The Skydio X2 has received the CES® 2021 Best of Innovation Award for Drones and Unmanned Systems. The announcement was made ahead of the first-ever, all-digital CES 2021, the world’s most influential technology event, happening Jan. 11–14, 2021.
The Skydio X2 has received the CES® 2021 Best of Innovation Award for Drones and Unmanned Systems. The announcement was made ahead of the first-ever, all-digital CES 2021, the world’s most influential technology event, happening Jan. 11–14, 2021.
Skydio is working to bring about “the age of AI-driven autonomy,” where drones are no longer powered by manual operations but are defined by software and AI with native obstacle avoidance. Manually piloted drones are so easily crashed, they require a hefty investment in qualified pilots and visual observers, as well as pilot training to try to lower the risk of pilot error that would lead to loss of equipment, property damage, or worse.
Skydio is partnering with a silicon valley neighbor, Arris Composites, to bring a world’s-first technology to the drone industry. Arris' Additive Molding™ technology is an industry-leading process that allows the manufacture of composite parts that are stronger than titanium with region-specific property optimization while offering the geometry and design flexibility of an injection molded part.
Professional drone pilots understand the difficulties of operating manual drones for enterprise applications: the ever-present risk of crashing, having to turn down drone applications that are lucrative but just too risky, and a steep learning curve requiring heavy self-teaching.
In the first episode, an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team uses Skydio X2D to assess the risk, survey the damage, secure the area, and search for survivors of a vehicle borne improvised explosive device (VBIED). With Skydio’s AI-based obstacle avoidance reducing the cognitive load on the pilot, the team is able to fly confidently at low altitude and between obstacles to detect any oncoming threats.
Solving the challenge of bringing drone operations to scale has been the holy grail for many in the industry. A lot goes into this process to get buy-in and funding from executives and regulatory institutions with a lot of that revolving around being able to demonstrate multiple levels of safety and security, value, and performance metrics. And all of this usually has to happen before a program even gets started.
Drones eliminate many of the pain points associated with snooper trucks and other legacy methods for bridge inspection. Drones are cheaper to buy (few thousand vs. 200k-500k for a truck), cheaper to operate (reduce cost per inspection by 75%), safer, non-intrusive to traffic, more environmentally friendly (no traffic jams)
The new Skydio X2D has been selected as a trusted drone platform for the Department of Defense and Federal Government as part of DIU’s Blue sUAS Project. This is a major milestone in Skydio’s strategy to bring the power of its world leading autonomy engine to public sector customers.
