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In the public mind, drones have engendered a negative reputation as military spying and killing machines. Indeed, they have been embraced by the military for their flexibility and ability to remove human pilots from dangerous situations. Moving past their high-profile and controversial military usage, commercial drones will also be a boon to industry for similar reasons.
Drones can be used for dangerous or difficult inspection work, surveying, logistics and monitoring activity, asset performance data gathering, spare parts delivery, and more. They enable companies to gather data from video or thermal cameras, along with GPS positioning data, and to use the data to construct new and detailed digital models of industrial systems and assets. They can reduce costs considerably compared to traditional options and can also make many industrial operations safer.
3D Robotics, maker of the drone it calls Spektre, cites the following statistics: "In 2013 there were 31 fatal injuries and many more non-fatal injuries from government contractor construction inspectors alone. Another 60 were killed and 4,500 injured from scaffolding accidents. And even though we're well into the 21st century, 20 railroad employees and contractors lost their lives on the job, many of them doing routine inspection work." By assigning appropriate inspection tasks to drones, many accidents could be avoided.
The intrinsic mapping of drones with military applications has a historical context. From their inception, drones have been used for military or defense operations. One of the first known uses of a drone occurred in 1849 during an Austrian attack on the city of Venice, where the Austrians floated unmanned balloons with explosives controlled by time fuses over the city. The attack had mixed results for the Austrians, because, due to wind conditions, several balloons were blown back towards the Austrian ranks and exploded. Other armies experimented with drones and balloons eventually gave way to drones resembling aircraft, which they navigated using early forms of remote control. In addition to carrying explosives, other military drones performed surveillance missions.
I am already seeing a shift in the drone market, which will lead to a proliferation of non-military applications. This is a typical pattern in emerging robotics markets where technology designed for military operations begins to permeate the commercial sphere, usually due to national policies including a decreased emphasis on military spending.
In future blogs, I will explore use cases of drones in various non-military industries. What unites these use cases is the role of the drone as a mobile edge device utilized for data gathering and improving asset performance, in a way that is both more productive, cost-efficient, and safer than traditional methods. As the Industrial Internet of Things is fueled by the influx of new and larger data, the drone serves as a conduit for more robust forms of analysis.
Drones can be used for dangerous or difficult inspection work, surveying, logistics and monitoring activity, asset performance data gathering, spare parts delivery, and more. They enable companies to gather data from video or thermal cameras, along with GPS positioning data, and to use the data to construct new and detailed digital models of industrial systems and assets. They can reduce costs considerably compared to traditional options and can also make many industrial operations safer.
3D Robotics, maker of the drone it calls Spektre, cites the following statistics: "In 2013 there were 31 fatal injuries and many more non-fatal injuries from government contractor construction inspectors alone. Another 60 were killed and 4,500 injured from scaffolding accidents. And even though we're well into the 21st century, 20 railroad employees and contractors lost their lives on the job, many of them doing routine inspection work." By assigning appropriate inspection tasks to drones, many accidents could be avoided.
The intrinsic mapping of drones with military applications has a historical context. From their inception, drones have been used for military or defense operations. One of the first known uses of a drone occurred in 1849 during an Austrian attack on the city of Venice, where the Austrians floated unmanned balloons with explosives controlled by time fuses over the city. The attack had mixed results for the Austrians, because, due to wind conditions, several balloons were blown back towards the Austrian ranks and exploded. Other armies experimented with drones and balloons eventually gave way to drones resembling aircraft, which they navigated using early forms of remote control. In addition to carrying explosives, other military drones performed surveillance missions.
I am already seeing a shift in the drone market, which will lead to a proliferation of non-military applications. This is a typical pattern in emerging robotics markets where technology designed for military operations begins to permeate the commercial sphere, usually due to national policies including a decreased emphasis on military spending.
In future blogs, I will explore use cases of drones in various non-military industries. What unites these use cases is the role of the drone as a mobile edge device utilized for data gathering and improving asset performance, in a way that is both more productive, cost-efficient, and safer than traditional methods. As the Industrial Internet of Things is fueled by the influx of new and larger data, the drone serves as a conduit for more robust forms of analysis.