Tag Archives: ExynPak

Trimble and Exyn pool technologies to create autonomous site surveying solution

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Trimble and Exyn Technologies have announced a strategic collaboration to explore the use of autonomous construction surveying technology through integrating Boston Dynamic’s SpotⓇ robot, the ExynPak™ powered by ExynAI™ and the Trimble® X7
total station.

This solution will, the companies say, enable fully autonomous missions inside complex and dynamic construction environments, which can result in consistent and precise reality capture for production and quality control workflows. It also has potential for mining.

“The integration of autonomous surveying technology into a construction workflow has groundbreaking potential,” Aviad Almagor, Vice President of Technology Innovation, Trimble, said. “It can improve operational efficiency and transparency throughout the build lifecycle while also transforming worker safety for potentially hazardous data collection.”

Autonomous robots powered by ExynAI, can sense and avoid obstacles, dynamically adapting to the ever-changing complexity of construction environments, according to Exyn. To ensure the utmost safety and efficiency, the ExynPak mounts and integrates with a robot, supporting level 4 of autonomous exploration missions without requiring the robot to “learn” about its environment beforehand. A surveyor defines a 3D volume for a mission and the integrated robotic solution handles the complexities of self-navigation without needing a map, GPS or wireless infrastructure, the companies explained.

The integration of the Trimble X7 provides high-speed, high-accuracy 3D laser scanning to capture the state of the environment, according to Trimble. The captured data can be uploaded to the Trimble Connect® collaboration platform and shared with project stakeholders for further analysis, including a comparison to Building Information Models and previous scans to monitor quality and progress. The end result is a map of unprecedented detail and accuracy collected with minimal human intervention and risk.

Nader Elm, CEO of Exyn Technologies, said: “Industry has been waiting for reliable and robust autonomous technology to transform difficult and dangerous activities. Exyn’s technology is helping to enable a new front in human-robot collaboration. By working with pre-eminent leaders such as Trimble, we aim to create adaptable, state-of-the-art systems to tackle the complexities across construction and industrial environments.”

Exyn partners with drone data capture company EROCK Associates

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Exyn Technologies has announced a distribution partnership with EROCK Associates that, it says, highlights the increasing availability of Exyn’s aerial drone and portable SLAM mapping products across critical infrastructure projects and complex mining.

The partnership will make the ExynAero™ and ExynPak™ available to a host of new customers seeking best-in-class aerial autonomy and 3D SLAM mapping for capturing critical data in high-risk environments, Exyn says.

EROCK Associates is a drone data capture company specialising in inspection for major construction infrastructure projects, multiple large-scale operations and emergency responses to time-sensitive situations. In short, EROCK “boldly drones where no one has gone before”, the company says, making Exyn a perfect partner.

Nader Elm, CEO and Co-Founder of Exyn Technologies, said: “We’re thrilled to welcome EROCK Associates as our newest channel partner of the ExynAero and ExynPak to deliver the key benefits of real-time data capturing, safety and operational efficiency in critical industries and mining. By offering world-class software and technology, we expand their capabilities to great levels, enabling them to tap into a new customer base and explore geographic areas never before reached. We aim to be integral to fully autonomous critical infrastructure projects and mining operations.”

Eric Bennett, Founder of EROCK Associates, said: “This partnership with Exyn will unlock a new world of capabilities for EROCK Associates. We look forward, with much excitement, to offering our customers Exyn’s cutting-edge products. A long time in the making, we feel confident that we can meet and exceed levels of safety and efficiency, like never before.”

Exyn’s autonomous aerial robot systems are commonly used for industrial applications such as mining, construction, infrastructure inspection and military surveillance/reconnaissance, Eyxn says. With this new distribution partnership, Exyn says it is looking forward to working alongside public sectors to unlock key capabilities of robotic 3D mapping.

Exyn’s drone-based mining autonomy ambitions taking flight

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Having already achieved the highest documented level of aerial autonomy – level 4A – with its drone-based solutions, Exyn Technologies is striving for further industry firsts, Raffi Jabrayan, VP of Business Development and Commercial Sales, says.

One of its more recent breakthroughs came in Germany at the K+S’ Werra mine site, where a team demonstrated the use of the ExynAero™ and ExynPak™ at an underground salt mine.

Over the course of three days underground, Exyn’s field engineers successfully flew multiple autonomous missions in hard-to-reach areas while capturing rich, high-fidelity point clouds in a fraction of the time it would take traditional cavity monitoring systems, according to the company.

Jabrayan explained: “Several drone companies had previously attempted an autonomous mission to scan the immense cavities this specific site has, but the dust interference meant most of these missions ended within seconds.

“We were able to fly in some cavities completely beyond visual line of sight, mapping areas in a fraction of the time the teams would normally take for such manual inspections. In all, we were able to carry out a six-minute autonomous flight at the site.”

