Drones and Robotics
World-leading sensor technology for autonomous palm-sized “nano” drones
Impressive advances have been made in vision-based autonomy for drones. But these advances have all been made for platforms weighing about a kilogram or so and operating largely outdoors and in daylight. We are fans of their work, but believe two crucial gap has been left- one for much smaller “nano” drones that weigh a few tens of grams, and the other for operation in wide varieties of light levels (day and night). This is where we fit in.
Building upon decades of research, and drawing inspiration from the latest discoveries in how tiny flying insects perceive the world, we are bringing vision-based AI to the smallest of drone platforms.
Obstacle Negotiation
- Sense obstacles all around
- High contrast and low contrast obstacles
- Detect safe directions to fly around/between obstacles instead of stopping
Dynamic Light Levels
- Daylight to darkness (using modest IR LEDs)
- No wash-out: See bright and dark simultaneously
- Near-instant transition from bright to dark
Low Mass and Power
- Grams, not kilograms!
- Avoid wasting power carrying heat sinks or laser scanners
- What takes more energy than powering electronics? Carrying it!
Diverse Topologies
- No "block world" assumptions
- Handle slopes, stairs, and uneven walls
- Sense position in vertical shafts
- Subterranean environments, including man-crawlable spaces
GPS-Free
- Hold a position or navigate without GPS
On-Board Processing
- All sensing and processing on-board!
- No crash when comm-link goes down