Protesters take aim at Anduril drones and weapons plant near Columbus
The protest, organized by several Ohio activist groups, is one of the first public displays of opposition to Anduril's planned $900 million "Arsenal 1" drone factory, which the company has said would employ over 4,000 people.
Organizer Darrin Broering with Veterans for Peace—a national anti-war group of military veterans—led the protest's proceedings. He said he is against any weapons manufacturing occurring in Central Ohio.
"Yes, (Anduril is) gonna create a bunch of jobs, but those jobs could be producing any number of things that would be more productive and less destructive as well," Broering said.
Over around 90 minutes, the gathered protestors clutched signs critical of Anduril and the U.S. military, listened to speeches from activist leaders and joined in chants of "O-H-I-O, all these drones have got to go."
Pat Marida, a coordinator with the Ohio Nuclear Free Network, said she was concerned the factory would start wars, increase militarization around the world, harm the planet, and allow the company to "cement over Central Ohio."
Sunday's protest was a way for her to coordinate with other activists so they could plan to stop the money flowing to Anduril, she said.
"If we stop the money, we can stop this," she said.
Anduril is a Southern California-based defense technology company that contracts with the U.S. military. The company sells drones, underwater vehicles, rocket motors, AI defense systems and virtual reality systems, according to the company's website.
In January, Anduril announced it plans to invest around $900 million in a Pickaway County factory, saying it would employ over 4,000 workers. The facility—dubbed "Arsenal 1"— would produce the company's Fury unmanned aircraft system before adding production of its Barracuda and Roadrunner drones later, The Dispatch previously reported.
The state of Ohio plans to spend $70 million to build a taxiway and other improvements at Rickenbacker International Airport for the new factory, The Dispatch previously reported.
Production at the factory is planned to start in the middle of 2026.
Anduril was co-founded by Palmer Luckey, the creator of the Oculus virtual reality headset, and others in 2017. The company's current CEO, Brian Schimpf, also helped co-found Anduril after working at Palantir Technologies, a company founded by right-wing philanthropist and billionaire Peter Thiel.
Thiel helped lead the latest round of fundraising for Anduril, according to Tech Funding News.
NHart@dispatch.com
@NathanRHart
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Dozens protest future Anduril weaponized drone factory in Ohio
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Politico
2 hours ago
- Politico
Kamala Harris isn't running for California governor. Is Rick Caruso?
'After the fires, the prevailing wisdom was Karen Bass was politically vulnerable and Caruso was a prime opponent to run against her — six months later she's seen as handling the ICE raids in LA very well and her political standing is much better than it was,' said Kevin Liao, a Los Angeles-based political consultant who has worked in the California statehouse. 'Governor appears like a path he'd have a more realistic chance of winning.' In 2022, Caruso ran for mayor as a business-savvy outsider willing to defy an ossified political establishment. He sought to win over working-class and Latino voters disillusioned with the city's pervasive homelessness problem and spiraling cost of living. It was not enough to win in deep-blue Los Angeles, where Bass enjoyed the backing of labor unions and was well known to voters and political power brokers after years in Congress. But some observers believe there is an audience for a similar message in the 2026 governor's race after California Democrats lost ground in 2024.
CNN
2 hours ago
- CNN
I spent a weekend testing this $3,500 robot pool cleaner. Is it worth the investment?