While the company did not carry out any specific modifications to its ExynAero platform to conduct such a flight, Jabrayan acknowledged that ongoing design and software improvements over the last year had enabled the company to accurately detect both dust and thin wires underground.

In addition to this, the company also displayed the capabilities of its handheld ExynPak solutions while on site in Germany.

The ExynPak, according to Exyn, can provide the world’s first real-time colourised point cloud visualisation on a handheld LIDAR scanner, capturing precise, colourised 3D models 20-30 times faster than a traditional stationery tripod or terrestrial scanner.

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 360° view of their environment, Exyn says.

At the Werra mine site, the Exyn team was able to capture a colourised cloud where the stratification of the rock could be clearly seen in the scan, enabling the K+S team to obtain data it would likely never be able to replicate in any other way, according to the company.

Jabrayan says such information could see operators plan their mining processes around the colourised captures, following mineralisation identified by the scans to ensure no economic ore had been missed after mucking out.

At the Werra mine site, Exyn’s field engineers successfully flew multiple autonomous missions in hard-to-reach areas while capturing rich, high-fidelity point clouds in a fraction of the time it would take traditional cavity monitoring systems

 

The ExynPak is likely to become a core part of Exyn’s next aerial autonomy offering for open-pit mining, powered by ExynAI, which enables safe flight in the most dangerous industrial environments.

“We have done some work in terms of moving our flights to the surface,” Jabrayan said. “It could cover various aspects – tailings monitoring, highwall scans…there are lots of requirements for it. We are actively working on integrating GPS into our ExynAI stack for outdoor autonomous flights, however, it’s not ready to be pushed to customers just yet.”

The company is currently working on surveys of ground-based resources, such as stockpiles, using a handheld ExynPak, plus carrying out aerial flights in manual mode.

Reaching the level of autonomy it has underground will most likely involve the help of its collaboration partner, EY, and a third company providing “software and visualisation input”, Jabrayan says, adding that he expects to see this autonomous solution come to light in 2023.

Earlier this year, Exyn, in partnership with Maestro Digital Mine, presented an aerial drone fitted with a Maestro gas monitoring Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) device.

This new gas monitoring drone, which integrates critical gas sensors onto the ExynAero and ExynPak platforms, is effectively the “quickest and safest mobile gas monitor on the planet”, Michael Gribbons, CEO and Co-founder for Maestro, said.

Powered by ExynAI’s multi-sensor fusion capabilities, gas sensor readings are captured while the robot is in flight and displayed in real time via a ruggedised tablet, Exyn explained. These sensor readings are saved with precise coordinates in a high-fidelity point cloud that can be exported and examined in a variety of mining software.

Jabrayan says a lot of mines have reached out to the companies since first presenting the solution at the SME MineXchange Annual Conference & Expo in Salt Lake City, earlier this year.

“They are interested in the benefits such a solution could provide in terms of safety and productivity,” he said. “By flying the gas sensing drone underground soon after a blast, it could take the necessary readings and issue a notice to another system that it is safe to re-enter the area.”

This could see more mines shift away from re-entry processes based on out-of-date manual gas readings, to a system that is much more accurate and shaves – potentially – hours off operational downtime.

Exyn is closing in on a long-term trial agreement with at least one miner in Australia looking to test out this gas-sensing drone solution, according to Jabrayan.

“The long-term plan is to develop a drone-in-a-box solution that can reside underground and be flown immediately after a blast to offer the quickest possible readings,” he said. “Remote autonomous mapping of this type could see Exyn provide data to shift operators as they are heading underground, allowing them to get a picture of the environment ahead of reaching the location.”

The incorporation of such data into mine site operational processes could see drone-based solutions become vital to the running of mines in the future, and Exyn, through its post-processing pipeline, ExSLAM, is looking to enable this.

ExSLAM extracts the raw cloud from robot logs and refines it for third-party software, using a factor graph optimisation algorithm to create low-drift point cloud maps.

Jabrayan says the company continually receives plaudits from customers about the ease of use of this solution, explaining that Exyn is one of the few companies that georeferences its maps inside an existing coordinate frame.

“From there, we are able to detect all the survey points, download them, georeference them and push the data to any end-user software,” he said.

Exyn, Jabrayan says, is software agnostic when it comes to this process, but he did admit the company was in advanced talks with some leading mining software companies that could see its mapping data integrated directly into their platforms.

“We are also working with certain companies to use robotic process automation to make it a one-button process to scan, go directly into the end-user software, and create a mesh that can be used,” he said.

“We remain focused on using our technology and R&D to provide the best solution to customers in order for them to be as productive as possible and, of course, work in a more efficient and safe manner.”

Exyn Technologies accelerates colourised 3D model capture with ExynPak

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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.”

