by anfractuosity
2 subcomments
- Remember seeing this a little while ago too - https://www.fastcompany.com/91089861/this-genius-vampire-dro...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-uekD6VTIQ has a video of their drone on a power line.
by bmitch3020
5 subcomments
- I'm surprised this isn't already happening in Ukraine. They could fly small surveillance drones deep in enemy territory, perch on a power line, and send back lots of data. Not just video, but also sound and triangulating signals. This would also be useful in fog by monitoring major roads where high altitude drones and satellites would be obstructed.
- Huh, is that legal? I mean I guess it is when the power company is the customer, as they talk about, but otherwise?
- If this works via induction could you even eliminate the need for the drones to land?
Assuming flight conditions are good, there would be a region around the wire (line of charge) with an electric/magnetic field that the drones could use, any shielding notwithstanding.
- > Removing battery swaps is the last step to deploy UAVs autonomously at scale.
I can't say, as a citizen, that I'm particularly excited about this.
> Autonomous drones can deliver over 20x the inspection coverage for the same cost.
And we have 20x the manpower to review this footage? I wonder if you're just generating a bunch of data that cannot be practically used.
"More coverage" isn't always the best answer. "Better informed coverage" is probably the problem to solve here. Aside from that what is the maintenance interval on those drones? How does that incorporate into this system?
I think this is solving the problem in the wrong direction.
- Maybe this is silly to complain about, but how would power companies charge these drone companies for electricity consumption? Seems… just so easy to steal?
by choosenick
0 subcomment
- Awesome name for the company 10/10
by BXLE_1-1-BitIs1
2 subcomments
- This will open a giant can of worms. Hobbyists, bad actors and military will be taking advantage.
by eh_why_not
1 subcomments
- > Removing battery swaps is the last step to deploy UAVs autonomously at scale.
So ubiquitous surveillance, literally overhead, without any need to have a nearby/local charging/physical-management station/crew?
> After power companies, we will service rail, road, telecom, real estate and other inspection markets.
Oh?
> After building drones for the Air Force and DARPA, ...
Oh
by darth_avocado
1 subcomments
- As long as they can cover the liability when inevitably one of this sets off a wildfire in California that costs Billions. (I think it’s a cool idea if done right, they are after all trying to fix the problem of wildfires anyway which makes me hopeful)
- This seems like a solution looking for a problem. If the power companies were satisfied about the safety issues of this idea, which are obviously many and severe, then they would also be satisfied with simply mounting a charging platform for the drone atop the tower or pole where the HV line runs, which cuts out a lot of the uncertainty regarding the drone's autonomous guidance.
Also, the whole idea triggers my reflexive skepticism about any technology that seeks to remove the last human from the system. Usually there are exponentially increasing costs to removing the next human, and at some point it's not worth it. People want (wanted) to make sealed, autonomous data centers maintained by robots and it just isn't worth it. Even in manufacturing where robotic automation is ubiquitous and advanced there are still tons of humans.
- in my country this is considered theft and it is punishable by law considered you don't have a contract with the provider
- Reminds me of Field, an art installation of planted fluorescent tubes under an HV electricity distribution line back in 2004: https://www.gorge.org/images/field/
by MikeNotThePope
0 subcomment
- Coming soon, power mooching drones that mine Bitcoin!
by littlestymaar
2 subcomments
- Can anyone more knowledgeable explain how this works?
Is it harvesting energy from the magnetic field (via induction), or does it extracts its energy from the electric field instead?
And does the drone just happen to land on the power line for saving energy while doing so, or is the contact necessary somehow?
- Hopefully all of the perfect engineering candidates who previously worked in this specific space (autonomous line inspection at an industrial scale) live in San Francisco……………
Seems odd that this would be all in-person roles. Not the most apparent path to relevant talent.
- This is one of those brilliant ideas that seems like it should have been obvious in retrospect. Questions:
Do the drones need transformers? Won't those be heavy?
Don't the drones need a way to circulate the electricity? IE have a path to ground?
- This is perfect for (pretty much) stealthy energy stealing.
by aussieguy1234
0 subcomment
- Well, at the very least, we now have a pre-built charging network for drones. Something that would have taken decades to build manually
- Great name
- I remember a demo where fluorescent tubes will glow, sometimes brightly, near high-power transmission lines
by gingersnap
0 subcomment
- This must be illegal in so many ways
by password4321
0 subcomment
- Anyone tried solar powered drones with charge weeks hiding on roofs between travel hops?
by artemonster
3 subcomments
- Can someone please tell how? Touching a power cable is not a closed circuit
by avodonosov
0 subcomment
- I've been wondering for several years why no-one does this yet.
- Great idea! Why i never thought of that?
Could robo taxis steal the idea and get recharged w/o going back to base station? They can eject a rod similar to an E-train or how a military plane get refilled.
- Lol. Isn't this exactly the premise of the "birds aren't real" conspiracy theory?
https://youtu.be/3VEkzweBJPM?si=_5hCR8AE1Ii3sI-l
- Fuel for the “birds arent real” pseudo conspiracy
- > Voltair builds drones that ‘perch’ like birds to recharge on power lines.
You mean like birds have been doing for decades?! OPEN YOUR EYES, SHEEPLE! BIRDS AREN'T REAL!
/s (I really shouldnt need a /s, but people these days believe anything...)
- Nuclear drones!
- what could go wrong?
by poopiokaka
0 subcomment
- [dead]
by BanAntiVaxxers
0 subcomment
- Also known as “stealing”
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