Robohub.org
 

Into the heart of a glacier — with a drone

by and
20 January 2016



share this:
Photo credit: Pierre-Yves Guernier

Photo credit: Pierre-Yves Guernier

With their near-vertical walls and deep fractures, glacier crevasses are dangerously narrow ice caves that present a huge risk to search and rescue teams. In a partnership between Flyability (Winner of the 2015 UAE Drones for Good Award) and the Zermatt Glacier mountain rescue team, drones were used to explore a remote crevasse in the Swiss Alps. The goal is to one day use the drones to help locate injured parties before dispatching a rescue team into dangerous territory, and also to help refine rescue techniques related to crevasse fall emergencies.

Photo credit: Pierre-Yves Guernier

Photo credit: Pierre-Yves Guernier

Until now, crevasses have been largely inaccessible (both to people and to robotic technologies) because their uneven narrow walls make them extremely difficult to navigate. The Flyability drone, however, turned this to advantage by using its spherical, freely rotating protective cage — called a gimbal — to bump its way safely down into the crevasse and back up to the surface, capturing a rare view of the landscape along the way. The embedded full HD camera, digital live video transmission, and powerful lighting system allowed the drone to operate in the heart of the mountain glacier, tens of meters below the surface.

The gimbal also makes the drone safe to fly close to humans, even while being remotely operated by an untrained pilot — another feature of critical importance in search and rescue operations.

Flyability SA develops collision-resistant drones for the inspection and exploration of inaccessible and confined environments such as those found in industrial inspection and search and rescue scenarios, in order to quickly and cost effectively provide crucial image and thermal information needed to locate damage or victims.

Photo credit: Pierre-Yves Guernier

Photo credit: Pierre-Yves Guernier

Photo credit: Pierre-Yves Guernier

Photo credit: Pierre-Yves Guernier

Photo credit: Pierre-Yves Guernie

Photo credit: Pierre-Yves Guernier

Photo credit: Pierre-Yves Guernie

Photo credit: Pierre-Yves Guernier



tags: , , , ,


Adrien Briod is co-founder and CTO of Flyability.
Adrien Briod is co-founder and CTO of Flyability.

Hallie Siegel robotics editor-at-large
Hallie Siegel robotics editor-at-large





Related posts :



Robot Talk Episode 101 – Christos Bergeles

In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Christos Bergeles from King's College London about micro-surgical robots to deliver therapies deep inside the body.
06 December 2024, by

Robot Talk Episode 100 – Mini Rai

In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Mini Rai from Orbit Rise about orbital and planetary robots.
29 November 2024, by

Robot Talk Episode 99 – Joe Wolfel

In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Joe Wolfel from Terradepth about autonomous submersible robots for collecting ocean data.
22 November 2024, by

Robot Talk Episode 98 – Gabriella Pizzuto

In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Gabriella Pizzuto from the University of Liverpool about intelligent robotic manipulators for laboratory automation.
15 November 2024, by

Online hands-on science communication training – sign up here!

Find out how to communicate about your work with experts from Robohub, AIhub, and IEEE Spectrum.
13 November 2024, by

Robot Talk Episode 97 – Pratap Tokekar

In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Pratap Tokekar from the University of Maryland about how teams of robots with different capabilities can work together.
08 November 2024, by





Robohub is supported by:




Would you like to learn how to tell impactful stories about your robot or AI system?


scicomm
training the next generation of science communicators in robotics & AI


©2024 - Association for the Understanding of Artificial Intelligence


 












©2021 - ROBOTS Association