Robot pool cleaners are essentially the aquatic equivalent of robot vacuums. At least, that's the conclusion I've come to after spending an entire weekend testing the Beatbot AquaSense 2 Ultra. As a Southern California resident who's spent a chunk of her summers in pools, the idea of a cordless robotic pool cleaner sounds appealing. Pool maintenance and cleaning, after all, is far from inexpensive. According to Aqua Masters Inc., a local pool cleaning service here in Los Angeles, California, pool cleaning 'can cost anywhere from $75 to $150 per month' on average, but the actual cost varies depending on the size and shape of your pool. So, if this type of cleaning product can somehow offset that, surely it's a worthy investment for pool cleaners. The Beatbot AquaSense 2 Ultra is an impressively capable product, scaling pool walls and skimming water surfaces with ease like some kind of pool-cleaning martial arts master. Unfortunately, much like robot vacuums, the question of whether it's a satisfactory replacement for weekly or monthly human intervention is up for debate, especially with that high upfront cost. Beatbot AquaSense 2 Ultra Robotic Pool Cleaner This premium robot pool cleaner will give your pool a thorough, comprehensive cleaning, even clearing the surface of floating debris. It's also effortless to use and comes with many features. However, it's still a splurge at $3,550, so it's not for everyone. It's easy to set up, very intuitive to use and packed with smart features I haven't tested many cordless robotic pool cleaners, but I have gone through my share of robot vacuums. Among the many things I don't like about them is the fussy initial setup. Luckily for me, that isn't the case with the Beatbot AquaSense 2 Ultra. One of the best things about this pool cleaner is that despite its features, such as app support and smart appliance functionalities (including ability to park itself), it's unbelievably effortless to assemble and set up. You simply attach the side brushes, install the cleaning agent, charge the device and connect it to the app. That's it. Connecting the Beatbot AquaSense 2 Ultra to the Beatbot app is also snag-free, and the app itself is intuitive to use and feature-rich, a testament to how well the product was programmed. As someone who had to return a brand-new robot vacuum after spending a week unsuccessfully connecting and setting it up on the app, the experience of setting this one up did a lot to heal that trauma. It has a battery life long enough to last a whole day of cleaning Before talking about battery life, I want to first say that charging the Beatbot AquaSense 2 Ultra takes a long time. During my weekend of testing, it took under three hours to go from 50% to full, which means charging it could be a whole day affair. It's worth noting that Beatbot says it should only take about four and a half hours to fully charge. Either way, it's hardly a cause for concern since you only really need to clean your pool once a week unless there are special circumstances. What's more, this cordless robotic pool cleaner can practically last an entire day's cleaning. It has several different cleaning modes, and if you choose the full cleaning option, which includes floor, wall, waterline and surface cleaning plus water clarification, the whole thing can take up to 10 hours. And that's exactly how long the Beatbot AquaSense 2 Ultra is rated for. If you're worried whether it lives up to that rating, I spent an entire Sunday watching this cordless robot pool cleaner do a full deep clean of a medium-sized pool, and trust me, its battery will likely outlast yours. The app gives you several control options The Beatbot app is thoughtfully designed for an uncomplicated user experience. It's not only easy to set up and connect to the robot pool cleaner but also free of any bugs or other issues, at least during my two days of use. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean bugs and problems won't arise during long-term use, but I also think, considering my bad initial experiences with some robot vacuum apps, Beatbot should be given credit for designing an app that won't make you want to pull out your hair at setup. The app also provides a comprehensive level of control, from letting you select the different cleaning modes to having a remote control function for manual control. That four-way remote control button on the app is just as intuitive to use, even though it may take a bit of practice on your end if you want to perform more precise maneuvers. It's not a perfect app, and there are some missing features that I feel are crucial to the experience, such as real-time clean mapping and being able to call the robot back while it's underwater. However, these missing bits have a lot more to do with the fact that Bluetooth and radio waves simply do not work well underwater, so you can hardly blame Beatbot for excluding them. Its cleaning function is comprehensive There are robot pool cleaners that skim the water surface, and there are those that don't. The Beatbot AquaSense 2 Ultra belongs to the former, skimming your pool's water surface, ideally to rid it of all floating debris. But it goes above and beyond, as it's also a very capable wall scaler, which allows it to scrub the walls and rid the waterline of debris and scum for a full, deep, comprehensive clean. That doesn't mean you have to wait 10 hours for it to do its thing every single time, as there are several different cleaning modes to choose from based on your current need or the amount of time you