Tag Archives: Drones

Exyn Technologies brings in Brandon Torres Declet for next growth drive

Exyn Technologies has appointed Brandon Torres Declet as CEO to drive its next phase of growth, overseeing all aspects of Exyn and looking to expand its geospatial product offerings to customers worldwide, the company says.

With a career spanning over 25 years, Torres Declet brings an extensive background in the drone industry as a successful entrepreneur, C-suite executive, board director and policy expert, Exyn says. Over the course of his more than 25-year career, he has built relationships with top government agencies and corporations in highly regulated markets making him perfect for this role to help drive Exyn’s growth, it added.

He joins Exyn Technologies from his previous role as CEO of AgEagle Aerial Systems, Inc, a commercial drone solutions provider. Before that, he founded MEASURE, an aerial intelligence company, which was sold to the Aerodyne Group in 2019, where he remained as Chairman of Aerodyne MEASURE. Torres Declet also developed a SaaS platform, Ground Control, which provides drone mission planning, data collection, processing, analysis and intelligence reporting which was sold to AgEagle in 2021.

In public service, he was appointed Senior Advisor to Oxford University’s Centre for Technology and Global Affairs and to the FAA’s Advanced Aviation Advisory Committee by the US Secretary of Transportation. He has also served as Counsel to the US House of Representatives and Homeland Security Committee, Counsel on Capitol Hill, and to the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary Committees.

“It’s a great time to join Exyn Technologies,” Torres Declet said. “The company is well established and has earned a solid reputation as a market leader in robotics and autonomy. I’m excited to build on this foundation and help drive increased value for our customers. Given my background and experience, I have a strong appreciation for what it takes to take a company, and particularly start-ups, like Exyn to the next level. I look forward to collaborating with the entire team to plan to ensure Exyn’s success.”

Jaguar Mining to deploy ExynAero autonomous robot for cavity monitoring in Brazil

Exyn Technologies and NSS Canada say they have expanded their footprint with Jaguar Mining in response to a growing demand for autonomous robots to capture critical data in complex, GPS-denied environments underground.

Historically, mining in geographically complex areas has been dangerous and intensive in terms of labour, time and cost. The evolution of autonomous aerial robots provides mining companies with faster and safer data capture in critical underground operations leading to more streamlined planning and workflows.

After a successful demonstration at the Caeté mining complex (which includes the Pilar and Roça Grande mines and the Caeté Plant, located in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil), Jaguar Mining made the decision to purchase Exyn’s autonomous robot, the ExynAero, to be used as a cavity monitoring solution in its underground mining operations.

The ExynAero is a fully autonomous aerial robot that intelligently navigates and maps complex GPS-denied industrial environments without a pilot, keeping employees safe and maximising beyond-line-of-sight-and-communications data collection. Equipped with Autonomy Level 4 – the highest level in the industry, according to Exyn – survey teams can confidently send the ExynAero on autonomous missions into open stopes and and other underground cavities knowing that all computation and data collection is stored on-board. Following this with Exyn’s post-processing pipeline, survey teams can refine, subsample and georeference their data sets for volumetric calculations and other mining operations, it added.

Jaguar, which produces more than 95,000 oz/y of gold, has been using Autonomy Level 4 in this latest deployment, Eyxn confirmed.

“We are thrilled to deliver innovations that help reduce risk to humans and increase efficiency and productivity in mining operations,” Raffi Jabrayan, Exyn’s VP of Commercial Sales and Business Development, said. “Our technology can do in a few minutes what traditionally took hours, with countless risks to surveyors working in potentially dangerous environments.”

Bruno Lalonde, NSS Canada President, added: “NSS Canada is proud to provide innovative solutions to help underground mines like Jaguar Mining Inc safeguard employees while optimising efficiency. The addition of Exyn autonomous solutions will help their team improve OPEX, increase safety and get actionable data from dangerous environments faster.”

Eric Duarte, Vice President of Operations for Jaguar Mining, added: “The introduction of Exyn autonomous technologies at Jaguar Mining is another step towards our commitment to quality, by increasing safety, operational efficiency and cost effectiveness in our underground operations.”

Exyn Technologies out for further AI-backed drone growth with latest financing

Exyn Technologies has announced a successful $35 million Series B round of funding that will, it says, help it grow and diversify its sales, marketing and product teams to support continued worldwide expansion and movement into new industries and applications.

