POPULARITY
Can A Drone Make Warehouses More Efficient? Ian Smith is CEO and co-founder of Ware, a company that builds software for indoor drones that autonomously scan and track warehouse inventory. Ian has more than 15 years in the drone industry, having worked at Delair, an industrial-grade, fixed-wine drone manufacturer in France and more recently, DroneDeploy, a leading software company that improves workflows for drone operations. He’s an entrepreneur, a commercial helicopter pilot and host and producer of the successful Commercial Drones FM podcast. In this edition of the Drone Radio Show, Ian talks about how drones are used to improve inventory management and how warehouse operators can use the technology to become more efficient and competitive.
Ian Smith, host of Commercial Drones FM podcast, joins Randy Goers' Drone Radio Show as a guest to talk about what has happened in the commercial drone industry over the past 2-years from 2016 to 2018.
The drone industry report for Q2 2018, brought to you by Commercial Drones FM. Get briefed on the most important and newsworthy happenings from the previous quarter in the drone industry—all in less than 20-minutes. Covered topics include drone hardware, drone software, regulations, drone delivery, funding, mergers and acquisitions, and more.
Today, we are witnessing rapid advancements in the field of autonomous flight. Drones, or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), are being used in remarkable ways all over the world—from helping to fight malaria in Malaysia, to supporting wildlife conservation in Florida. Drones are also being used for site surveying, package delivery, event videography, and even weather forecasting. In this episode, we begin with Adam Bry, CEO of aerial robotics company Skydio, who discusses software, and the future of autonomous flight. Then, we take off into regulation of UAVs, and explore the automated photogrammetry of Drone Deploy. We also look at advances in commercial drone technology, with the host of the Commercial Drones FM podcast, Ian Smith. The skies are alive with innovation, and this is your chance to see what's in store for the future of flight!
We are joined by the host of podcast Commercial Drones FM, Ian Smith, who gives us a fascinating understanding of how drones are being used today and in the future. From petri-dish wielding drones that follow whales, to miniature drones working in warehouses, to thermal sensing drones in the mining industry—drones are starting to be used extensively and will continue to grow in the future. We go over the technology, the use cases, the regulations, and the future. Intro: There’s never been a good way, ever, to get snot from a whale to see how healthy they are or do other types of experiments. It can hover right above the whale as it’s surfacing, and it will just have a little petri dish that when the whale blows it’s blowhole, all the snot just goes on it. Then they bring it back to the boat, and then they analyze it later. Curtis: One big area that uses AI and will continue to increase use of it is drone technology. One of the big things that machine learning enables drones to do is be aware of its surroundings. Computer vision classifiers help the drones identify objects that it is seeing and take appropriate action, such as avoiding obstacles, performing maintenance recon, and charting autonomous flight paths. Ginette: Let’s talk to someone steeped in all things drones who can give us insights into drones and how AI currently plays a role and will continue to play a role as drones evolve. This is Ian Smith. Ian: I got into drones in 2013, but before that I had actually built and flown model aircraft, like RCE aircraft with little tiny gas engines, and the balsa wood, and the glue that you have to wait overnight for it to set, and yeah it was a lot of work, and I wound up flying helicopters for my career, so I’m a commercial helicopter pilot. I was a flight instructor, and I heard in 2013 that RC aircraft that model aircraft had come so far that there was people that were using them. They were calling them drones, and they were taking pictures with them and selling them to people, but it was illegal in the United States because there was no regulation from the FAA at the time. So of course I decided to get into this as much as I could, since I wasn’t flying at the time, and ever since then in 2013 it’s been my career, and I worked for a company in France called Delair, and today I work for a company in San Francisco where I’m based now called DroneDeploy, and I host a podcast about drones called Commercial Drones FM as a side project. Curtis: So if you’re looking for more on drones after this episode, go check out Ian’s podcast. He covers all things drone and will keep you up on the latest. Let’s take a broad look at some of the use cases for drones. Ian: Some of the use cases, some of the industries that are using drones really are . . . agriculture was one that everyone latched on to. The construction industry of course. Inspecting assets, so whether that’s oil and gas or utilities or something else entirely, like wind turbines, or something like that. There’s general land surveyors that use drones for mapping activities, and of course there’s the film and photography. Everybody’s by now has seen a Youtube video of a drone or a drone shot in a movie or TV show. . . . Then there’s the mining industry who use them to calculate volumetrics of stockpiles, and search and rescue for finding people and putting crazy sensors on these drones that can sense thermal signatures. The way they’re being used, it’s really up to your imagination. Pretty much anything outside that can get a GPS signal these days. They're going to go towards more indoors things and closed, confined spaces too, so we're seeing just amazing use cases. People have these incredible imaginations, and the more you ask somebody what would a drone do for you? You just get these awesome responses, and it’s really cool to hear what people come up with. They’re even using them for wildlife monitoring,
The drone industry report for Q1 2018, brought to you by Commercial Drones FM. Get briefed on the most important and newsworthy happenings from the previous quarter in the drone industry—all in less than 20-minutes. Covered topics include drone hardware, drone software, regulations, drone delivery, funding, mergers and acquisitions, and more. Get the full Q1 2018 drone industry review episode transcript below.
