INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
called Emesent is giving them the spatial awareness and intelligence to navigate and map those spaces autonomously.Drones that work
underground or in areas otherwise inaccessible by GPS and other common navigation techniques are being made possible by a confluence of
technology and computing power, explained Emesent CEO and co-founder Stefan Hrabar
is undoubtedly the most interested in this sort of thing; mining is necessarily a very systematic process and one that involves repeated
measurements of areas being blasted, cleared, and so on
Frequently these measurements must be made manually and painstakingly in dangerous circumstances.One mining technique has ore being blasted
They have to go to the edge of this dangerous underground cliff and sort of poke this stick out into it and try to get a scan
with a powerful lidar sensor and a powerful onboard computing rig that performs simultaneous location and mapping (SLAM) work fast enough
that the craft can fly using it
transportation infrastructure) or vertical ones (stopes and sinkholes), slowly working its way along and returning minutes later with the
data necessary to build a highly detailed map
think twice.The idea is to sell the whole stack to mining companies as a plug-and-play solution, but work on commercializing the SLAM
software separately for those who want to license and customize it
Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, or CSIRO, an Australian agency not unlike our national lab system
Hrabar worked there for over a decade on various autonomy projects, and three years ago started on what would become this company,
managed by Main Sequence Ventures
Hrabar suggested that another round might be warranted in a year or two when the company decides to scale and expand into other
verticals.DARPA will be making its own contribution after a fashion through its Subterranean Challenge, should (as seemly likely) Emesent
challenge and its participants separately
You can read more about Emesent at its website.