The lead investor, Reliance Industries, is a multinational corporation and India’s largest company headquartered in Mumbai. It has diverse businesses, including energy, petrochemicals, natural gas, retail, telecommunications, mass media and textiles.

Exyn says it will use this relationship and investment to break into the Indian market, expand its global footprint into Latin America, Australia and Africa, and bring exposure to its future business verticals.

“We are thrilled to have Reliance Industries backing Exyn,” Nader Elm, CEO of Exyn Technologies, said. “With the extra funding, we hope to expand our worldwide footprint further to improve safety by keeping those in these dangerous fields around the world out of harm’s way.”

Exyn calls itself a pioneer in artificial intelligence-backed technology, having commercialised the highest level of aerial drone autonomy in the world, Autonomy Level 4 (AL4.) Exyn’s robots can autonomously navigate previously inaccessible environments without a prior map, existing infrastructure (GPS, communications, etc), or an operator in the loop, according to the company.

“AL4, the highest level of aerial autonomy in the market, has been a key differentiator in the mining industry,” Elm said. “The application of our fully autonomous robots is expansive. With this investment and partnership, we look forward to transforming dangerous, physical data collection into a safer and more efficient workflow that can unlock further operational effectiveness and efficiency for our customers. ”

Delta Drone and Strayos team up to improve mine site decision making

Drone-based data provider, Delta Drone International Limited, has announced a new product addition to its data solutions business model via its partnership and distribution agreement with AirZaar Inc, a corporation doing business as US-based, mining-focused software provider Strayos.

The arrangement will allow DLT to distribute software licences across Africa and Australia, either directly or via resellers and consultants. DLT will apply the solution in an integrated way
for existing and new customers to process and value-add drone captured data. In addition, customers will gain extra value from the Strayos platform more broadly, given its multi functionality to generate ongoing operational insights across business operations.

DLT CEO, Christopher Clark, said: “We have been assessing the markets in which we predominantly operate, being Australia and Africa, and have identified that our customers want a stronger vertically integrated solution that not only includes data capture but also data insights. Overlaying AI-intelligence in our current data workflows adds a higher value proposition to the end user, resulting in faster turnaround of reporting and ultimately simplifying decision making within these complex environments.”

Clark said the partnership with Strayos was mutually beneficial, with Delta Drone International seeing an increased revenue mix of software sales while Strayos would leverage the drone-focused provider’s global presence and geospatial experience “to ensure customers receive seamless on-boarding and continuous support”.

Strayos, Delta Drone says, has developed a unique software platform with advanced image processing, digitalisation and artificial intelligence tools designed to improve safety, efficiency and productivity in mining job sites.

DLT added: “Strayos’ software is primarily data-enabled by aerial imagery and LiDAR, captured by drones, and used to create digital twins of sites. The digital twins can be further enhanced by adding data from additional sensors from mining equipment. Strayos AI generates insights that help mining management and engineers make faster more informed decisions and ensure conformance across their operations.”

Strayos CEO, Ravi Sahu, said: “By partnering with Delta Drone, customers in Africa and Australia will be able to take advantage of Strayos’ AI powered solutions and insights to optimise their operations for safety, sustainability and productivity from mine to mill. Delta Drone is an excellent partner for this market expansion as they can immediately expand the products and value add they offer to their current customers and are well-positioned to support new customers.

“Working with Delta Drone is the beginning of an exciting new chapter in making advanced AI solutions easily available to the mining industry.”

Strayos, Squadrone combine AI and drone mapping nous to optimise Indian mining sector

US-based Strayos and India-based Squadrone have announced a new partnership that will combine mine-to-mill artificial intelligence-based solutions with drone surveying to “bring futuristic mines to more sites in India”, Strayos CEO, Ravi Sahu, says.

Squadrone bills itself as being one of the most progressive companies in the application of aerial intelligence in the mining industry in India, providing tailor-made UAV solutions for various applications from mining to drilling & blasting to disaster management. It provides drone mapping, surveying and site digitalisation services to its clients to efficiently manage their site’s day-to-day operations in mining, it says.

