The Federal Aviation Administration this week gave the green light to American Robotics to become the first company to control smart drones without the need for pilots or spotters on site, Company announced on Friday.
American Robotics, an industrial drone developer based in Massachusetts, still needs a human pilot to oversee the takeoff of each flight, so the process isn’t technically 100% autonomous, like the edge notes. Still, the decision takes the US one step closer to seeing fully automated commercial drone flights.
And as soon as companies are able to make sense scale automated drone operations, it could “borrow efficiency for many of the industries that feed our economy, such as agriculture, mining, transportation ”and other manufacturing sectors, the FAA said in his approval documents per the Wall Street Journal. Released to the outlet in an FAA statement On Friday, the agency added that “We conduct rigorous safety assessments before issuing unmanned aerial vehicle approvals.”
Once in the air, American Robotics’ Scout drone works all by itself. The plane autonomous navigates are predefined flight path with help of an acoustic detection system to warn it of obstacles such as birds or other drones to avoid aerial accidents. It is also programmed to fast land- as its systems detect faults and can be done automatically recharge at company weatherproof drone housing and charging stations. These Scout drones are mainly focused to farmers, security personnel and estate owners in the market for aerial inspections and real-time analytics to complement their existing ones real estate maintenance routines.
“With these approvals, American Robotics heralds a new era in widespread automated drone operations,” said American Robotics CEO and co-founder Reese Mozer on Friday.. “With this series of approvals, American Robotics can begin to safely operate our automated Scout platform serving the energy, infrastructure, agriculture and security markets, unlocking the anticipated $ 100 billion commercial drone market.”
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Certain operational limitations still remain apply. According to the waiver authorized by the FAA, American Robotics can only fly its smart drones in select rural areas in Kansas, Massachusetts and Nevada and should not exceed 400 feet, according to the Journal.
The FAA has previously approved a select number of exemptions for beyond visual line of sight businesses, Including American Robotics use self-flying drones to inspect railway lines, pipelines, and other industrial sites so long a human pilot or mocker stayed in the surroundings. But this week’s authorization tokens a groundbreaking one legal milestone, one that paves the way for developers in the drone industry to expand operations for pilotless aircraft.