have. If you do want a full cleaning that comes close to what a human can do, it offers that option for you. It takes a long time to clean a medium-sized pool It takes my aunt's pool guy about an hour every week to clean her large pool, removing floating debris, testing and adjusting water chemistry, cleaning the filter, and brushing the water line if there's algae and scum. Meanwhile, it took the Beatbot AquaSense 2 Ultra more than six hours to do a full clean of the medium-sized, irregularly shaped pool I tested it in. To be clear, this isn't exactly a fair comparison. First of all, most of the wall and floor cleaning in my aunt's pool is performed by a pool vacuum she purchased years ago, which turns on automatically for four hours each day to keep those areas pristine. That's 28 hours of cleaning time every week — almost triple the amount of time it will take for the Beatbot AquaSense 2 Ultra to do a full sweep for a similarly sized pool. Second, robot cleaners are a set-it-and-forget-it kind of appliance, so you can do other things like run errands, do some work or socialize while it's doing its thing. However, it's also fair to say that robot appliances do require some level of supervision in case they get stuck or encounter an error. Sure, the app notifies you of any errors; however, the fact that the Beatbot AquaSense 2 Ultra doesn't offer real-time reporting on what it's doing and how much progress it's made makes supervision far more crucial. My advice? Do a bit of both. Go about your day, but check in once in a while to ensure things are running swimmingly. It constantly spits out small debris Sadly, the Beatbot AquaSense 2 Ultra still has a ways to go in terms of handling small debris. The way its suctioning is designed makes it regularly spit out debris that should already be stored away in its debris canister. And while it does manage to suction about 75% of the debris floating on the surface and at the waterline, it also just pushes most of the lighter stuff around. The fact that it regurgitates and pushes feels very counterproductive, especially since its literal function is to clean. It's like having a vacuum cleaner that doesn't suck up everything, so you end up picking up certain things by hand. It also spits stuff out every time it backs up. It's really too bad. If the Beatbot AquaSense 2 Ultra had a more effective and powerful suction system, it would significantly reduce its cleaning time. Where's the debris detection? The features I was most excited to test on the Beatbot AquaSense 2 Ultra were its intelligent obstacle detection and self-extrication, which, in a perfect world, are supposed to help it navigate around obstacles and extricate itself when it somehow gets stuck. Unfortunately, in my real-world tests, it didn't do so well. I purposely left another pool cleaner's leader hose attached to the filtration system during testing to see if the Beatbot AquaSense 2 Ultra managed to avoid it. It somehow not only didn't detect it, despite its camera and sensors, but also didn't learn from its first few run-ins, even though it's supposed to be using an AI-powered camera. I expected the robot pool cleaner to at least note that point on the map so it could avoid it next time, but it just proceeded as if it hadn't encountered that obstacle before. During cleaning, it also missed a largish leaf that sat in the same spot at the bottom of the pool. It had difficulty navigating the stairs area too. I can understand not being able to clean the shallow parts properly, but not being able to back out of it to find the deeper area that's quite literally a foot away is disappointing. I'm sure that with software updates, these features will improve, but considering all the advanced features it's supposed to have, it's disappointing it doesn't have these basics already mastered. Water surface, floor, walls, waterline Water surface, floor, walls, waterline Water surface, floor, walls, waterline Dual connectivity: 5G/2.4G WiFi + Bluetooth Dual connectivity: 5G/2.4G WiFi + Bluetooth Dual connectivity: 5G/2.4G WiFi + Bluetooth Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No 5,500 gallons per hour 5,500 gallons per hour 8,500 gallons per hour 4.0L / 3.7L (dual-filter basket) 3.7L / 3.5L (dual-filter basket) Not specified Up to 10 hours Up to 11 hours Up to 3 hours The Beatbot AquaSense 2 Ultra is a highly capable cordless robot pool cleaner that skims water surfaces, scrubs floors, scales walls and clarifies the water for a total, thorough clean. It's also effortless to set up, easy to use, long-lasting and feature-rich. If its suctioning, obstacle detection and avoidance performances were any better during testing, it would knock it out of the park as a pool-cleaning service replacement. But the unfortunate truth is that, during my testing, it regularly regurgitated chunks of the floating foliage it already sucked in, and it could not for the life of it detect and remember that there was a large obstacle in one area of the pool wall. Those get in the way of more time-efficient cleaning. The obstacle detection and avoidance might improve with software updates, but the suctioning I'm not so sure. There's also the fact that cordless robot pool cleaners cannot function without human intervention. Unlike floor robot vacuums, they can't leave their charging base on schedule and make their way to your pool on their own. You still have to do that part yourself, as well as empty the basket, rinse the appliance and put it back in the base. I mention this because that's a big factor to