Impossible Aerospace US-1 quadcopter, a triple-powered hybrid drone, an Amazon patent for a data services drone, more industry consolidation, flying robots and intelligent architecture, the impulse to deploy drones after a hurricane.
The Impossible Aerospace US-1 features arms and a body filled with Lithium Ion battery cells. The 26-inch frame quadcopter has planned availability in the fourth quarter of 2018 at $7,000 plus accessories. With a two-hour flight time, target customers include first responders, firefighters, police, and coastguards. Impossible Aerospace is a U.S. start-up founded in 2016 by former Tesla battery design engineer Spencer Gore. The company has $9.4 million in Series A funding with backing by Bessemer Venture Partners, Eclipse Ventures, and Airbus Ventures.
University of Sydney researchers have developed a fixed-wing drone powered by a triple hybrid propulsion system – hydrogen fuel cell, battery, and a supercapacitor. The supercapacitor provides load smoothing to increase fuel cell life and also improves the dynamic response of the overall propulsion system.
The Amazon “Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Data Services” patent contemplates a drone that can be deployed on demand to a network user to provide enhanced data services. The drone could carry communications equipment or the user could upload data to the drone, after which the drone flies off to transfer data to a central server.
PrecisionHawk has purchased HAZON Solutions LLC and InspecTools Inc., companies that specialize in energy industry drone inspections. PrecisionHawk also announced a partnership with EagleView Technologies Inc., which provides aerial imagery and data analytics.
The University of Stuttgart “Cyber Physical Macro Materials” project used flying robots to create intelligent architecture. The prototype is an adaptive canopy that changes its configuration as the sun changes position. A self-supporting roof structure has a canopy made of smart-panels, which connect with autonomous drones. The drones use grippers to assemble the panels as needed to maintain a shaded area throughout the day. Another algorithm can detect people underneath and change panels to keep the crowd cool.
