NYC

Relax everybody, unlike its antonymous quadrocopter cousins, this six-rotor drone isn't here to kill, only to count plants. Researchers from Oregon State University are hanging cameras from reasonably-priced RC aircraft to help nurseries track inventory -- a task often performed by workers wandering the orchards and keeping tally by hand. Image analysis software automates the process and, with the addition of other sensors (such as infrared), it could one day be used to spot irrigation problems, identify diseased trees, and estimate crop yield. The machines themselves can climb to over 80 feet and stay aloft for up to 40 minutes while hauling 5-pounds of photo gear. At around $10,000 it's a safe bet that no one will be shooting bottle rockets at balloons with this thing, but it should be well within the reach of farmers who spend that much in money and manpower to track their trees anyway. Two more photos after the break. Topix Associated Press

Boeing's new Phantom Ray aircraft made a covert first flight last week, taking to the skies above California's Edwards Air Force Base. The unmanned airborne system (UAS) reached 7,500 feet, hitting a maximum speed of 178 knots and flying for a total of 17 minutes -- sure, it won't outlast the Phantom Eyeanytime soon, but hey, we've all gotta start somewhere. What the 36-foot long vehicle lacks in relative endurance, it makes up stealth, designed to be undetectable on radar, and thanks to a deeply embedded engine, giving off a minimal amount of heat. Boeing will be running additional tests on the autonomous vehicle in the coming weeks, in attempt to prep it for possible future surveillance and attack missions. No word on when this might actually be hitting an airspace near you, but in the meantime, it's probably best to refrain from ticking off any deep pocketed governments. Defense Tech Boeing

iRobot may still be best known as the creator of the homely Roomba vacuum-cleaning drone, but savvy readers will know the company's endeavors span a pretty broad range of robot-related activities. One of those has now borne fruit in the shape of a multiyear agreement with the US Navy for the provision of "portable robotic systems" that can identify and dispose of explosives while also performing a bit of reconnaissance work in their spare time. The announcement doesn't tell us the particular model(s) or number of bots that will be provided, but there is clarification to say that iRobot will be responsible for providing spares, repairs, training, and accessories along with the hardware, with the total revenue for the company potentially swelling to $230 million over the full course of the contract, which lasts through 2015. Our guess is that the "throwable" robot shown off a couple of weeks back would be a good candidate for this task, though we doubt it...