The Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing, or ARM, Institute has selected eight new projects focusing on high-value ways to empower U.S. manufacturers using robotics and automation.

The ARM Institute announced the selection of five sustainment projects focused on strengthening U.S. Department of Defense equipment maintenance with robotics.

HeroX, a spinoff of XPRIZE, is crowdsourcing talent. One of its projects is the AlphaPilot AI drone competition, run with the Drone Racing League and Lockheed Martin.

The firefighters who responded to the fire at Notre Dame cathedral in Paris had help from drones and a robot that’s among those being designed to respond to such disasters.

MassRobotics continues to make strategic partnerships as it helps the Massachusetts robotics cluster grow and develop. Its latest partners include Analog Devices, Honda, and Lockheed Martin.

Lockheed Martin Ventures is investing in Ocean Aero, a company focused on autonomous vehicle development that created the Submaran unmanned maritime vehicle. The decision is part of Lockheed Martin’s larger efforts around unmanned systems. “Ocean Aero represents the next generation of environmentally powered, autonomous ocean systems,” Chris Moran, executive director and general manager of Lockheed…