Everyone loves drones, including companies with very specific needs. Drones once were the hot new thing and the perfect birthday gift. But drone makers are now realizing that there’s a bigger opportunity with commercial use cases, from farming to inspection. That’s why we’re excited to announce that three founders of three amazing companies in the drone industry will join us on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin[1] on December 4-5, 2017.
As we already announced, Henri Seydoux[2] from Parrot[3] is going to tell us about his company’s shift. Parrot has been a pioneer in the drone industry. The company took advantage of the accelerometers, gyroscopes, wireless chips and energy-efficient processors that you can find in smartphones to power tiny quadcopters.
But Parrot has also made multiple acquisitions for its commercial drone division. SenseFly, Airinov, MicaSense and Pix4D are now all owned by Parrot. The French company also owns multiple patents on drone technologies and sells integrated software and hardware solutions for firefighters, farmers and more[4].
Second, James Harrison[5] from Sky-Futures[6] has been building software solutions for drone inspections. The company first focused on the oil and gas industry. When you think about it, it’s so much easier to fly a drone around an offshore oil drilling platform to see if everything works fine.
Other industries also have a hard time keeping an eye on inaccessible sites. If you’re maintaining bridges, keeping an eye on wind turbines or overseeing construction sites, drones can be much cheaper than human inspection. Sky-Futures lets you record, log and share all your observations.
Finally, Clément Christomanos[7] from Uavia[8] has been working on remote aerial inspection. If...