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Interstellar Nails Third Rocket Launch

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Taste The TV

Posted on January 19, 2022 by Xordac Prime

Akihabara News (Tokyo) — Meiji University Professor Homei Miyashita has unveiled a device he calls “Taste The TV” (TTTV), and it has really got tongues wagging.

The TTTV may both create a new immersive television experience and also revolutionize artificial flavors as they currently exist.

It creates tastes in a similar fashion to how a printer produces variegated shades of ink. A carousel of ten canisters, each containing a unique flavor, mix to a precise measure to develop one specific taste.

Once cooked up, the canisters spray the intended flavor on the television screen surface, where the tasting can begin.

Per unit, the TTTV would cost about US$875.

Professor Miyashita and his students have developed utensils for the prototype as well. These include a fork that enhances the taste of the artificial flavors. Students have sampled the TTTV and have thus far expressed satisfaction with the prototype.

Potential applications for the TTTV include bringing familiar tastes to the homesick or as a supplement to food and cooking programs.

Professor Miyashita has also been approached by food manufacturing companies seeking to revolutionize fast food. They’ve begun investigating the possibility of applying flavors to plain foods such as bread or tofu.

There are still a number of technological hurdles to be overcome before the TTTV can be perfected and mass produced, but Miyashita is confident he can lick them.

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Drone Delivery to High-Rise Vertiport

Posted on January 18, 2022 by Xordac Prime

Akihabara News (Tokyo) — JP Rakuten Logistics, a drone delivery company, conducted an experiment of delivering relief supplies via drone to a 105 meter-high apartment building in Makuhari New City, Chiba, positing the scenario of a major disaster.

In the experiment, a drone delivered relief supplies from a logistics warehouse to the top of the high-rise apartment.

First, the recipient ordered products through the app. When warehouse staff received the notification, they prepared and loaded the drone, with a maximum weight capacity of 7 kilograms. After they pressed the takeoff button, the drone automatically took flight and delivered the items to the elevated destination.

The app allowed recipients to check the delivery status at all points in the process.

The drone flew at about 50 kilometers per hour, reaching the vertiport on the roof of the building in 20 minutes. Emergency kits, food, and medicine were successfully delivered in this experiment.

Through this kind of service it is expected that relief supplies can be delivered if a disaster has eliminated the possibility of ground delivery, perhaps after a major earthquake.

In less dire circumstances, this service or ones like it could establish a new lifestyle with efficient drone delivery systems in urban areas.

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Huawei Selling Battery Systems in Japan

Posted on January 17, 2022 by Xordac Prime

Akihabara News (Tokyo) — Shenzhen-based Huawei is set to begin selling large-scale battery systems that store renewable energy to Japanese customers as of March 2022.

This initiative follows only one year after Tesla launched sales of a similar technology in Japan, adding competition to a rapidly growing market.

Huawei is already known for its smaller battery systems which it sources from Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), a Chinese manufacturer.

The new large-scale systems will include numerous CATL batteries packaged together in containers sizable enough to store 2,000 kilowatt-hours of energy.

With such a powerful capacity, these energy storage systems might help Japan address some of its energy storage needs.

Fuji Keizai, a research firm, estimates that the Japanese market for battery storage of renewable energy will grow from ¥16.7 billion (US$146 million) in 2020 to ¥45.8 billion (US$400 million) in 2030.

Japan’s government is aiming for 36% to 38% of all energy to be generated by renewables by the end of this decade.

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Japan Post Links Drones and Robots

Posted on January 6, 2022 by Xordac Prime

Akihabara News (Tokyo) — Japan Post has conducted demonstration experiments of a package delivery system that links the roles of drones and robots.

The experiments conducted in December started out with a worker at Okutama Post Office in the center of Okutama town, Tokyo, loading a package onto a ACSL-PF2 drone which can be programmed and monitored via a cellular network.

The drone flew to a second location where it dropped the package onto a small structure which funneled it to the awaiting robot.

