Cue the wedding bells. Two of our favorite technology categories—drones and augmented reality (AR)—are converging.
AR is being used to create maps and guidance systems for aerial drones. Present and future uses are planned in energy, emergency response, healthcare, and many other industries.
The new drone AR system for DJI by Anarky Labs was recently granted a patent. And EMS personnel are using ThirdEye AR and drone technology to gain situational awareness in emergency situations.
It’s a marriage made in...if not heaven, somewhere in the skies along the way.
WHAT'S UP
A Joke About the Sky? It’s Way Over Your Head
Garbage In, Garbage Out: Renner Vaugh of Cyberhawkwrote about one of the challenges of continuing to scale utility asset drone inspections. The amount of data being collected is staggering, which means the quality has to be on point.
Head in the Cloud: Skydio, a U.S. drone manufacturer and autonomous flight tech company, released the new Skydio X2 drones for public and enterprise use. It also introduced the new Skydio Cloud for autonomous connected flight operations.
Drones, Eh: Canadian drones are taking off. Volatus Aerospace, a company leading the Canadian drone industry, gave a look into the country’s latest developments in the drone space.
Startup the Robots: Robotics startups, entrepreneurs, and investors are releasing solutions to help enterprises address labor challenges, confront global competition, and provide lasting business value.
Survey Says: A new survey reveals how drones are used on jobsites, from public safety applications to the energy sector and construction industry.
Tic-Tactical-Toe: Long-time tactical drone maker AeroVironment acquired ground robot manufacturer Telerob as the next step in its effort to integrate tactical unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned ground vehicles for use in combat operations.
WHAT'S NEW
It's the Tech, Trends & Projects We've Been Waiting For...
Shell Ventures invests in Celadyne Technologies, which produces materials that improve hydrogen fuel cells and make them usable for drones.
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DARPA, the Department of Defense’s brain trust, helped pave the way for the internet, satellite location services, the Roomba, and self-driving cars. We keep an eye on what DARPA is up to, because the technology projects it funds could eventually become mainstream.
The agency is currently hosting the Subterranean (SubT) Challenge, a competition for robots to map, navigate, and search complex underground environments on their own. This week, DARPA announced the eight qualifying teams that will compete in its finals, which will take place in a Lousivillle, KY, cave. Ranking the team names in order of most → least favorite:
CERBERUS
Explorer
MARBLE
Robotika
Coordinated Robotics
CoSTAR
CSIRO Data61
CTU-CRAS-NORLAB
May the best cavebot win. h/t- Emerging Tech Brew
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