Commercial Drones FM podcast brings you Dave Henderson, Director of Sales, Geospatial Solutions, for Topcon Positioning systems. This episode covers drone solution selling and an overview of Topcon's drone hardware and software products. Dave Henderson’s career in the positioning business spans three decades. Prior to joining Topcon Positioning Systems, Dave held several industry positions as a District & Regional Sales Manager of Surveying, GPS & GIS mapping products. Henderson’s primary focus at Topcon is sales and business development of unmanned aerial systems and LiDAR mobile mapping for the Americas. Throughout his career, Henderson’s focus has been to specialize in assisting businesses, organizations and individuals to implement technology into existing workflows, thereby increasing their productivity and becoming more competitive in the current marketplace. Henderson has become both a knowledgeable resource and a trusted advisor to businesses and organizations throughout the initial discussions, implementation and ROI of adopting positioning technology such as vehicle mobile mapping and unmanned aerial systems.
The drone industry report for Q4 2017, brought to you by Commercial Drones FM. Get briefed on the most important and newsworthy happenings from the previous quarter in the drone industry. Covered topics include drone hardware, drone software, regulations, drone delivery, funding, & more.
Drone Industry Review is a special, quarterly podcast series brought to you by Commercial Drones FM. It briefs listeners on the most important and newsworthy happenings from the previous quarter in the drone industry. Covered topics include drone hardware, software, regulations, funding, M&A, delivery drones, and how drones affected various industries in that quarter. This is the third episode in this series where we conduct the Drone Industry Review of Q3 2017.
This episode of Commercial Drones FM focuses on aerial cinematography and the business behind it. Brian Streem is CEO of Aerobo, a nationwide drone service provider who claim to have shot more live telecasts than any other drone company in the world. Aerobo operates drones internationally for their clients, working on the News, TV, Sports, Advertising, and Cinema segments of multimedia. They also provide inspection services. Brian explains the ins and outs of high-end, Hollywood blockbuster drone cinematography, detailing what it's like to be working on movie sets for the likes of Steven Spielberg—and how much pressure there is to "get the shot". And pressure should definitely be expected when Aerobo can charge their clients anywhere from $6,000 to $15,000 per day. Be sure to check out the podcast website to view two of Brian's coolest drone films, “At The End Of The Cul-de-Sac” and "CHROMATICITY".
A skydiver, a Ph.D., and an incubator director walk into a drone podcast... This is the story of Genius NY, an unmanned systems startup incubator based in Syracuse, New York, and two startups that they've funded. Genius NY director, Jon Parry, brings Jimmy Halliday, Aviation Director at AutoModality, and Sasi Viswanathan, co-founder of Akrobotix—both Genius NY portfolio companies—to the Commercial Drones FM podcast. The group discuss how companies are winning millions of dollars by participating in the Genius NY startup competitions, what they're doing with their cash winnings, and how New York state is contributing to the proliferation of the commercial drone industry.
Drone Industry Review is a special, quarterly podcast series brought to you by Commercial Drones FM. It briefs listeners on the most important and newsworthy happenings from the previous quarter in the drone industry. Covered topics include drone hardware, software, regulations, funding, M&A, delivery drones, and how drones affected various industries in that quarter. This is the second episode in this series where we conduct the Drone Industry Review of Q2 2017.
Puget Sound Energy (PSE) is Washington's largest private utility. They provide electricity, natural gas, and generation to their territory. Among other assets, PSE manages over 2,000 miles of linear transmission network in the Pacific Northwest and the company has recently been conducting pilot tests with drones. Our guest, Mitch Droz, is a Commercial Development Manager in the Emerging Technologies group at Puget Sound Energy and is a certified Part 107 pilot. Mitch and Ian take a deep dive into the myriad of ways in which drones are being used in the energy and utilities sector today. Mitch explains the use cases and value drivers which drones help Puget Sound Energy discover while using drone technology on dams, transmission lines, monitoring vegetation, inspecting transmission towers, and more. This episode was brought to you by the Energy Drone Coalition Summit whose inaugural event is taking place in Houston, Texas on June 20th and 21st, 2017. Commercial Drones FM podcast listeners get 20% off tickets by using discount code "CDFM20". Visit the website at http://stonefortgroup.com/energy-drone-coalition-2017/
Drone Industry Review is a special podcast series brought to you by Commercial Drones FM. It briefs listeners on the most important and newsworthy happenings from the previous quarter in the drone industry. Covered topics include drone hardware, software, regulations, funding, M&A, delivery drones, and how drones affected various industries in that quarter. The inaugural episode begins with the Drone Industry Review of Q1 2017.
Romeo Durscher is Director of Education at DJI, the world's largest, most successful drone manufacturer. His job is one of the most fascinating in the world. Romeo acts as global ambassador for safe and effective use of drone technology. His mission takes him all over the planet—from tackling safety challenges with the United Nations in the Maldives, exploring caves in Vietnam with ABC's Good Morning America, and pioneering drone use with mountain search and rescue teams on a glacier. Romeo and Ian speak about all of this—including DJI's plans for their DJI Enterprise division—for a truly epic episode of Commercial Drones FM.
Test prep and study guide for the FAA's Part 107 knowledge test for commercial drone pilots. Ian reviews the entire 35 questions—and answers—that he was administered during the online test (for Part 61 certificated pilots) for the upcoming commercial drone regulations that will be in place on August 26th, 2016. Be advised: the test for non-pilots will have 60 questions, this is not the full question bank for that test! Check the Commercial Drones FM website for more information and links.