I attended the InterDrone conference that was held at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas SEP 7-9. I attended last year and supported the MicroPilot exhibit. MicroPilot exhibited again this year and I spent some time supporting their booth and also spent some time checking out some of the new products on display. I thought I would highlight some of what I saw in this blog post.
MicroPilot was displaying three variants of their autopilots (board mount, enclosed, and triple redundant). We had lots of interest from drone users and manufacturers that were not happy with their low cost open source solutions. Check out my MicroPilot page for more info on their autopilot solutions. http://www.uavpropulsiontech.com/micropilot
I stopped by the Insitu booth to get a demo of their new INEXATM intuitive ground control system plug-in for Arducopter. The VR demo was pretty impressive and their pricing for the consumer/commercial market is only $60/year for this highly functional ground control station plug-in. You can find out more here: https://insitu-web-store.myshopify.com/products/inexa
Saxon Remote Systems (formerly Skynet) had a large 20’x20′ booth that included their Viper M10 electric UAV and a ground control station vehicle solution. Unfortunately I didn’t get a picture of their booth but they were very busy during the show and one of the few commercial/military high end solution providers at this event. Their Viper M10 can fly for over 3 hrs and Saxon has a family of these UAV’s from 4′ wingspan to 20′ wingspan. The larger ones utilize piston engines and have longer endurance than the electrics. Check out their website for more info: http://saxonremotesystems.com/
xCraft had their new PhoneDrone Ethos on display which is supposed to be available for sale sometime this fall. These are they guys that pitched their xPlusOne drone to Shark Tank. The xPlusOne takes off vertical and has an x-wing configuration that allows it to fly vertical. They also had their new xCraft 2 on display (their next generation with new autopilot). Check out their website for more info: http://xcraft.io/
I stopped by the Autel booth to check out their x-Star consumer drone. This looks very similar to the DJI Phantom. They have a nice kit that includes 4k camera, gimbal, RC controller and hard case for $899. I am tempted. You can find out more about Autel by visiting their website: https://www.autelrobotics.com/. Or check out the Amazon Link to purchase.
ProDrone out of Japan had a very interesting drone on display that had robotic arms. This very large drone (44lbs) can utilize its robotic arms to grab a 22lb object. You can find out more by visiting ProDrone’s website: https://www.prodrone.jp/en/. There is also a YouTube Video showing this drone in operation.
Another high end UAV provider (DroneTech UAV) had their AV-1 Albatross on display. This is a fixed wing with 4-rotors to take-off and land vertically. ITAR free aircraft with 8hr endurance. They also have an AV-2 Albatross with 28hr endurance which uses twin Hirth 4102 8hp engines. You can find out more by visiting: http://www.dronetechuav.com/
HoneyComb Corp had their Ag Drone System on display. This Ag drone is very durable compared to other similar Ag drones because it has a Kevlar exoskeleton. The system includes dual cameras (RBG, NIR) and is fully autonomous. Check out their website for more info: http://www.honeycombcorp.com/
There were other products on display of course but I thought I would highlight the ones that caught my eye. I will be attending the Commercial UAV Expo in Las Vegas OCT 31 and NOV 1. I will try to post another blog on that show.
Key UAV News for the Week:
- Intelligent Energy Showcases Light-Weight Fuel Cell Stacks For UAVs at InterDrone
- Piaggio to Roll Out Second HammerHead Prototype
- Certifiable Predator B nears flight test phase
- GoPro’s affordable new Karma Drone with 4K camera-mounting is finally coming
Industry Events for August:
- Commercial UAV Show Asia – SEP 1-2, Singapore, http://www.terrapinn.com/exhibition/commercial-uav-asia.
- Interdrone – SEP 7-9, Las Vegas, NV, http://www.interdrone.com
- AUS&R Air Show – Unmanned Systems & Robotics – SEP 19, Rishon LeZion, Israel, http://ausr.i-hls.com/
- UAV Technology Eastern Europe – SEP 21-22, Prague, Czech Republic, http://www.smi-online.co.uk/defence/europe/conference/UAV-Technology-Eastern-Europe
- DronItaly – SEP 30-OCT 1, Modena, Italy, http://www.dronitaly.it/en/
Quote for the week:
“Imagination is more important than knowledge.” – Albert Einstein
UAV Propulsion Tech is unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) hardware solution provider of propulsion, servo, autopilot, rescue/recovery parachutes, electric turbofans, pneumatic launchers, fuel flow/level sensors, hyperspectral cameras, INS, digital compasses, fuel cells, motors/generators, GCS and gyro-stabilized EO/IR gimbal solutions. Click on the HOME link above or go to www.uavpropulsiontech.com for more info.