The robot, a ZMP DeliRo, looks something like a cross between a small red bus and a dump truck, anthropomorphized with moving electronic eyes and the voice of a young Japanese boy.

The robot then drove the “final mile” to deliver the packages to houses.

Japan Post intends that the drone-robot combination might solve one of the problems with drone package delivery, which is that there are limited spaces available where drones can safely land.

For most other drone delivery services under development in Japan, it means that either package recipients must still leave their homes to go to collection points, or else staff must be standing by in order to actually provide door delivery.

Japan Post has now demonstrated the potential for a future system in which mail and package delivery could become fully automated, from central post office to the doors of remote houses.

Japan Post has been experimenting with drone delivery systems since 2017.

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Japan’s eVTOLs Add Lift

Posted on January 2, 2022 by Xordac Prime

By Tim Hornyak

Akihabara News (Tokyo) — By 2050, nearly 70% of the world’s population will be living in cities, up from 55% in 2018, according to the United Nations. Can existing streets, highways, bridges and other infrastructure cope with the influx of vehicles to move hundreds of millions more people through urban areas?

Proponents of personal air vehicles–also known as electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft–are betting that mass transit will have to skyward to meet the expected demand. Indeed, Morgan Stanley expects the urban air mobility market to be worth US$1 trillion by 2040.

With its expertise in aircraft parts manufacturing and robotics, Japan is aiming for a slice of the global eVTOL pie, eyeing early demand in servicing rural areas, tourism, and disaster relief.

While Japanese companies have long experience in industrial drones, they were latecomers to the consumer drone market, which was quickly dominated by China’s DJI.

eVTOLs present an opportunity for Japan to catch up to international players, and domestic developers are taking various approaches in order to make that happen.

A.L.I. Technologies

Tokyo-based eVTOL startup A.L.I. Technologies has been turning heads in Japan with its slick, sci-fi-styled hybrid-electric hoverbike. The size of a small car, the XTurismo Limited Edition will apparently be able to carry a single rider up to eighty kilometers per hour. While promo videos using computer graphics depict the bike sailing through canyons, it’s unclear how high it can fly.

The company has demonstrated the XTurismo at venues including Fuji Speedway, where a rider made it hover a few meters off the ground while turning in slow circles and generating a loud chainsaw-like sound. That demo was in October, when A.L.I. announced it was accepting orders for the XTurismo, priced at ¥77.7 million (US$680,000).

“Compared to other air mobility systems, this one is more compact and can levitate on the spot, so it doesn’t require a large space,” says A.L.I. Technologies spokesperson Mizuki Nakamura.

The bike has two large and four small rotors between its front and rear. It’s powered by an internal combustion engine by Kawasaki Motors and also has a battery system that allows it to fly up to forty minutes when fully charged.

Other features include edge computing and motion control units to ensure safe navigation in autopilot mode as well as cloud connectivity. The XTurismo cannot exactly match a Kawasaki Ninja for acceleration—it takes three seconds to climb only two meters—but, taking a page from the Tesla playbook, the company is hoping its futuristic cachet and exclusivity will grab well-heeled buyers before wider sales.

“The XTurismo was developed in a limited edition of two hundred units, designed to be enjoyed by individuals on private property, after which it will be electrified for mass production with a little more cost effectiveness,” says Nakamura.

Tetra Aviation

Tetra Aviation is another startup in Japan’s capital which is building eVTOLs. Set up in 2018, Tetra’s main platform is the Mk-5, a single-seater winged craft propelled by 32 rotors for vertical thrust and one propeller for horizontal thrust, giving it lift and cruise capability. The wings allow the craft to glide, part of a redundant safety system. Its batteries can provide speeds up to 161 kilometers an hour and a range of 161 kilometers. The company is accepting orders for the vehicle.

Tetra grabbed the spotlight at the 2020 GoFly Prize Fly Off, an event sponsored by Boeing that’s designed to advance innovation in flight.

