14 DAY TRIAL // SenseFly is a company known for its fixed-wing industrial drones, while Parrot has mostly built its business thanks to consumer-friendly quadcopters.
But Parrot has taken control of SenseFly for a couple of years and together they have released the new senseFly eXom quad copter which utilizes visual and ultrasonic sensors in order to maintain a steady pattern of flight and avoid obstacles like three branches.
eXom is a precision drone
Some of Parrot’s existing drone flying gizmos already utilize these types of sensors, one of each located on the underside of the quadcopter.
eXom, on the other hand, takes advantage of five of each type. They are sprinkled around on the left and right sides, underside, rear end and forward/upward facing camera.
The ultrasonic sensor is in charge of maintaining altitude. This task is achieved by virtue of emitting sound waves and then measuring how long it takes for them to be reflected back from the ground.
On the other hand, the visual sensor keeps X/Y positioning by identifying details on the ground, then maintaining the quadcopter relative to these coordinates.
Since the eXom has so many sensors attached everywhere, it can sense the proximity of objects in full 360 degrees.
The camera onboard can rotate its head with 270-degree field of view, and thanks to its own two sensors, it can act like an HD video/still camera or thermal-imaging camera.
Given these functions, it appears that the eXom will find a place to call home in the industrial business, but it could also be used for tasks such as inspecting the underside of bridges.
eXom has different modes of use
The drone can be controlled in different ways, all linked to utilizing a synced wireless mobile device.
Using the Interactive ScreenFly mode available, users can simply click or tap on the desired object of interest on their device’s screen and eXom will automatically fly over there.
There’s the Autonomous mode too, where a user defines an area that needs to be mapped on the device’s screen, with the drone creating its alternate flight plan afterwards.
These are modes trying to make things easier for drone users, but if you want to pilot the eXom manually, this can be achieved as well. Since the drone is riddled with proximity sensors, it will not merely go crush into things.
The full specs and pricing of the drone are mystery for the time being, but while we wait on that, you can check out the drone in the video below.
