Infrastructure Industries Rejoice

Skydio, the San Mateo, California-based manufacturer of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), has entered into a collaboration with Trimble, Inc., the Westminster, Colorado-based software, hardware, and services technology concern, by which the two companies seek to create an integrated workflow of accurate data capture, data visualization, and data analytics addressing the surveying, mapping, and inspection needs of critical infrastructure industries.

Currently in its developmental stage, the collaboration will afford customers access to centimeter-level accuracy in survey and mapping projects through precise data capture, visualization, and analytics facilitated by Skydio’s autonomous drones integrated with Trimble’s Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers and software.

Announced at Trimble’s annual user conference, Dimensions, the synthesis of the recently announced Skydio X10 autonomous drone with Trimble Construction Cloud will enable construction and utility companies, and state transportation agencies to streamline workflows, thereby actualizing greater precision and project efficiency. Autonomous drones, quadcopters with powerful visual and thermal camera sensors such as the X10, are relied upon for their ability to capture and convey data pertaining to the real-time condition of critical infrastructure.

By capturing images and geospatial data early and often throughout construction projects, organizations can more easily ensure on-site work conforms to design specifications and reduce costly rework—which constitutes, on average, four-to-six-percent of overall construction costs.

When bridge or utility site inspections require scaling, the described Skydio/Trimble solution provides comprehensive data and workflow by which engineers may preemptively identify issues and prevent failures.

Skydio Head of Technology Partnerships Gagan Kanwar set forth: “This collaboration brings together two leading companies and their innovative technologies to further revolutionize how we digitize and map our physical world. By deepening product integration, organizations using Trimble and Skydio will benefit from survey-grade accuracy in mapping missions and go from data-to-insights that much faster.”

Trimble vice-president of technology innovation Aviad Almagor remarked: "Incorporating Skydio into our ecosystem augments our platform's capabilities, offering our customers a fully integrated, end-to-end workflow from data acquisition to analytics. Our customers are seeking such automated workflows to handle the vast amount of data and maximize its value through improved production and quality control processes.”

FMI: www.Skydio.com