Month: March 2016

Smart Drone Tracks, Anticipates Target’s Movement

The scenario is nothing new: a drone to follows its dongle or transmitter, capturing video or photos of its user. Lily, or most higher-end quads offer this feature. However, as the present patent application illustrates, drones do not anticipate their target’s movement. For example, suppose you want a video of you surfing. Here is the relevant paragraph from the application: “After powering on the autonomous vehicle, a user may paddle out and begin to surf. […]

Survey Drones Collect Seismic Data, Save Environment

In the surveying world, seismic data can reveal a plethora of valuable information. For example, the oil and gas industry heavily relies on seismic data to determine where the good stuff is buried. Seismic data in remote areas is sometimes difficult to collect. As this patent application observes, “if seismic equipment has to be deployed via a land vehicle, roads may be employed. If there are no roads, creating them can be time consuming and […]

Drone Assists Horizontal Directional Drilling

In the drilling world, sometimes you don’t drill straight down. If you need to create an underground passage for utilities under a road, river or obstacle, or to drink someone else’s milkshake, you can drill horizontally. How do you know if your cutting tool is at the right depth or on the right path? You have a person follow the underground drill bit over the surface with a special tool that tells you where the […]