This Drone Is Better at Catching Than You [Video]

If someone handed you a tiny plastic container and challenged you to snag a bunch of ping pong balls midair, do you think you could get 'em all? I know I couldn't! But this self-perfecting robot sure can.

The quadrotor mini-copter is so nimble because it's constantly learning how to move better, demonstrating what's called LBMPC (Learning Based Model Predictive Control). In English, that means the drone knows how and where it's moving, and can compensate for mistakes the next time around. The copter quickly because spatially self-aware, learning how to take advantage of itself, like some sort of robotic puberty. At this point, it's maneuverability is such that it can predict where the ping pong balls are going to land (when given the launch point) and shift itself with what looks like very little effort. It just knows. There is no spoon. But there is a ping pong ball. And the robot is catching it. [IEEE Spectrum via Robots.net]

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This Cheap Air Drone Can Break Into Your Computer and Own It [Hacking]

This must be the holy grail of hacking: a cheap, do-it-yourself flying drone that can break into Wi-Fi networks and turn computers into zombies that can be controlled remotely. The coolest part for evildoers: it makes the hacking untraceable.

The SkyNET drone is a modified $300 Parrot quadcopter with a Linux computer, 3G card, a GPS unit and two Wi-Fi cards. This is how it works:

Controlled by a botmaster using 3G, the drone or group of drones fly over any urban area looking for Wi-FI networks. As they find them, they automatically try to break in. Once they get inside the network, it searches for personal computers that can be compromised. Any computer that falls to the attack gets turned into a zombie without the user ever knowing it.

After the infection process, the hackers can easily control the zombies remotely through the Wi-Fi drone-to-host connection. The zombies can be used to perform any attack through their internet connections, receiving commands from SkyNET but with no traceable internet ties to the hacker botmaster:

Subsequent drone ?ights are used to issue command and control without ever linking the botmaster to the botnet via the Internet. Reverse engineering the botnet, or enumerating the bots, does not reveal the identity of the botmaster.

It's a perfect idea. Total cost: a mere $600. Anyone can easily build a complete fleet of these.

Also, words words words Sarah Connor words words Terminators hah hah words. [SkyNET Paper (PDF) via Cnet]

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China's Predator Drone Ripoff Crashes and Explodes [China]

Shocker! In China's rush to be a 21st century military power, it might be possible some engineering's been a little... rushed. That seems to be the case for this Chinese "Pterodactyl" UAV—pretty much just a bootleg Predator. Kaboom.

For comparison, here's a side by side of the two bulb-nosed robo-planes.

The copycat drone went down in a flaming wreck around the Chinese village of Huining, Chinese Defence Mashup reports, and was eagerly photographed by locals before the government locked the area down. Why? It's rather embarrassing when your drones crash for no apparent reason on your own turf, that's why. At least our drones have the decency to be spectacularly shot out of the sky or shit the bed in the line of fire. [China Defence Mashup via Flight Global]

Predator photo by Gary Williams/Getty, Pterodactyl model photo by Greg Waldron

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Nobody Has Any Idea What the Hell This Mysterious Crashed Drone Is [Airplanes]

An (allegedly) American drone just crashed in Pakistan. That's not altogether surprising—we fly drones over them all the time to hunt militants. But this one's different. It's tiny. And, uh, it's shaped like a bird. What is it?

Danger Room's Spencer Ackerman points out the ornithological similarities between the mystery UAV and the SmallBird drone—but they're clearly different. The Pakistani specimen holds no weapons—only what appear to be cameras, or what DefenseTech speculates are "four sensor apertures." There's also some strange photographic-looking equipment lying nearby. DT asked their drone gurus, and the only thing resembling conjecture they could turn up is the possibility that "It may be a Lockheed Martin Desert Hawk with the tail plane modified to look more like a bird for camouflage." That's very clever!

But not clever enough to keep it from falling out of the sky, it'd seem. It appears to have crashed on its own, rather than being shot out of the sky—the wreckage looks almost entirely intact, save for some scorch marks. At any rate, we can be sure of one thing: Pakistan's got it, and they're probably giving it a very thorough inspection right now. We need to be more careful about not dropping our stealth crap in their backyard. [Danger Room and DefenseTech]

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The Suitcase Drone Libyan Rebels Used to Help Win the War [Video]

The Libyan freedom fighters had some serious DIY brilliance, but at least one of their toys was store bought—the Scout micro UAV. The tiny three-pounder provided aerial recon on Qaddafi's men, and helped kick their asses to Tripoli.

DefenseTech reports the little quadrocopter "can fly for 25 minutes up to 13,000 feet and operate in temperatures up to 122 degrees Fahrenheit, according to Aeryon. It uses GPS for navigation and has a range of just under two miles, likely due to its WiFi-based comms system." It also uses a Windows XP-based touchscreen map control, as opposed to a joystick. Just tap where you want the drone, and off it goes—think Starcraft. It's a short range eye, but in Libyan terrain, the ability to peak over hills and around buildings was invaluable. It didn't have any firepower of its own, but gave rebels the capability to strike by surprise (or avoid danger), even in the dark.

But where'd it come from? Canada! Danger Room reports the rebels went directly to Ontario to scope out the drone, and then had one delivered back home, where they were trained by another Canadian firm. An international effort if there ever was one, between this, Twitter airstrikes from NATO, and homebrew weaponry sprouting from European engineering degrees.

But why'd they want the drone so badly? Tripoli:

There was also little doubt about where the Libyan rebels wanted to use it. "The only imagery they wanted loaded on was Misurata to Tripoli, on that coastal road," Barlow said. "I can't hand-on-heart tell you it's in Tripoli, but this was the main front out of Misurata."

Looks like it worked. [DefenseTech and Danger Room]

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