery of medical supplies in Germany. Matternet is also
taking a medicinal approach, working with Doctors Without
Borders in Papua New Guinea to deliver supplies to remote
areas with little infrastructure.
UAS deliveries are not limited to physical goods.
Google, with Titan Aerospace, and Facebook’s Con-
nectivity Lab are developing high-altitude, solar-powered
Internet delivery UAS, while the University of North Texas
has tested an array of lower-altitude UAS to extend wire-
less networks up to five kilometers.
UAS Precision Delivery
Matternet during UAS
precision delivery testing
in Papua New Guinea.
Photo courtesy Matternet.
Scientists are using nature’s
biological systems and robotics to
help understand organic develop-
ments of movement and how we
can replicate them in mechanical
systems.
MIT untethered its robotic chee-
tah, which can run at up to 10 mph
and jump over foot-tall obstacles.
Researchers at the University of
Melbourne built a robotic bird that
detects wind currents to glide for
longer periods of time and save on
power. And a team at ETH Zurich
constructed a cuttlefish-inspired
robot, Sepios, with four undulat-
ing, modular fins for tight control
underwater.
Biologically
Inspired Robots
Sepios robotic cuttlefish.
Photo courtesy Project Sepios.
This year, we began to see ground, air and maritime
unmanned systems working together in closer proximity
than ever before.
The European UAS Neuron achieved a teaming
first by flying in close formation with manned aircraft.
Navy engineers in Dahlgren, Virginia, used the
ScanEagle UAS and unmanned ground vehicles to iden-
tify and update target acquisition for integrated weapon systems.
Scientists at South Korea’s Yonsei University linked ground and air unmanned
systems to exchange information and cooperate to achieve a goal. The aerial vehicles
could plot a path for the ground
vehicles due to its increased vi-
sion range.
Defense Research and Devel-
opment Canada tested UAS and
UGVs together in the Arctic to
assess cooperative advantages.
Teaming
Neuron UAS flies in formation with
a Rafale fighter jet and a Falcon 7X
manned aircraft. Photo courtesy Das-
sault Aviation, Katsuhiko Tokynaga.
8 7
6

3. 34 | UNMANNED SYSTEMS
Similar to teaming, these
robot swarms show the
capability for many nodes
of a single system to
work in harmony.
Micro ground
swarming robots like Colias, which models the move-
ments of honeybees, and Kilobots, which, at $14 each,
can collaboratively create desired formations using
vibrations and infrared sensors, are inexpensive ways
to model complex autonomous systems and network
behaviors. The Pico Quadrotor takes these small sys-
tems to the air with a 25-gram, durable UAS that can
fly in formation.
The Office of Naval Research tested its CARACaS
swarming system, transforming 13 manned vessels
into autonomous surface vehicles for $2,000 each. The
swarm was able to coordinate escort of a ship and col-
lectively attack a simulated threat.
Finally, in Switzerland, scientists created a Swarm-
ing Micro Air Vehicle Network to create a fast, pop-up
communications array for disasters.
Sense-and-avoid
technology is vital —
eventually every practi-
cal autonomous robotics
application will require
adept SSA capabilities.
Many car companies
have developed basic collision and pedestrian
avoidance systems, but this is largely an unsolved
problem.
General Atomics has developed a sense-and-avoid
system using three different non-optical methods for
detection for applications under any conditions, but it is
still undergoing testing. The U.S. Army is installing five
ground-based radar systems, providing the Gray Eagle
UAS with sense-and-avoid capabilities to fly safely in
domestic airspace.
Some smaller projects include UPenn researchers
who used Google’s Project Tango to make a self-nav-
igating UAS that can correct its path after disruption;
Project ResQu at the Queensland University of Technol-
ogy that warns a ground control station of potential
collisions for small UAS; senseFly’s exom small UAS,
which has multidirectional collision warnings and
distance detection; and Panoptes’ eBumper, a sense-
and-avoid system for hobbyists that attaches to a DJI
Phantom.
Swarming
Sense and Avoid
Swarm of tiny Colias robots.
Photo courtesy University of Lincoln.