After the competition at Moffett Federal Airfield at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, Tetra engineers walked away with a US$100,000 Pratt & Whitney Disruptor Award for its Mk-3 eVTOL, a prototype racing aircraft where the pilot sits astride the fuselage between rotors set up in an unusual banked position. They accomplished that just over two years after conceptualizing the craft.

“What makes us stand out is our fast development speed,” says Tetra CEO Tasuku Nakai, a graduate of the University of Tokyo’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. “We have received over two hundred inquiries, and the next step is to exceed the expectations of our customers who have already purchased our products.”

SkyDrive

Rival Tokyo startup SkyDrive, founded by ex-Toyota Motor engineers in 2018, has a slightly different take on single-seater eVTOLs. It calls its SD-03 prototype a “flying car” that could
enable “door-to-door air travel on a daily basis.”

The SD-03 is an all-electric aircraft with a cockpit-style frame and a maximum
speed of 40-50 kilometers per hour. Its eight rotors can power flight for 5-10 minutes when batteries are fully charged.

“SkyDrive is trying to develop an extremely light and compact aircraft that can take-off and land almost anywhere,” says spokesperson Risa Oishi. “Our aircraft requires no runway and we envision a future where parking lots of convenience stores and helipads on top of buildings will become takeoff and landing sites.”

SkyDrive is backed by a host of corporate sponsors including major Japanese brands Sony, Panasonic, and NEC.

The Japanese government, which aims to implement guidelines for flying car testing by 2023, gave SkyDrive a vote of confidence in October when the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism (MLIT) accepted the company’s application for a type certificate for its SD-05 prototype, the first of its kind for a flying car in Japan. The certificate is issued for newly developed aircraft that meet regulatory requirements.

“This is a big step for our company, as it’s a declaration that the MLIT and SkyDrive will work together on our development plan for type certification,” says Oishi. “We are going to conduct some flight tests around 2024 in the Osaka area and aim to start business with SD-05 in 2025 at the Osaka-Kansai Expo.”

Honda

Another shot in the arm for Japanese eVTOLs came in September, when Honda Motor confirmed its intentions to build a platform.

The world No. 5 automaker by revenue has sold more than 170 of its HondaJet light aircraft, and sees eVTOLs as vehicles for shorter-haul transit. The Honda eVTOL has yet to be built, but the concept is a gas turbine-electric hybrid winged craft with eight rotors and two propellers.

Promotional videos depict the craft being about the size of a small bus, with Artificial Intelligence systems that pilot the craft and recognize passengers when they approach. Adopting the gas turbine hybrid power unit would give the aircraft enough range to ferry people between cities, and Honda envisions its eVTOL being at the core of a network of autonomous vehicles that can shuttle people around regionally.

“Other companies’ eVTOLs can travel up to a hundred kilometers, but by using a gas turbine hybrid, it’s possible to achieve intercity travel up to four hundred kilometers. That will be the biggest feature,” says Honda spokesperson Junko Nakanishi.

“In terms of the electrification technology, there are places where the battery of the four-wheel hybrid system and the technology of the F1 turbocharger (Motor Generator Unit-Heat, or MGU-H) are used. We also believe that HondaJet’s knowledge can be put to good use in obtaining certification for practical use.”

Honda hopes to do a technology demonstration of its eVTOL in 2023 and fly a craft in 2025. It’s considering commercialization after 2030, starting in North America.

Tim Hornyak is a Tokyo-based author and journalist overing Japanese technology, business, and culture.

This article first appeared in our subscription Japan Air Mobility newsletter on December 20, 2021.

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Osaka Takes Heat on IR Land Expenses

Posted on December 21, 2021 by Xordac Prime

Akihabara News (Tokyo) — Osaka Mayor Ichiro Matsui is taking political heat after it was revealed that local taxpayers will be footing an additional ¥80 billion (US$700 million) bill to decontaminate the land earmarked for the MGM-Orix Integrated Resort (IR), including a casino.

“It is natural that the city—the landowner—should bear the cost of providing safe and secure land to the business operator which will rent it,” Matsui explained.

