American Robotics adds anomaly detection AI to automated Scout drones

Leading autonomous drone services provider American Robotics says it has begun equipping its Scout System UAVs with new artificial intelligence (AI) anomaly detection capabilities designed to help clients – particularly those in oil and gas – avoid unexpected developments or accidents that could lead to costly consequences.

American Robotics’ owner Ondas Holdings said the company had added the new AI detection tech to its Scout System drones as an additional safeguard in performing automated aerial survey, monitoring, and infrastructure inspection missions. Using those additional capacities to identify and avoid potential problems before they can become trouble is intended to spare clients from potential environmental accidents, and clean-up costs, fines, and litigation expenses those often entail. 

Read: FAA grants American Robotics BVLOS authorization at seven new sites 

The prototype of American Robotics’ AI loss of containment analytics feature is expected to be ready for Scout System drones in the third quarter of this year. It follows the company’s announcement last week of offering energy clients new high-resolution RGB and thermal camera payloads on automated inspection craft to enable frequent, high-value monitoring of upstream and midstream oil and gas assets. 

The loss containment enhancement of American Robotics’ Scout System drones is an upshot of the company’s strategic partnership with Dynam.AI, a leading edge provider of artificial intelligence and machine learning systems and services; that pairing is also expected to introduce software-driven data analytics capabilities designed for oil and gas sector companies sometime next year.

Read: American Robotics CEO Reese Mozer calls 2022 an ‘inflection point’ in automated drone services 

Reese Mozer, American Robotics CEO, calls the successive enhancements of its Scout System drones further evidence that fully automated aerial services to infrastructure and enterprise clients will be a leading vector of UAV industry growth in the future.

“On the heels of our announcement of new high-resolution RGB and thermal camera payloads, American Robotics continues to enhance our offerings for current and future customers in the oil and gas industry,” said Mozer. “This analytics feature is the first to be announced from our industry-optimized product roadmap put in place early last year. We have worked closely with our customers to define these requirements on route to fleet deployments, and we are grateful for their partnership.”