Strayos is an AI-based company that uses data from a diverse range of smart tools, edge devices and sensors, including drones, to create 3D digital models of sites. Site digitalisation is further enhanced by Strayos’ end-to-end site AI tools that analyse data from various sources to shape safe and immediately usable key insights, automation and accurate predictions, it says.

This collaboration will pave the way for novel holistic site-level insights, according to the companies. Along with the digital 3D site model created from drone data, users can now leverage Strayos’ Geology Detection AI, Drill & Blast AI and Site Analytics AI, with inventory management. With the addition of these tools, mining stakeholders across numerous site operations will be able to pool and access data from the entire operation, according to the companies.

For instance, blasting engineers will have access to geological data when designing blasts, drillers will be able to accurately predict how their drilling affects the mill’s performance and mine engineers will be able to plan site design with precision based on up-to-date geology and optimised drilling & blasting to reduce load and haul costs.

Brad Gyngell, COO, Strayos, said: “Mining in India is going through a major transformation presently, with drones and AI being the perfect tools to accelerate these advancements. We couldn’t be more excited to collaborate with Squadrone and deliver superior solutions to our customers in India.”

Cyriac Joseph, CEO, Squadrone, Bangalore, India, said: “We pride ourselves on being able to provide the mining industry with the best services and the best products in open-pit mining, drilling and blasting, rock mechanics, mine safety and underground mining. Our boots on the ground and Strayos’ cloud-based Al tools will greatly benefit the Indian mining industry with these specialised applications to facilitate amazing analytics with visual intelligence through drone technology.”

Propeller Aero and Quantum Systems team up to improve drone survey accuracy and time

Propeller Aero, the drone data visualisation and analytics platform, and Quantum-Systems, the Unmanned Aircraft Systems developer, have announced their joint effort to include compatibility of Propeller’s site surveying and 3D mapping software with Quantum-Systems’ Trinity F90+ drone.

Propeller’s Post-Processed Kinematic solution (PPK) enables seamless surveying and 3D mapping of work sites across the construction, mining and earthworks industries. Coupled with Quantum-Systems’ Trinity F90+ drone, a dedicated large scale mapping drone, contractors will be able to improve survey accuracy, condense their traditionally weeks-long data collection process into a few hours, and quickly share digital models among their broader work site teams, according to the companies.

Designed and manufactured in Germany, the Trinity F90+ drone builds on Quantum-Systems’ previous F9 model and makes electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft accessible to customers at an affordable price point without compromising technical quality or usability, the company says. Additionally, the Trinity F90+ drone can fly for up to 90 minutes – well beyond the industry standard of 60 minutes – allowing earthworks professionals to survey larger worksites more efficiently, and it comes with the broadest choice of integrated sensors in the industry, it added.

“Today’s contractors and surveyors are eager to adopt new technologies that modernise workflows and allow them to analyse more aspects of their worksite than ever before,” Richie Hadfield, Head of Product at Propeller Aero, said. “The clients we work with are doing cutting-edge work in the construction, earthworks, and mining space and are already using drone technology to accelerate project timelines, reduce costly rework, and create safer environments for their employees. Our new partnership with Quantum-Systems gives our customers in Europe and around the world even more ways to achieve this increased efficiency and accuracy with the highly advanced F90+ drone.”

To use the combined solution, surveyors place Propeller AeroPoints™ (smart ground control points) around the work site, fly the Trinity F90+ drone above to collect survey data and upload that data to Propeller’s cloud-based platform where it is processed and available to use within 24 hours.

“The drone industry has progressed a lot over the last couple of years, along with customer expectations,” Florian Seibel, Co-founder and CEO of Quantum-Systems, said. “It is no longer reasonable to have customers figure out a complete solution for their needs. As a technology company, we listen to our customers and understand their needs and how best to address them. With the full Trimble Stratus solution completed with Trinity F90+, customers can proactively finish their projects from end to end.”

Flight Safety Foundation helping miners assess drone risks

Flight Safety Foundation’s Basic Aviation Risk Standard (BARS) Program, working in collaboration with some of the world’s largest mining and resource companies, has developed the Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) Audit and Registration Program to, it says, provide the industry with a more efficient means of monitoring, assessing, and analysing risks associated with RPAS.

With airspace more accessible than ever and RPAS technology outpacing many legal and safety frameworks, there is an urgent need for greater oversight of RPAS operations to ensure the safety of those living and working around them, Flight Safety Foundation said.