This extra expense became necessary after arsenic and fluorine exceeding the standard amounts were found in the soil of the planned construction site at Yumeshima. Additionally, the land may be vulnerable to liquefaction in the event of a major earthquake.

Critics point out that warnings about these matters have been issued for years, but previously Matsui had dismissed them and had insisted that local taxpayers would face no extra financial burden.

On Twitter, Matsui defended his policies against such criticism, declaring, “The economic effect of the IR will be ¥1.2 trillion (US$11 billion) per year, the contribution of the casino is ¥55 billion (US$500 million) every year in Osaka city alone, and the land lease fee is ¥2.5 billion (US$22 million) every year. These are the returns to the citizens. Is this still a citizen’s burden?”

He continued, “I consider it an investment when considering the returns of the IR business.”

Matsui went on to criticize how the local media is reporting the issue.

At any rate, Osaka also revealed an updated basic IR plan, including notice that the casino resort is not expected to open its doors to the public until late 2029, about five years later than initially hoped.

The plan calls for the MGM-Orix led consortium to operate the Osaka Yumeshima IR for 35 years. The total initial investment is anticipated to be about ¥1.8 trillion (US$15.8 billion).

It is estimated that the IR will attract about 20 million visitors a year, consisting of 14 million domestic visitors and 6 million visitors from abroad.

Panasonic, Suntory, and JR West are among the roughly twenty other companies expected to participate in the consortium, holding a combined 20% share, while MGM Resorts and the Orix Corporation each hold a 40% share.

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Lifting Japan’s Ban on Level 4 Drone Flight

Posted on December 19, 2021 by Xordac Prime

Akihabara News (Tokyo) — The Japanese government is expected to lift its ban on Level 4 drone flights, perhaps as soon as April of next year.

Currently, some beyond visual line-of-sight (BVLOS) drone flights can be permitted in “less populated areas” such as the remote islands and mountainous areas of Japan. The lifting of the Level 4 ban will also open up the possibility of BVLOS flights in populated and urban areas.

“BVLOS is the biggest obstacle to overcome when wanting to establish commercialized logistics with drones,” comments Asa Quesenberry, founder of Sakai, Osaka, based drone and eVTOL firm DroNext.

The first drone delivery services in Japan have already been launched, although currently only in a few remote rural areas of the country.

This movement is expected to pick up steam with the lifting of the Level 4 ban, especially since it will open up the possibility for a wide variety of additional companies and groups to begin testing and building out drone logistics systems.

No longer will tests in more populated areas rely only on those major corporations which have influence with the national government.

Quesenberry explains that Japan’s approach has been different from some of the other leading drone nations in the sense that there is not—and never has been—any sort of national drone pilot licensing system.

“It is very odd that Japan is going from no national license to its first national license granting the ability to conduct this BVLOS Level 4 flight,” he says.

He adds, “This whole decision in my mind speaks volumes about how serious the Japanese government is about being involved and being a leader in the advanced air mobility space, whether it be drones or eVTOLs.”

Japan was originally rather passive and sluggish about the drone industry, and there was disinterest in the equipment which may have formerly been viewed as more of a curiosity or as a toy.

However, this attitude has palpably changed in the past three years or so, as more policymakers in both the national and local governments are beginning to focus on drones and eVTOLs as industries which are set for rapid market growth, and in regard to which Japan may have important contributions to make, even on a global scale.

Quesenberry cautions, however, that even the lifting of the Level 4 ban next year will not immediately lead to a swarm of drones hovering over Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo.

There will first need to be steady advances in Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) involving the need to identify the necessary services, responsibilities, information architecture, data exchange protocols, software functions, infrastructure, and performance requirements for enabling the management of low-altitude drone operations.

However, the new licensing system and the lifting of the Level 4 ban may be creating the conditions for Japan to accelerate its testing stage and potentially move more quickly than many other nations toward drone-based logistics systems in urban settings.

