????國際無人機系統協會的年度展會（AUVSI）就好比是無人機行業的底特律車展（不過這個行業并不喜歡“無人機”或“遙控飛機”這個詞），所有認真從事無人機研發的廠商無論大小，悉數帶著最好最新的硬件產品前來參展。不過如果有人認為這場在華盛頓Walter E會展中心舉辦的展會只是一場遙控飛機的展覽秀，那就說明他根本不了解無人系統領域的發展現狀。

????一說到遙控式的無人駕駛航空系統（UAS），人們就會聯想到美軍在巴基斯坦、也門、索馬里等地的“影子戰爭”中使用過的無人機。與本次展會展出的一系列更智能、更高效、更全能甚至殺傷力更強的機器人系統相比，那些無人機也只能相形見絀，成了老爺機。

????如果說今年的AUVSI展會與往年相比有什么不同，那就是參展系統的自動性大大提高了。與前一代的機器人系統相比，本次參展的各款產品的飛行、航行、潛行、巡航、盤旋等機動更強，而且更重要的是這些動作可以完全由系統自動進行。而且這些硬件都經過了嚴格的測試，非常可靠。

????這屆展會仍然以國防技術為中心，大多數參展的設備都與軍事用途有關，不過，這些技術的應用前景遠遠不止局限于戰場。以下謹為大家奉上本次展會的一些精彩片斷以及最新的機器人科技。

????不過，千萬不要告訴別人我們把它叫做“遙控飛機展”。

????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.