Aurora Flight Science Panoptes’ eBumper consumer
sense-and-avoid system replaces the cover to a DJI Phantom.
AUVSI photo.
5
4

4. UNMANNED SYSTEMS | 35
This year the
first zero-G
3-D printer
went to the
International
Space Station,
but do-it-your-
self projects made all the noise.
Open source 3-D printing projects in-
cluded the soft robotics toolkit, a plethora
of files and documentation for silicone
robotics, a one-meter telescope that can
view the cosmos, Qualcomm’s smartphone-
powered micro rover and Open Bionics’
printed prosthetics.
Three-D printers also churned out custom
clothing accessories, an entire band’s
instruments, several UAS, and a paper
airplane machine gun that folds and
launches.
A genetic engineer at AutoDesk
is 3-D printing customized
viruses to be used to deliver
treatment for cancer.
The biggest project of the
year was Local Motor’s Strati,
the world’s first 3-D printed
car, which took 44 hours
to print and tops out at 40
mph, with a 120-mile range.
3-D
Strati, the world’s first 3-D printed car,
rolls out of the International Manufacturing
Technology Show in Chicago.
Photo courtesy Local Motors.
Many of the functions performed by robotic
systems are repetitive, mundane or even
dangerous for humans and researchers are
seeking to replace some aspects of human
presence for particular tasks. However, this
group of innovations seeks to enhance hu-
man ability, allowing users to interact with the world — real or virtual — in
ways they otherwise couldn’t do.
Telepresence robots allow users to remotely interact with a distant
environment. These devices range from Skype on Segways to humanoids
with sensors and autonomous functions. The iRobot Ava 500 can find
its way to any location in an office or hospital after remote instruction,
avoiding people and other obstacles along the way. The consumer Romo,
available on Amazon, brings telepresence into the home. Museums and
NASA are using telepresence robots to give tours. Doctors can interact
with patients in areas where specialists are limited and even schools are
using them for remote teaching.
Stepping even further into the digital world, the Oculus Rift headset
places users into a virtual world that reacts to their movements. Facebook
shelled out $2 billion to acquire Oculus VR, the makers of the headset.
The Oculus Rift DK2 is already shipping to select developers and is avail-
able for preorder for an expected April 2015 launch.
Beyond the headset, many companies are developing VR peripherals.
Dexta Robotics makes a hand VR controller with true digital force feed-
back so that users can physically feel virtual objects to enhance interac-
tion. Leap Motion also makes a hand tracker that can enable consumers
to do things like learn an instrument virtually without an attached device.
There is more tangible progress as well. Advances in exoskeletons
and prosthesis are enabling the handicapped and elderly and increas-
ing strength and endurance of the fit. The Ekso Bionics GT has allowed
disabled people to walk for the first time in years and will aid rehabilita-
tion efforts. The company is also funded by DARPA for the Warrior Web
project to develop a soft exoskeleton to improve
soldier endurance and performance — a prob-
lem also being tackled by Harvard.
Chalmers University of Technology
has developed a neural prosthesis
that integrates with the skeleton,
muscles and nerves to allow us-
ers to control it like they would a
natural arm. Case Western scientists
integrated electrodes under the skin
in nerve bundles to help stimulate
sensory pathways and allow users to
actually feel with a prosthetic hand.
3 2
Enhanced
Human Ability
The Dexmo F2 VR controller has haptic
feedback. Photo courtesy Dexta Robotics.

5. The greatest and widest variety
of innovations this year has come
in the form of control systems for
unmanned vehicles. Developments
in this field will one day enable a uni-
fied UAS traffic management system
for integration into the national airspace — a problem that Airware
and NASA have partnered to solve.
Companies like iRobot have started to integrate their control
systems into comprehensive units. Its uPoint system can operate
different robots from the same tablet with intuitive controls.
The Airbus Zephyr high-altitude pseudo-satellite (HAPS) can
be controlled via satellite and has broken records for highest and
longest endurance UAS flights and first civil HAPS flight.
3D Robotics has kept up with the latest trends in the technol-
ogy world by integrating smartwatch control functionality on
its Iris+ UAS, which includes a follow-me feature, allowing the
aircraft to autonomously track a GPS-enabled device from several
angles.