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Sweeping Chinese Drones Out of Japan

Posted on December 17, 2021 by Xordac Prime

Akihabara News (Tokyo) — The release of the Soten drone this month represents a milestone in the low-profile campaign of the Japanese government to sweep China-made drones out of the Japanese market, allegedly over security and human rights concerns.

This campaign dates back to the latter months of the Shinzo Abe administration, when conservative politicians and officials began to raise fears that the dominance of Chinese drones (namely Shenzhen-based DJI which had a global market share over 70%) represented a security threat to Japan, and that domestic firms should be encouraged to choose Japanese makers instead.

This followed a warning by the US Department of Homeland Security in May 2019 that Chinese drones “may” be transmitting flight data back to Beijing, though no particular evidence for this claim was provided. Several other US agencies had raised similar concerns going back to 2017.

The first major action taken by the Japanese government was to eliminate the use of DJI drones by the Japan Coast Guard, which occurred last year.

Another pillar was the launch of the Safe and Secure Drone Basic Technology Development project, which has now produced the Soten drone.

In early 2019, before the anti-Chinese drone campaign began, DJI executives in Japan had been explaining to the media that they were especially interested in expanding in the surveying, industrial inspection, and security markets in Japan, while they were more skeptical about the prospects for consumer drone delivery services.

It is precisely these same markets that the Japanese government is now aiming to sweep DJI out of, using the government-funded Soten drones.

Meanwhile, the US government is increasing pressure on DJI. This week the US Treasury Department announced that it has placed investment restrictions on the firm. This time the reason given is not the alleged security risk, but because DJI drones are being employed in Xinjiang and thus supposedly contributing to human rights violations.

However, even if the political winds have turned frosty for DJI, the official campaign to push their drones out of both the United States and Japan is running up against one serious problem–they gained their market dominance by producing better products at a cheaper price, which is supposed to be the free market ideal.

With ACSL predicting only a thousand units in sales of the Soten drone next year, even with all of the anticipated government agency purchases, it seems unlikely that DJI drones will truly be swept away anytime soon, short of a complete legal ban.

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Securing Drones from Hackers

Posted on December 16, 2021 by Xordac Prime

Akihabara News (Tokyo) — The first mass-produced drones commissioned by the Japanese government have been released for sale with a focus on securing drones from malicious hackers.

In a project carried out by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) through the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), Japanese firms gained over US$14 million in funding to create the small four-rotor Soten drone.

Developed by Autonomous Control Systems Laboratory (ACSL), Soten weighs only 1.7 kilograms and can shoot 4K video, mainly intended for industrial inspection missions.

Its maximum flight time is 29 minutes per charge and it is LTE compatible, capable of beyond visual line-of-sight flights.

The special point is the Secure Flight Management Cloud developed by NTT Docomo, which aims to make it difficult for drones to be hijacked or otherwise hacked by unauthorized users.

This cloud service operates integrally with the aircraft, and the data collected by the drone, including video and stills, is encrypted immediately inside the drone and then uploaded to the cloud for decryption.

The management screen can be accessed from the web.

In addition, this cloud service can centrally manage information necessary for operations, including the setting flight plans, managing flight team authorization, and monitoring equipment malfunctions.

The Safe and Secure Drone Basic Technology Development project was implemented from 2020 by NEDO, with the potential for cyberattacks from nations such as China and Russia at the front of the Japanese government’s mind.

Government agencies are expected to procure the Soten drone for many official operations.

ACSL predicts that it will sell over one thousand units by the end of 2022.

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Testing the Flying Car Navigation System

Posted on December 15, 2021 by Xordac Prime

Akihabara News (Tokyo) — AirMobility has begun practical tests of its AirNavi eVTOL (flying car) navigation system in Toba city, Mie Prefecture.

In the current test, AirNavi was connected to a drone, which it successfully guided to a location 2.7 kilometers distant at an altitude of about 60 meters.

The system relayed real-time weather information during the flight, and all takeoff, landing, and communication operations were performed as intended.

In future tests, AirNavi will be tasked with making real-time route changes based on weather information, as well as for the purpose of collision avoidance within a traffic management system.