Burgex adds ExynPak LiDAR capabilities to mine mapping offering

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Burgex Inc Mining Consultants has announced newly acquired in-house capabilities to provide high accuracy mapping of surface and underground mine workings with the addition of the ExynPak from Exyn Technologies to its fleet of mining and mineral exploration solutions.

With a gimballed Velodyne LiDAR sensor and the ability to provide real-time 3D mapping with survey-grade accuracy, the ExynPak is the leader in high accuracy handheld mapping for mining and exploration applications, according to Burgex. Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (SLAM) provides accurate, survey-grade 3D mapping in real-time without the use of GPS, it added. This delivers precision mapping in underground mining environments that have been traditionally difficult to map using modern methods.

“The ability to map underground and surface mining workings in high resolution provides an enormous advantage to mine planning and mineral exploration projects,” Burgex said. “With LiDAR capabilities of over 600,000 points per second and a 360° horizontal field of view, it is possible to quickly identify slopes, faults and other geological features in real time. In addition to generating <3 cm accuracy point clouds in real time, the ExynPak is also equipped with two FLIR Chameleon3 RGB cameras that are capable of colourising points – providing yet another layer of functionality to geologic mapping and mine planning projects.”

Leveraging portable LiDAR with aerial data collection provides a new level of flexibility in modelling for mining and mineral exploration projects that is not offered at many, if any, other mining consulting firms in the US, Burgex said. Combined with aerial mapping, the Burgex team can pin underground and surface LiDAR surveys to geo-referenced base surveys and maps – creating a completely modelled project that can be used for mine planning, exploration programs, and more.

Additionally, Burgex Mining Consultants has recently added a DJI Matrice 300 RTK (M300) to its fleet of UAVs, providing even greater capabilities for aerial data collection.

“Not only can the M300 collect data more efficiently that other UAVs, but it can also simultaneously carry up to three payload sensors,” the company said. “The M300 has a max transmission range of up to 9.3 miles (15 km) with a 55-minute maximum flight time. The IP45 water and dust protection ratings and expanded operating temperatures will enable operation in a broader range of field conditions.”

Stuart Burgess, CEO and Co-Founder of Burgex Inc, said: “We are very excited about the addition of this new equipment and the new services we will be able to provide for our clients. From underground to surface, we’ll be able to map and model projects quickly and with centimetre accuracy, which is something that used to be very difficult and expensive to achieve, especially in underground environments. These new tools represent the next generation of mining and mineral exploration advancements.”

Exyn Technologies expands mapping reach with two new products

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Exyn Technologies has announced two new products to expand its ability to collect data from challenging and previously-unmappable environments, and enable customers to have better solutions.

The ExynAero (pictured) is the latest aerial robot and an upgrade from the previous generation’s A3R™. Fully autonomous, the ExynAero allows for mapping of any environment (including GPS-denied, human-inaccessible, industrial environments without a pilot), keeping employees safe and maximising beyond-line-of-sight-and-communications data collection, the company says.

This new technology builds on Exyn’s previous iterations based on its ExynAI software, which can mesh multiple data streams in real time. The ExynAero is also able to leverage various sensors and platforms that can be merged together via automated software to build a robust and complete map of an environment in real time, even with multiple units running simultaneously, the company says.

Its features include robust 270° view, providing detailed in-depth visuals of stopes in full HD colour, super-bright lighting and LiDAR to provide top acuity, shooting over 300,000 beams per second for highly accurate visualisations. The agile navigation and flight stack improve the ExynAero’s stability and robustness in tight spaces, and the ExynAero can easily transfer data to teams who can analyse it, Exyn says.

Nader Elm, CEO Exyn Technologies, said: “The ExynAero represents the future of data collection across a number of applications and industrial environments. The product is the first of its kind to offer true aerial autonomy.”

The ExynAero can fly itself in the most challenging and unknown environments, collect the data, and merge the streams with ExynAI on board, according to Elm. This allows for maximum data collection and a “radical improvement” in safety for workers around the world who are placed in difficult and sometimes potentially dangerous conditions, he said.

“We’re hoping with the launch of this product, and the additional modalities offered by the ExynPak, that our customers will be able to collect the data they need easily, regardless of limitations,” he said. “The benefits of this will lea

d to not only significantly greater worker safety, but also considerably improved productivity and efficiency.”

The ExynPak (left), meanwhile, provides a new portable format that enables users to unstrap the autonomy features of the ExynAero and capture data with the built-in tools via other modalities – such as hand carry or vehicle mount – for situations where complete autonomy is not needed or practical.

Exyn’s autonomous aerial robot systems are most commonly used for industrial applications such as mining, construction, nuclear power, and military surveillance/reconnaissance. The ExynPak will allow for an expansion of the potential uses of Exyn’s core technology applications and environments to existing infrastructure or transportation modes that don’t require an aerial or autonomous component, the company said.

The Exyn team plans to continue to develop new products that help support mapping and data collection regardless of format, with more products coming out in 2021, it said.