The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) is excited to release a new key recommendations brief drawn from the recent Computing on the Fly: Navigating a Vision for the Future of Drone Computing report. The report lays out a vision for non-military drone infrastructure by 2035 and identifies twelve technical challenges standing in the way. This brief, Key Recommendations for the Future of Drone Computing, outlines the next steps, translating those challenges into specific actions for the four computing communities whose decisions will determine whether that vision is met: scientific funders, policymakers, industry, and academia. Action is urgent to realize the full potential of non-military drones. The report establishes milestones for 2028, […]

The applications of a national infrastructure of drones are numerous. From supporting supply chains and public works maintenance to minimizing damage from natural disasters, non-military drones have the potential to revolutionize our productive capacity. For this potential to become a reality, however, U.S. policy and scientific funding must align with the developments of drone computing over the next decade. To that end, the Computing Community Consortium’s (CCC) newest report, Computing on the Fly: Navigating a Vision for the Future of Drone Computing, lays out recommendations for maximizing the potential of drone computing. The findings are informed by the December 2025 Computing on the Fly workshop, which convened experts across computing […]

Computing on the Fly: Navigating a Vision for the Future of Drone Computing, the Computing Community Consortium’s (CCC) latest report, presents the benefits of advancing the United States’s non-military drone infrastructure, with numerous potential benefits to industry. Drones have the capacity to provide large-scale support to supply chains (particularly rural routes), for example, as well as revolutionize agricultural efficiency. By 2035, these benefits can be made tangible. Computing on the Fly also goes one stop further, laying out the exact ways to make this happen. Below, find a summary of the ways current industry efforts can advance non-military drone computing.  Key Challenges in Advancing Drone Computing  The report identifies twelve […]

The Computing Community Consortium’s (CCC) latest report, Computing on the Fly: Navigating a Vision for the Future of Drone Computing, presents the far-reaching potential of non-military drone infrastructure, from ecological management to supply chain support to boosting agricultural efficiency to recording life’s most important moments. This is potential that can be realized by 2035, the new report asserts, presenting a roadmap for how to make it so.  Key Challenges in Advancing Drone Computing  The report identifies twelve key technical challenges in which drone computing must advance in order to support drones as part of our national infrastructure in the next ten years. These areas include: Scaling to millions of drones […]

  A recent CCC Computing Futures Symposium panel, featuring luminaries in the field — Robin Murphy (Texas A&M University), Melanie Moses (University of New Mexico), Chad Jenkins (University of Michigan), and Holly Yanco (University of Massachusetts – Lowell) — offered a captivating glimpse into the evolving landscape of robotics and autonomy. Moderated by Weisong Shi (University of Delaware), the discussion highlighted pivotal advancements in sensing, computation, and intelligence, exploring their profound implications for society, research, and education. Charting the Present and Future of Robotics  The panelists began by painting a vivid picture of the current state and future potential of robotics. Murphy, a pioneer in rescue robots, challenged conventional notions […]

The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) is hosting its highly anticipated Computing Futures Symposium in the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., on May 15-16, 2025. This isn’t just another conference; it’s a dynamic forum where the architects of our digital future – leading researchers in computing, influential figures from federal agencies, and insightful voices from civil society – will converge to explore the cutting edge of computing research and its transformative power. The symposium features a series of panel discussions and keynote addresses from prominent experts across a spectrum of computing disciplines, including the future of robotics and autonomy, the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, the intersection of computing and healthcare, and […]