The RPAS Audit and Registration Program will help businesses manage RPAS risks more efficiently and effectively through a variety of measures, including detailed reporting of events and information sharing.

Flight Safety Foundation, meanwhile, is an independent, international and impartial non-profit that exists to champion the cause of aviation safety, it says. The foundation established the BARS Program in 2010 to review aviation operators providing aviation services to the resources and other sectors.

“An RPAS Audit using registered BARS Audit Companies and accredited RPAS Auditors provides evaluation of operations and technical management systems of an RPAS operator,” it said. “It is a comprehensive audit with the objective of clearly articulating and verifying what procedures, processes and systems the RPAS operator has in place to mitigate risk.”

David Anderson, BARS Program Director, said RPAS are critical to business operations for a range of sectors and used within a multitude of operations enabling data collection, enhancing security, and improving productivity.

“However, with new technology comes new risks, and RPAS-related accidents and incidents can result in expensive damage to property and infrastructure, as well as injuries and even fatalities,” he said.

As part of the program, a global data analysis program will record knowledge and intelligence on the hazards and risks associated with the use of RPAS vehicles. This information will be used to ensure the appropriate controls within the audit standard are in place, updated and effective.

Dr Hassan Shahidi, President and CEO of the Foundation, said: “Enabling organisations to more effectively mitigate risk is critical to continually improving the safety and reliability of their RPAS operations. In addition, the adoption of a global standard should result in a broad safety improvement across the sector.”

Anderson added: “The BARS Program is proud to be a part of this ongoing investment in improving safety within the contracted aviation industry.”

Dwyka and Maestro showcase robotic mobile gas sensing solution at Indaba

Dwyka Mining Services, an authorised reseller of Maestro Digital Mine, has used the 2022 Investing in African Mining Indaba, in Cape Town, South Africa, to premier a new robotic solution that is fitted with Maestro’s IIoT gas sensor.

Boston Dynamics Spot Enterprise robot, equipped with Maestro’s IIoT gas sensor, can be operated on mine sites to detect hazardous gases like carbon monoxide, without putting mining and ventilation teams in danger, the companies say. Ventilation and mining teams will easily be able to add different gas sensors onto the connected Zephyr Air Quality Station, capturing critical environmental data to proactively identify gas or temperature challenges, according to the companies.

Dwyka and Maestro have invested over 10 years of effort and partnership in Africa, all predicated on improving worker safety and productivity in the African mining industry.

Jamie van Schoor, CEO of Dwyka Mining Services, says the established client base of Maestro Digital Mine environmental sensors is allowing both companies to establish mobile technology for broader applications.

“We’re very excited about this integration with Maestro Digital Mine as a future partner payload for Boston Dynamics Spot Enterprise solution and look forward to continually improving worker safety for whole-of-mine deployment with our new best friend, Spot,” he said.

Boston Dynamics Spot Enterprise is an agile mobile robot designed to navigate all types of terrain, allowing organisations to automate routine inspection tasks, capture data securely and safely, and allow for streamlined operations in complex and dangerous environments, the companies say.

Using the Spot Enterprise on-board processing the data is shared wirelessly over Wi-Fi, and gas and temperature sensor readings are captured while the robot is in operation and displayed in real-time via the Maestro Link™ Server application. With the addition of a SLAM scanning unit sensor, like the Emesent Hovermap, readings can be saved with precise coordinates in a high-fidelity point cloud that can be exported and examined in a variety of mining software packages, the companies say.

Michael Gribbons, CEO and Co-Founder of Maestro Digital Mine, said: “Collaborating with our mud-in-boots partner, Dwyka Mining Services, who are always pushing the envelope with technology integration with pioneering brands like Boston Dynamics, is in turn pushing us to innovate and collaborate with our core purpose of enhancing lives by the pursuit of productivity and safety excellence. This relationship will open up immediate opportunities to Dwyka Mining Services and Maestro in Africa and extend mobile environmental monitoring to our current installations at over 170 mines in 38 countries globally using our patented edge-based IIoT sensor technologies once the solution is fully embedded.”

van Schoor added: “We are excited about extracting value from ‘no-go’ and ‘fly low’ mining areas typical at the majority of narrow reef mining operations in southern Africa where the use of enterprise GPS-denied drones become limited. The Spot Enterprise package allows us to access confined spaces and this information could be used to undertake remote gas inspections so that we can accelerate re-entry to target getting ore to surface sooner without comprising safety.”