consider if you're hoping to purchase a robot pool cleaner to offset your monthly pool cleaning service. Is that something you can comfortably add to your already busy schedule without regretting it later? More importantly, is a $3,550 model worth it in the long run? Because that's how much the Beatbot AquaSense 2 Ultra goes for unless it's on sale. If you have lots of money to spare and some time to devote to it, this is among the best premium pool cleaners money can buy. Otherwise, there are more affordable options (even from Beatbot itself). How often should you clean a pool? How often should you clean a pool? Most pool cleaning services recommend a weekly clean, especially when the pool is regularly used or open for use. If you close a pool — say, for the winter — then weekly cleaning may not be necessary, as a pool cover can minimize the amount of dust and debris that falls in. Can you leave a robotic pool cleaner in a pool overnight? Can you leave a robotic pool cleaner in a pool overnight? It's not recommended to leave a robot pool cleaner in a pool overnight. The water and pool chemicals can degrade its parts over time, and the longer you leave it in there unnecessarily, the faster those parts will degrade. For the same reason, it's good practice to rinse out your robot pool cleaner with fresh water after every use. How long does a robotic pool cleaner last? How long does a robotic pool cleaner last? Most robot pool cleaners are rated with a lifespan of five to seven years. However, higher-end models can last up to 10 years. CNN Underscored thoroughly tests the products in our testing guides and provides full transparency about how we test them. We have a skilled team of writers and editors with many years of testing experience who ensure each article is carefully edited and products are properly vetted. We talk to top experts when relevant to make certain we are testing each product accurately, recommending only the best products and considering the pros and cons of each item. Testing writer Michelle Rae Uy has extensively tested and reviewed kitchen appliances for years, covering home and kitchen products for various publications before joining CNN Underscored. She wrote many of our top-performing product reviews, such as the best portable air conditioners, best space heaters and best humidifiers.
Miami Herald
3 hours ago
- Miami Herald
To dodge federal rule, immigrants moved from Florida jails - and sometimes moved right back
ORLANDO, Fla. - Four Guatemalan siblings, detained as undocumented immigrants after a traffic stop, spent several days last month at the Orange County Jail before being picked up in a van and driven around for hours. Finally they reached their destination, their attorneys say: Right back at the Orange County Jail. This directionless odyssey - similar to what some other detainees across Florida have faced in recent months – happened because of rules limiting the number of days an undocumented immigrant can be held in a local facility before federal officials must take custody. With the Trump administration's push for "mass deportation" filling federal detention beds, detainees are being transferred from facility to facility because the switch restarts the clock and gives federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents more time to pick them up. Multiple immigration attorneys described the shuffle to the Orlando Sentinel, and law enforcement leaders in Orange and Pinellas County confirmed the practice. But the attorneys say it's a maddening tactic that often leaves them struggling to locate the immigrants, and denies detainees access to family members and due process. Even though his clients - three brothers and a sister - wound up in the same place they started from, Orlando-based immigration attorney Walker Smith said he couldn't find the siblings because their previous inmate numbers were changed upon their return, leaving him and their family unsure of their whereabouts. He said the two youngest siblings in the family, 26 and 18, had valid work permits. "If they're just holding people indefinitely, holding people by sending them from facility to facility, or worse, sending them out of one facility and back to the same one under a different number … It's gaming the system at its finest," Smith said. The youngest brother has since been moved again - this time to Alligator Alcatraz, the state's new detention center in the Everglades. The way a detained immigrant's custody clock works is complicated. Under the Intergovernmental Service Agreement, or IGSA, that governs the relationships between ICE and the handful of Florida jails like Orange County's that temporarily hold detainees, undocumented immigrants without criminal charges can be held up to 72 hours before ICE must come to pick them up. But if the immigrant is arrested for a separate criminal offense, the 72-hour clock may not start until the other offense is charged or dropped - for all arrestees, state law prescribes a two-day time limit for that - or bail is granted and paid. "After the 72-hour period is up, there's no more authority for whatever agency or jail or entity to continue to hold those people," Smith said. "So . . . they should be released." And prior to the Trump administration, immigrants with an ICE hold often were released if time expired with no action. Now, some of them are simply relocated, whether to a different jail, or for a brief ride. It remains unclear how often the scenario occurs. In a July 15 meeting of the Board of County Commissioners, Orange Corrections