Like many other eVTOL firms in Japan, AirMobility is aiming to have its product ready for public use by the time of the 2025 World Expo in Osaka.

In November 2020, Mie Prefecture, AirMobility, and Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Company concluded an agreement to collaborate on the testing of the system within Mie Prefecture.

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Chinese eVTOL Flies in Fukushima

Posted on December 13, 2021 by Xordac Prime

Akihabara News (Tokyo) — China’s EHang 216 has become the first eVTOL (flying car) to conduct an outdoor test flight in eastern Japan.

This the first flying car tests to receive official Japan government permission for outdoor flights in the region. The test took place on Monday at the Fukushima Robot Test Field in Namie town.

“I hope we can create a society where the problems of local people can be solved by utilizing such new technology,” said Hiroshi Sakanoue, secretary-general of the Mizushima Aero & Space Industry Cluster Study Group (MASC), which is EHang’s Japanese partner.

The EHang 216 is a two-seater with a top speed of 160 kilometers per hour. It can fly for about 25 minutes.

The aircraft is autonomous without any piloting gear. The flight route was sent from a computer on the ground. No one was aboard during the test flight.

On this occasion, high winds delayed the test for a few hours, but the flight was ultimately conducted safely and successfully at an altitude of about 25 meters. It traveled a distance of only about 300 meters during the test, taking about four minutes.

The first official outdoor eVTOL test flight in Japan was conducted by the same team in Kurashiki city, Okayama Prefecture, on June 4.

The EHang 216 is expected to sell in Japan for about ¥30 million (US$264,000) per unit.

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Shizuoka’s Empanada Entrepreneur

Posted on December 12, 2021 by Xordac Prime

By Astrid Walmer

Akihabara News (Tokyo) — Mara Arguello is an Argentinian entrepreneur who established a catering business called Raices (roots in Spanish) in Shizuoka four years ago.

She specializes in homemade Argentinian dishes, which in pre-pandemic times she used to sell at numerous food fairs all over the prefecture.

Raices’ most popular dish above all is empanadas.

Empanadas owe their creation to the Arab stuffed pie fatayer and in Spanish it means “stuffed in bread.” It was brought by the Spaniards to Central and South America, and today each Latin American country has its own regional recipe.

“In Argentina, for the gauchos who worked long days in the Pampas handling livestock, the empanada were easy to carry and didn’t easily spoil. They are packed with protein since they contain minced beef, sauteed with onions, hard boiled eggs, olives, and raisins. From its humble beginnings, today the empanada is a popular street food that’s also prepared in many homes,” explains Arguello.

The youngest of five sisters with a single working mother, her mother divided the household chores amongst the girls, assigning a specific chore to each of them. At age 12, Arguello became the one in charge of cooking for her family, and from then on went every weekend to learn how to cook with her French grandmother.

In an unusual twist of fate, she married a Japanese chef who owned a restaurant in Buenos Aires. Since cooking was no longer her main duty, she soon discovered that she wasn’t up to being a housekeeper.

Laughingly, she recalls the time when she did a load of laundry without separating it into different colors, only to realize that they had bled.

“Trying to fix the mess, I poured bleach on the pile of clothes, which made it even worse!”

Arguello’s ability to use humor to diffuse tension by joking about her mistakes adds to her strength of character, helping her with life’s difficulties.

In the late 1980s, during the government of President Carlos Menem, Argentina was hit hard by a financial crisis due to hyperinflation. Forced to close the restaurant in Buenos Aires, Arguello’s husband decided to return to Japan, bringing her along with him.

Their project was to establish a staff recruitment agency that assisted foreigners in searching for employment with Japanese manufacturers. Although very successful for a number of years, the agency collapsed with the end of the Japanese economic bubble.

The financial strain also ended their marriage. Arguello, suddenly on her own, was in dire need of a job, which led her to work as an assembly line worker for a phone manufacturer.

