NESTLED ON THE EASTERN SHORE OF SAN FRANCISCO BAY is the city of San Leandro, California. In recent years, this suburban town of roughly 90,000 people has become a growing hub for tech start-ups.
NESTLED ON THE EASTERN SHORE OF SAN FRANCISCO BAY is the city of San Leandro, California. In recent years, this suburban town of roughly 90,000 people has become a growing hub for tech start-ups. One of the most exciting companies that make up the technological tapestry of this city is Vantage Robotics. The company’s signature drone, Snap, has been used by CNN, Fox, Tribune Media, C-SPAN, numerous law-enforcement agencies, the U.S. Army, Stanford University, a big-three automaker, and (of course) consumers. In addition to the success of Snap, the company pioneered the industry in creating a proven path toward Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) flight-over-people waivers.
Founded in 2013 by CEO Tobin Fisher and CTO Joe van Niekerk, Vantage Robotics is off to an impressive start. Stanford- and Yale-trained engineers makeup the core of this uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) business. Members of the team have helped win the DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) Grand Challenge, set world records in aviation, developed micro fuel-cell power systems, and even helped prove Albert Einstein’s theories. In 2017, this talented team won top honors in Richard Branson’s Extreme Tech Challenge, a competition designed to showcase innovations and entrepreneurs creating technologies that will benefit humanity. In April 2019, Vantage Robotics was one of six companies selected by the U.S. Army to develop a short-range reconnaissance drone. The Army is spending $11 million spread across the companies to build a rucksack-portable drone, with prototypes due by November 2019.
Given these fantastic achievements, I had to learn more about this company and its future, and recently I had the privilege of visiting the company’s headquarters.
Denne historien er fra July/ August 2019-utgaven av RotorDrone.
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Denne historien er fra July/ August 2019-utgaven av RotorDrone.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Windracers Mail Delivery
With its partner Windracers Ltd., Royal Mail has become the first UK parcel carrier to deliver mail to a UK island in a 70-mile, beyond-line-of-sight, autonomous flight to the Scilly Isles. Tasked to better connect the islands’ remote communities, a consortium including Royal Mail, Windracers Ltd., DronePrep, University of Southampton, Excalibur Healthcare Services, and Consortiq Limited is funded by UK Research and Innovation.
Counting Penguins
Counting penguins is harder than it sounds. With freezing rain, snow, and chilling winds that limit the flight windows for the surveys, it takes scientists using three full days to map the location of 300,000 nesting pairs of Adélie penguins on Antarctica’s Cape Crozier.
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AUTONOMOUS RESUPPLY IN A CONGESTED BATTLESPACE
Can autonomous drones deliver supplies to troops in an active firefight? DroneUp recently partnered with a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Allied Command Transformation (ACT) Joint Force Development (JFD) exercise to find out.
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ON THE WING
This bird-like drone is incredibly agile and efficient