3D Robotics unveiled sweeping changes by closing its San Diego facility, reducing staff at its Berkeley headquarters and in Austin, TX, and acknowledging that co-founder and president Jordi Muñoz left the company at the end of 2015.

Intel Capital invested $60m in Chinese drone startup Yuneec last month. At last week’s InterDrone conference and expo, one can readily see why: lots of interest, lots of people, and products that are becoming commodities.

CyPhy Works raises 230K in first two days of crowdfunding for their new autopilot drone.

Following a Kubrick’s 2001 lookalike teaser video, 3D Robotics (3DR) presented their most ambitious product yet, ‘SOLO’ – an advanced quadcopter that above all focuses on ease of use and hassle-free operation, along with some quite unique features.

3D Robotics has unveiled DroneKit, an open-source development kit for app development. This is a clear invite for the wider development community to build upon 3DR’s flight control software.

February was another big month for investments in robotic startup companies, including 3D Robotics, Flyability, Fetch Robotics, EHang and many others.

The $50 million Series C funding, mainly from Qualcomm, provides the basis for a tacit partnership between Qualcomm and 3D Robotics with a goal of leveraging the pace of innovation in the smartphone industry and extending it to the world of 3DR.

3D Robotics, the largest drone manufacturer in the United States, has announced its latest version of the Flight Controller App ‘Tower’ to the open-source community. Tower acts as a powerful ground control station to command any 3DR-powered drone. Tower is only available on Android at the moment, and forms the latest iteration of DroidPlanner. 

How do I get to MVP? How do I take my existing technology to a different market? The IROS 2014 Industry Forum brought together entrepreneurs, researchers, venture capitalists and funding agencies from across the globe to shed perspective on these questions and engage in open dialogue about some of the pitfalls of commercializing robotics technology. Here are the 10 best quotes from the event.

Last week USA Today reported that Amazon, 3D Robotics, Parrot and DJI had banded together to form a “Small UAV Coalition”, hiring DC-based lobbying firm Akin Gump to represent their interests before US regulators and ease the way for the commercial drone industry in that country. Akin Gump lobbyist Michael Drobac says that, since the USA Today report was first published, Airware and GoPro have joined the fold and others in the small UAV business will soon be following suit. But does the small UAV industry need its own lobbying effort, and how will the inclusion of retail giant Amazon impact its ability to represent the broader group?

3D Robotics acquired Sifteo, the start-up which developed Sifteo Cubes and their associated game applications, for an undisclosed amount. Sifteo will help 3D Robotics expand their electronics capabilities for their UAV products as 3D Robotics continues to grow. Sifteo will also continue to provide support for their Sifteo Cubes clients.

Last Tuesday I had the pleasure of attending VLAB: Drones – The Commercial Era Takes Off at Stanford GSB. The event was truly fantastic and the panel was amazing. The moderator was Chris Anderson, former editor at Wired and CEO of 3D robotics. I’m really struck by how much he has become the face of the commercial drone industry.

Anderson has held the editor-in-chief position for 11 years during which time, in addition to his work at Wired, he authored three books and founded DIY Drones and co-founded 3D Robotics. He also grew Wired’s circulation and won eight magazine awards. In 2010, Adweek named Wired its magazine of the decade.