Microsoft developers have experimented with UAS control
using hand gestures through a Kinect interface, while peers have
come up with even more creative and futuristic concepts.
Researchers at the University of Texas San Antonio are work-
ing with electroencephalogram caps to control aircraft with brain
waves, but this is still far from fruition.
Finally, Carnegie Mellon University has built a moon rover that
will link and respond to Oculus Rift movements and live-stream
images to the device on Earth. This project is in response to
Google’s $30 million Lunar X prize to land a craft on the moon
and send video back to our planet. Space X has agreed to
launch the craft for the university in 2016.
Control Systems
1
Iris+ UAS smartwatch control display-
ing positioning command, battery life,
altitude and speed. Photo courtesy
3D Robotics.
In December 2013, 16 teams competed in
the DARPA Robotics Challenge to win a
spot and funding to compete in the June
2015 finals. The Japanese company Schaft
and its two robots walked (literally) away
with a commanding victory.
Google has since snapped up Schaft and
officially withdrawn it from competition, say-
ing it doesn’t want to seek defense funding,
although it likely plans further commercial
development of the company’s robotics
technology.
The finals, to be held in summer 2015
in California, will require robots to perform
various search-and-rescue tasks to emulate
disaster response and will also require the
robots to drive and exit a vehicle. The ulti-
mate prize — a $2 million pot.
Boston Dynamic’s Atlas robot balances across
angled cinderblocks. Photo courtesy DARPA.
TOP
DARPA
Challenge
Update
Each year the Unmanned Systems staff profiles
the most innovative accomplishments of the year.
2014 saw progress toward commercial UAS use,
more advanced machine learning and autonomous
control, and faster and smarter networks. Technol-
ogy also made innovation more accessible through
open-source software and technologies such as
3-D printing and ever-smaller components.

6. Props
Flops
=
2014’S HIGHEST HIGHS
AND LOWEST LOWS
PROPS
1. FAA grants Motion
Picture Association of
America UAS exemptions
2. FAA test sites up
and running
3. More states begin
allowing driverless car testing
4. Increased UAS use for
antipoaching efforts and
wildlife monitoring
5. UAS used in missing
persons searches
FLOPS
1. Small UAS rule still
delayed — years late
2. Microsoft lays off
robotics division
3. Dumb drones: several
hobbyists disregard safe
operation
4. Toyota says no to
driverless cars
5. Nereus UUV implodes
and Antares rocket explodes
India’s Mars orbiter, Mangalyaan (Sanskrit for Mars craft), reached
orbit around the red planet this year, making India the first nation
launch a successful interplanetary mission on its first attempt.
The low-budget mission cost only $74 million, took about 15
months to build and 10 more to reach Mars. In comparison, the
U.S. space probe Maven, which reached Mars two days before
Mangalyaan, took six years and $670 million.
The mission was established primarily to demonstrate success-
ful planning and execution of an interplanetary mission but still car-
ries five instruments to learn valuable information about the Mar-
tian atmosphere, particle environment and planet surface.
In keeping with modern culture, the Mars orbiter also has a
quirky Twitter account, where it posts breathtaking ethereal images
and updates on its progress.
Mars Orbiter being prepared for a prelaunch test at Satish Dhawan Space
Centre SHAR, Srihairkota. Photo courtesy Indian Space Research Organization.
In spring, after the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370,
search teams employed the Bluefin-21 autonomous underwater
vehicle from Bluefin Robotics to dive nearly 5,000 meters below
the surface of the ocean and scan the seafloor for remnants of the
aircraft, an effort that was ultimately unsuccessful although it did
set a depth record for the vehicle.
This October, after a southern-hemisphere winter hiatus, the
search resumed for the missing aircraft using more unmanned sub-
mersibles and towable sonar devices. Fugro Survey Ltd. mapped
the seafloor in the area to improve search parameters for ongoing
operations. The company will operate its Echo Surveyor II and Hugin
1000 AUVs, with help from surface vessels, to continue the search.
India Mars Orbiter
UUVs Used in Search for Missing
Malaysian Airlines Flight
NEWS2014