Known for its Tally robot, Simbe Robotics has announced two separate funding deals—a $26 million Series A, and an inventory financing agreement with SoftBank Robotics, which will enhance the company’s ability to “increase efficiencies in production and deployment
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Software
Kespry, XAP 360 partner to deliver country-wide drone-based residential roofing inspection program
Kespry has partnered with a nationwide network of certified roofing contractors called XAP 360 to deliver a new country-wide drone-based residential roofing inspection program.
Designed with transparency and accuracy when conducting roof inspections for homeowners in mind, the program is expected to ensure that claims payouts occur “rapidly.” XAP 360 and Kespry say that they want to “regain the trust of residential property owners” who have had frustrating experiences by establishing verifiable, credible standards for residential roof inspections, which involves artificial intelligence and machine learning-based analytics.
Valqari, Sprint partner to equip Smart Drone Delivery Mailbox with 5G LTE connectivity
Smart Drone Delivery Mailbox creator Valqari has partnered with Sprint to become the first smart mailbox to connect to Sprint's HTC 5G Hub.
Verizon's 5G Ultra Wideband network now live at University of Michigan's autonomous vehicle test facility
Verizon has announced that its 5G Ultra Wideband network is now live at the University of Michigan’s test bed for driverless cars, the Mcity Test Facility.
Trillium Engineering successfully tests new video processor for tactical UAS
Trillium Engineering, a developer of gimbaled camera systems for small UAS, has announced that it has successfully conducted a test flight of a new video processor that it says will “dramatically improve” the operation of Group 2 UAS.
According to Trillium, tactical UAS typically use full-motion video camera systems that rely on an H.264 video compression codec standard, which results in a picture that is “good enough” for close targets. When the UAS operates at long ranges from the ground station, though, the bit rate to the operator is reduced, resulting in important details in the imagery being fuzzy.
Black Swift Technologies unveils Automated Emergency Safe Landing functionality for UAS
Black Swift Technologies (BST) has announced its Automated Emergency Safe Landing (AESL) functionality for UAS.
When equipped with the functionality, Black Swift’s S2 UAS is able to capture and classify images, at altitude, which allows UAS to autonomously identify a safe landing area in the event that something goes wrong, which the company notes is extremely important for safe beyond line of sight (BLOS) flights.
BST adds that this functionality processes large amounts of data quickly and efficiently, allowing objects and terrain to be identified to be avoided in order to land the aircraft without harm to people or property.
Milrem Robotics unveils fifth generation THeMIS UGV
During DSEI 2019 in London, Milrem Robotics unveiled its fifth generation THeMIS UGV, which is designed to help warfighters and enhance combat effectiveness.
The vehicle leverages the knowledge obtained during tests conducted in the US, Europe, and the Middle East, as well as a deployment in Mali in the French lead Operation Barkhane. Its architecture, safety, air transportability, power offload and other aspects all follow NATO STANAG standards.
Red Cat, GoChain partner to equip GoChain platform with blockchain black box and distributed storage system
Red Cat, a provider of distributed data storage, analytics and services for the drone industry, has partnered with GoChain, which provides scalable blockchain technologies for enterprises, non-governmental organizations and nonprofits.
Through this partnership, the GoChain platform will be equipped with Red Cat’s blockchain black box and distributed storage system, which is designed for UAS, and includes security and encryption that regulators and insurance companies can trust. That platform includes multiple integrated systems that allow industry regulators to track and review UAS flight data, insurance companies to insure UAS with dependable third-party data, and pilots to ensure they stay compliant with regulators.
Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners partners with Georgia Tech and Delta Air Lines to advance autonomous vehicle research
In an effort to advance autonomous vehicle and infrastructure research, Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners has partnered with Georgia Tech and Delta Air Lines.
The entities say that the collaboration between Curiosity Lab and Delta will provide Georgia Tech researchers with “critical seed funding.” Researchers will also have access to the Lab’s 1.5 mile autonomous vehicle test track and living laboratory.
Some of the features of Curiosity Lab include dedicated fiber, smart poles and a network operations center for researchers to track and trend data from connected internet-of-things (IoT) devices.
Curtiss-Wright, Cyberhawk partner to conduct inspections for North American nuclear power market using UAS
Curtiss-Wright’s Nuclear Division and Cyberhawk Inc., a subsidiary of Cyberhawk Ltd, have agreed to provide the North American nuclear power market with visual asset management using UAS.
Under the agreement, Curtiss-Wright will market and deliver Cyberhawk’s services to customers that need their critical assets to undergo visual inspections.
“This agreement is an important step in the achievement of our strategic plan to transform plant processes by increasing our portfolio of products and services through partner relationships and while continuing to deliver value to our customers,” says Brian Dassatti, general manager of Curtiss-Wright’s Outage and Fuel Management Solutions group.