Chief Louis Quiñones described a shuffle involving "a large amount of individuals" in early July. He was responding to questions from Commissioner Maribel Gomez Cordero, who had been told about the practice by advocates pressuring commissioners to terminate the IGSA with ICE. "Right around the [July 4] holiday, we had a large amount of individuals who were reaching the 72 hours and ICE had to come get those individuals and they were going to attempt to send them to another location," he said. "That did not go as they had planned, so they brought them back to Orange County Corrections." One reason the issue irks some county officials is that it costs about $145 per day to keep somebody in the jail, and the federal government only reimburses Orange County about $88 per day to house detainees. Shuffling people in and out of the jail prolongs their stay and runs up the bill. The county is in the midst of trying to renegotiate its agreement with ICE for a better reimbursement rate, but so far hasn't come to a deal. Quiñones didn't say how many people were impacted by the transfer, and the county didn't make him available for a requested interview with the Orlando Sentinel. But Smith said he was skeptical of Quiñones' description. "He tried to make it seem like it was a one-off," Smith said. "So I was very intrigued that the [Guatemalan] guy that I went to go talk to had also encountered the same situation." Danny Banks, the county's Public Safety Director, also said the shuffle has occurred only as "an isolated incident" so far. "Largely, ICE has been transporting their inmates within the 72-hour timeframe indicated in the IGSA agreement," he said in a text message. However, the Orlando Sentinel has been told of multiple other instances. One of the most elaborate involved Cuban native Michael Borrego Fernandez, who was transported to multiple different facilities before ending up at Alligator Alcatraz, where he has been since July 5. In June, Borrego Fernandez was arrested for violating his release terms after being charged with grand theft for bilking homeowners to pay for swimming pools up front but not finishing the work, which his mother Yaneisy Fernandez Silva said was because he "unwittingly" worked for a businessman operating the scam. Borrego Fernandez, who lived in South Florida, was taken to the Seminole County Jail to serve ten days in jail, she said. Following the completion of his sentence, he was taken to Orange County Jail on an ICE hold, then three days later shuttled to Pinellas County Jail. Three days after that, he was again transported back to Orange County Jail, his mother said. Roughly four days later he called his mother saying he had reached Alligator Alcatraz. Only his calls offered clues that let Fernandez Silva search for her son in jail databases, she said. "It's clear what the counties are doing, they're trying to create a legal loophole to a constitutional obligation to not hold people for more than the 72 hours," said Mich Gonzalez, a South Florida-based immigration attorney who called the transfers "alarming." Gonzalez said conditions for inmates who move around are different than for those housed in a single jail. "They're shackled, they're handcuffed, sometimes they're also waist-chained," Gonzalez said. "They're not provided proper food like when they're in custody at a county jail, where there are … general rules that you're going to get three meals a day and access to water. But when you're being transported and transferred, that goes out the window." In June, a Mexican man was arrested while his boss, a U.S. citizen, was driving him and his brother to a construction site. Both were passengers in the car and both had permits to work in the U.S., said the wife of one of the brothers. She spoke with the Sentinel on the condition of anonymity as she worries her comments could make her a target of immigration authorities. For weeks after her husband's arrest she did not know where he was. He would call from an Orange County number but he did not appear in the correction system's database. He told his wife he was put into a van and taken somewhere, but returned the next day to Orange County Jail. "I didn't hear from him for three days … I was so scared," She said in Spanish. "He spent so much time in Orange County Jail that when he returned he knew it was the same place." Advocates for the family met with officials at Orange County Corrections in early July to help find him. Six hours later, he was finally located in a county jail cell, they said. He had been given a different inmate number upon his return, which contributed to the confusion. Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri confirmed there has been some shuffling involving his facility but defended it, saying it stems from "a capacity issue" that can prevent detention centers from accepting detainees when their 72-hour clock ticks down. "If the transportation system is overloaded or there's no room at Krome … that's when it backs up and they have to put them into the IGSA jails" such as Orange, Gualtieri said. Gualtieri serves on Florida's Immigration Enforcement Council, which has sounded an alarm that federal detention space can't keep up with the pace at which Florida law enforcement agencies are arresting undocumented immigrants. The board has called on the federal government to allow more local jails to house detainees, rather than send them to the seven jails in Florida with IGSA agreements while they await ICE detention. Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
