[VIRTUAL] Spring 2021 GRASP SFI: Jason Derenick, Exyn, “Autonomous Aerial Robots for 3D Mapping in GPS-Denied, Industrial Environments”

Infrastructure inspection and remote data acquisition have led to the demand for industrial grade aerial systems. Unfortunately, nearly all commercial-grade drone systems require some form of external positioning like GPS, ideal operating conditions (e.g., stable ambient lighting, uninterrupted communications, etc.) and/or a pilot in the loop for successful operation. For the few systems without these requirements, the mission modes are often restricted to standard waypoint following under ideal conditions.

Exyn is developing autonomous aerial robots to enable safe, push-button, beyond-line-of-sight mapping in cluttered, GPS-denied/challenged industrial environments such as subterranean mines and construction sites. This talk will cover the company’s key technical developments leading to the release of the ExynAero Aerial Robot. The ExynAero relies upon the company’s platform-agnostic autonomous flight stack and 3D LIDAR-based SLAM engine. The system has been adopted by mine survey team’s around the world as a replacement for less efficient, low-resolution, cavity monitoring systems. Topics to be covered will include ExynAI’s advanced mission modes including the world’s first commercially available 3D exploration flight mode, Scoutonomy as well as recent advances in its 3D SLAM engine leading to the ExynPak standalone mapping system.