Getting Your Idea Off the Ground

Autonomous drones are a groundbreaking innovation in the field of robotics, transforming various industries with their advanced capabilities. These sophisticated unmanned aerial vehicles are equipped with cutting-edge technology that allows them to operate independently without human intervention, opening up a wide range of possibilities across different sectors.

In agriculture, autonomous drones have proven instrumental in precision farming practices, aiding in crop monitoring, pest detection, and the efficient distribution of pesticides and fertilizers. By utilizing high-resolution imaging and data analysis, these drones can optimize crop yield and minimize resource wastage, thereby enhancing overall agricultural productivity.

In addition, autonomous drones play a vital role in surveying and inspecting large-scale infrastructure and construction projects. They can quickly navigate through difficult terrain and capture detailed aerial images, allowing engineers and architects to assess construction progress, identify potential structural flaws, and improve overall project management efficiency. Autonomous drones also have the potential to revolutionize last-mile delivery services in the field of logistics and e-commerce, ensuring rapid and cost-effective transportation of goods to consumers, especially in remote or inaccessible locations.

However, the development and deployment of autonomous drones is a challenging and complex process that requires a thorough understanding of a variety of technical disciplines, including robotics, artificial intelligence, computer vision, and hardware integration. California-based ModalAI is one organization that is working to remove some of these obstacles such that smaller, smarter, and safer drones can be deployed in a wider range of use cases.

Towards this goal, ModalAI has recently released a new, all-inclusive system called the PX4 Autonomy Developer Kit. The kit comes complete with a drone loaded with all of the sensors and processing power needed to start developing immediately. ModalAI’s belief is that this platform will eliminate many of the traditional stumbling blocks and help developers get a product to market quickly.

The drone is powered by the powerful VOXL 2 single-board AI autopilot system with an eight-core Qualcomm QRB5165 processor with 8 GB of memory and an embedded Neural Processing Unit capable of performing 15 trillion operations per second. It was designed from the ground up for seamless integration with the open-source PX4 autopilot software, ROS, and TensorFlow to provide developers with an immediately familiar interface.

The 265-gram vehicle can fly for over 30 minutes on a single charge, and right out of the box is compatible with visual inertial odometry applications for autonomous flight in GPS-denied environments, visual obstacle avoidance, and 3D mapping and path planning tasks.

ModalAI intends to offer this kit through 2025, and plans are in place for long-term support of the PX4 ecosystem, so the PX4 Autonomy Developer Kit should provide developers with a viable platform for years to come. The kit is on sale now, and a few options are available if you need some extras like batteries or a case. Note that there is a lead time of up to 20 days, however, so if you have a deadline looming, you will not want to wait until the last minute to get your order in.

If you want to learn more about what ModalAI has been up to, check out our interview with CEO Chad Sweet on Hackster Café.