“The hours were long and earnings meager as female workers were paid less than male coworkers,” she reminisces. ”Nonetheless, it was a positive experience as it forced me to focus on the circuit board in front of me. Gradually, I stopped ruminating about the end of my marriage and my former business.”

The factory gig provided her with much needed time to heal while allowing her to pay for food and shelter.

Eventually, she realized that she had to find a way to reinvent herself in Japan. It was at that point when she decided to go back to her roots, by establishing her own catering business and fittingly named it Raices.

Fast forward to 2020 when the Covid pandemic hit, affecting her income badly.

However, thanks to a loan for small businesses from the Japanese government, she was able to convert her garage into an industrial kitchen in order to produce and sell Argentinian food online.

In the agricultural town of Kikugawa, where she currently lives, farmers often leave their fresh produce on an unattended spot by the roadside with a money box for passersby to purchase. Inspired by this very Japanese way of selling based on trust, every Friday Arguello’s empanadas are placed on a case left by the entrance of Raices.

When asked why she opted to stay in Japan instead of returning back home to Argentina, she explains that, “I feel that I still haven’t proved myself, the agency was run together with my ex-husband, and since he is Japanese I depended a lot on his knowledge of the language and culture. He acted like a filter that smoothed my path in this country.”

She concludes that Raices is like a child that she wants to raise and see successfully grow. Her aim is for her empanadas to become popular, since they are tasty, affordable, and can be eaten anywhere just like onigiri.

When talking about her future objectives, she mentions that she would like to introduce other delicious recipes that she learned from her grandmother into the menu.

“Now it’s different. I’m alone and I depend on myself to achieve my goals,” she concludes.

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Sony Airpeak to Begin Shipping

Posted on December 9, 2021 by Xordac Prime

Akihabara News (Tokyo) — The anticipated Sony drone is now available for purchase and the first shipments are expected to go out on December 24.

It is definitely aiming for the premium, professional segment of the air photography market: The Airpeak S1 has a price tag of about US$9,000, and that doesn’t include a camera or a gimbal. Realistically, consumers are looking at a US$12,000+ investment for a full package.

The flight time of the Airpeak S1 on single charge is only 12 minutes when carrying a payload such as a camera.

On the positive side, the Airpeak is very compact in size and stable even in moderately strong winds.

Sony has announced an annual US$300 Airpeak Plus cloud subscription, which will offer additional data storage, advanced geofencing options, and the import and export of flight logs.

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Source: Akihabara News – Sony Airpeak to Begin Shipping

Drone Fund III Reaches US$88 Million

Posted on December 8, 2021 by Xordac Prime

Akihabara News (Tokyo) — Drone Fund, a venture capital specializing in drone and air mobility, announced that it has successfully reached its ¥10 billion (US$88 million) target for its third fund.

Drone Fund III was launched in May 2020. It was able to reach its investment target with critical recent support from Japan Investment Corporation, as well as Logistics Innovation Fund Investment, Nakashima Propeller Company, Yoshimasu Manufacturing Company, and Proto Ventures II Investment.

Other major companies contributed to Drone Fund III shortly after it was announced last year.

As for the purpose of Drone Fund III, the official statement explains that it had been established “to promote the further social implementation of drone and air mobility.”

“Drone Fund aims to maximize the use of the communication infrastructure, including the next generation communication standard 5G, and to achieve digital transformation of industrial activities—such as automation and remoteness of field operations through the network with business companies participating as limited partner investors,” it continues.

Separately, Drone Fund III has just made an investment in Germany-based Wingcopter, which it believes may become a market leader in medium- to long-distance drone delivery services.

In April, All Nippon Airways (ANA) announced that it had formed an agreement with Wingcopter to test strategies for connecting small island communities throughout Japan via drone deliveries.

Wingcopter CEO Tom Plummer said of the Drone Fund investment that it “comes at a time when we are intensifying our efforts on the Japanese market. We are convinced that the Drone Fund team will open doors, allowing us to bring drone delivery services to more customers in Japan and beyond.”

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