Mining Indaba delegates are able to see Spot ‘in the metal’ with a Zephyr AQS at booth 908 at Dwyka Technology Showcase Co.<LAB’s booth in its custom see-through kennel, ready to deploy and dock back onto its charging station ahead of its next mission.

With Spot set to perform a number of ‘tricks’ from the stand, the four-day conference will involve experimentation with a series of partner payloads. These devices that can be attached to Spot, extend the robot’s ability to capture and process data, acting as remote sensing devices this will allow Spot to hear, see and smell in a virtual capacity.

Rethabile Letlala, Operations Director Dwyka Mining Services, said: “Spot is an amazing platform with almost unlimited applications. The ability to get live environmental monitoring data ‘on the go’ by extending our remote sensing capability to ‘smell’ for hazardous gas detection from our new robot dog is very exciting.”

Nexxis and Blueprint Lab collaborate on remote maintenance inspection tools

A partnerhip between two leaders in the robotics industry is, the companies say, set to bring the latest inspection technology to industries such as mining, enhancing capabilities in Australia and USA.

Western Australia-based robotic inspection and testing solution provider, Nexxis, has entered a partnership agreement and development collaboration with, Blueprint Lab, an Australia-based robotics company developing advanced robotic arms for harsh environments.

The partnership will enable the world’s smallest underwater robotic arm – Blueprint Lab’s Reach Alpha – to be used by clients to support the inspection and maintenance of their assets.

Nexxis Founder and CEO, Jason De Silveira, said the partnership was great news for the petrochemical, renewable energy and mining industries, ensuring ongoing access to the latest smart technologies.

“We look forward to continuing to collaborate and develop together, while solving both customer and industry challenges with the right solutions,” he said. “Petrol and chemical processing facilities, and mining and renewable energy sites, have infrastructure that needs regular inspection and maintenance.

“Our exciting partnership will enable Blueprint Lab’s robotic arms to be integrated on Nexxis platforms, utilising our state-of-the-art software and technology to offer a complete comprehensive solution for clients tailored to their individual requirements.”

Last year, Nexxis unveiled what it said was the world’s first fully design-approved EX-rated robotic camera inspection device – Magneto-EX.

Exyn Technologies accelerates colourised 3D model capture with ExynPak

Exyn Technologies has unveiled what it says is the world’s first real-time colourised point cloud visualisation on a handheld LIDAR scanner, the ExynPak™.

This accomplishment marks one of Exyn’s many contributions to autonomous robotics across several industries including mining, infrastructure inspection and construction, it said.

Even in its early beta phase, ExynPak users can capture precise, colourised 3D models 20-30 times faster than a traditional stationery tripod or terrestrial scanner, according to the company. Powered by ExynAI™, the ExynPak ‘drapes’ real-time RGB information captured through two hemispherical fixed cameras onto point clouds created by a gimballed Velodyne LIDAR Puck LITE, providing operators a complete colourised 360º view of their environment.

Coming with a three-hour battery life, the ExynPak is capable of capturing dozens of scans in a single shift with a real-time feed ensuring maximum coverage, Exyn said. And further refinement through Exyn’s proprietary post-processing pipeline, ExSLAM, can correct drift to circa-0.1% per distance travelled.

Jason Derenick, CTO, said: “We’ve seen photogrammetry and other post-processed LIDAR scans colorise point clouds through photos and/or RGB data, but this is the first time colourised point clouds have been streamed to an operator in real time. Even in its BETA phase, we’re thrilled with what the team has created.”

The untapped potential of high-fidelity, precise 3D models has already revolutionised workflows in geological studies (mining) and will continue to revolutionise workflows in construction, reality capture, digital twinning, industrial inspection and more, according to Exyn. Equipped with a colorised ExynPak, a one-to-two person surveying team will be capable of capturing entire structures, tunnels and GPS-denied environments in a matter of hours, rather than days or even weeks.

Nader Elm, CEO: “The ExynPak is a powerful new tool with broad applications in many ‘physical’ industries such as construction, infrastructure development and inspection, mining and much more. You can set it down, initialise and begin capturing a realistic 3D model of your environment in minutes and with minimal training.”