Drone designers flying high
ROB TIPA
A Raglan-based company that has developed and built a range of drones has been catapulted into the forefront of “eye-in-the-sky” technology for agricultural use.
Aeronavics was established in 2008 as a company specialising in the design and construction of airframes, but its role has evolved into that of a developer and builder of a range of aerial robots using combinations of the best components available on the market.
The company entered a drone it had designed and built in the innovation section of the National Fieldays at Mystery Creek last June and won the main prize for the most viable business idea when it pitched its invention to a panel of potential investors.
The company’s creation attracted huge exposure from the media and won it a voucher for $15,000 worth of support from a business incubator.
Since then Aeronavics has had lots of invitations to run presentations and demonstrations for television and primary industry groups in agriculture and forestry.
The company joined nearly 800 other standholders at the Southern Field Days near Gore recently and ran demonstrations of their machines’ capabilities flying over farm machinery displays.
Drone design was evolving so quickly the challenge for developers was to package it and make it accessible to users, company founder and director Linda Bulk explained.
“It’s still very early stages,” she said. “We’re working with farmers tailoring packages to suit farmers.
“The current technology is so usable in so many areas our main development at this stage is to package it up and tailor it for specific applications, particularly for “eye-in-the-sky” agricultural work for sheep and beef farmers on hill country.”
The strongest demand at this stage is for aerial mapping, but the company is also fielding requests for day-to-day farming tasks like checking stock, looking for holes in fences and checking water troughs.
“Our aim is to make it really easy for farmers to understand the technology,” Ms Bulk said. “We’ll come to the farm, set up a machine and show them how to operate it and programme in flight paths.”
The company is developing a regional network of operators familiar with the technology to do the aerial mapping work or train farmers in their use.
“The interesting thing is you generally get a lot of skepticism when it comes to new technology in agriculture,” she said.
“So far we haven’t had any negative feedback on any of these application areas from the media, agriculture, industry or the public.” Ms Bulk said farmers could often visualize farming applications for drones, even if they did not necessarily see themselves using the technology.
“They can definitely see the potential, so that’s the next challenge for developers like Aeronavics.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/agribusiness/9759423/Drone-designers-flying-high
