The Innovation Report
Solar Orbiter Ready For Close Encounter With Venus
The European Space Agency (ESA) is ready to guide the ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter spacecraft through its closest encounter with Venus so far. Today's flyby will be the first to significantly "tilt" the spacecraft's orbit and allow it to see the sun's polar regions, which...
Autonomous Delivery Bot Boasts Largest Modular Cargo Bay In Its Class
The latest rolling delivery bot may not have arms to unload the goods, or articulating legs to tackle challenging obstacles, or even work in tandem with a robo-flyer. But the Robovan W5 does boast "autonomous capabilities and substantial cargo...
Saronic Unveils Plans For Autonomous Shipyard
Texas-based Saronic Technologies announced Tuesday it raised $600 million in private funding to build an autonomous shipyard it's calling Port Alpha. The company plans to use the facility to grow its fleet of medium- and large-class autonomous surface...
EV Maker Nikola Files For Bankruptcy Protection
Nikola has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection months after saying that it would likely run out of cash early this year. Nikola was a hot start-up and rising star on Wall Street before becoming enmeshed in scandal and its founder was convicted in 2022...
Autonomous Robots Track Plankton In The Arctic Ocean
It's spring, the sun is shining and something is about to happen with the plankton in the cold waters of the Arctic Ocean. Long bright days and rising temperatures have awakened the phytoplankton. The spring bloom has begun, and populations of these tiny plankton are...
Western Campus Acts As ‘Living Lab’ For Building Smart Cities
‘Work smarter, not harder’ aren’t just words to live by for Western engineering professor Ayan Sadhu. For Sadhu, Canada Research Chair in Smart and Sustainable Civil Infrastructure, it’s how cities like New York, Singapore and Seoul grew to become...
Autonomous Truck Rules Discussed In 11 Statehouses
Discussion about autonomous trucks continues to be a hot topic at statehouses across the country. More than half of all states have acted in recent years to put in place rules related to autonomous trucks. South Dakota established a regulatory framework a year ago to...
Smart Mobility Today: 18 February 2025
I thought there were two articles that were very interesting when considered together in the most recent Smart Mobility Today. The first, Ford's uptick in electric car sales at the end of last year and second, studies showing that BEVs are reaching the same level of...
AI-Powered Material Detection For Sustainable Urban Planning
A new study has unveiled a cutting-edge framework that harnesses deep learning and remote sensing to identify building materials with remarkable accuracy. This innovative approach enables the development of high-resolution material intensity databases—an essential...
Toyota-Based Skydrive Aims Japanese Flying Car At Daily Driving Masses
SkyDrive has long taken a leadership role in Japan's nascent eVTOL industry with sights on eventually making its flying cars as ubiquitous as automobiles. With time winding down on its long-time goal of unveiling its first production-bound multirotor electric aircraft...
