Airobotic Announces Integration of Lidar into Drones

Airobotics, a start-up in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or 'drones'), experienced record growth in 2018. It also expanded its executive team in its new global headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA, following a successful Series D funding round. The company, which globally offers commercial drone solutions permitted to fly without a human operator, has additionally announced the introduction of Lidar capabilities.

Until a few years ago, Lidar was only possible with an aircraft because the sensors were hefty and required manual data processing. Today, Lidar mages are captured and processed quickly in the cloud, allowing Airobotics’ customers to make effective decisions based on high-frequency, consistent data capture. Airobotics’ Lidar capabilities provides rapid precision scans across the value chain for industries such as mining and construction. Applications typically involve tailing dams monitoring, infrastructure inspections, haul road safety compliance, stockpile volume analytics, tracking rehabilitation progress and more.

Aerial data collection time

The use of Lidar significantly reduces the time it takes for aerial data to be collected, even at night or in low light, and allows for rapid turn-around time on data processing. Airobotics’ drones can work with various payloads. In addition to Lidar, spatial data can also be captured using photogrammetry, video, and infra-red (thermal).

“This past year has seen a huge period of growth for us,” said Airobotics CEO and co-founder, Ran Krauss. “As we expand our services and shift our base of operations to the US, we continue to push advancements in autonomous drone operations, global regulatory approvals and new technology.”