改变一切：美国无人机展亮点大放送

    国际无人机系统协会的年度展会（AUVSI）就好比是无人机行业的底特律车展（不过这个行业并不喜欢“无人机”或“遥控飞机”这个词），所有认真从事无人机研发的厂商无论大小，悉数带着最好最新的硬件产品前来参展。不过如果有人认为这场在华盛顿Walter E会展中心举办的展会只是一场遥控飞机的展览秀，那就说明他根本不了解无人系统领域的发展现状。

    一说到遥控式的无人驾驶航空系统（UAS），人们就会联想到美军在巴基斯坦、也门、索马里等地的“影子战争”中使用过的无人机。与本次展会展出的一系列更智能、更高效、更全能甚至杀伤力更强的机器人系统相比，那些无人机也只能相形见绌，成了老爷机。

    如果说今年的AUVSI展会与往年相比有什么不同，那就是参展系统的自动性大大提高了。与前一代的机器人系统相比，本次参展的各款产品的飞行、航行、潜行、巡航、盘旋等机动更强，而且更重要的是这些动作可以完全由系统自动进行。而且这些硬件都经过了严格的测试，非常可靠。

    这届展会仍然以国防技术为中心，大多数参展的设备都与军事用途有关，不过，这些技术的应用前景远远不止局限于战场。以下谨为大家奉上本次展会的一些精彩片断以及最新的机器人科技。

    不过，千万不要告诉别人我们把它叫做“遥控飞机展”。

    The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International's annual expo is something like the Detroit Auto Show for drones (though the industry would really rather you not call them "drones.") All the serious players large and small are present, and every one of them has its latest and greatest hardware polished and on display. But to think of what's happening at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. as simply a "drone show" is to miss what's really happening in the unmanned systems space.

    The remotely piloted unmanned aerial systems (UAS) that have become associated with the word "drone" via America's shadow wars in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia are relatively dumb machines next to the emerging class of smarter, more effective, more widely applicable -- and yes, in some cases more deadly -- robotic systems crowding the exhibit hall floor.

    If anything sets this year's AUVSI expo apart from years past, it's autonomy. The systems on display here do more flying, diving, driving, piloting, orbiting, loitering, and processing all by themselves than any generation of robotic systems before them. The hardware is now tried, tested, and dependable.

    Consistent with its defense-centric past, most of the more significant developments at AUVSI were military-related, but applications for these technologies reach far beyond the battlefield. What follows is a short highlight reel of the concepts, newsworthy developments, and robotic tech coming out of America's biggest "drone show."

    Just don't tell anyone we called it that.