Hexagon AB has announced the introduction of the Leica BLK ARC and the Leica BLK2FLY, extending its BLK series of autonomous reality capture solutions.
The Leica BLK ARC is a laser scanning sensor purposely built to improve the autonomous navigation of robots and other carrier platforms to deliver fully autonomous mobile laser scanning, Hexagon explains.
Combining its speed, accuracy and versatility with robotics, the BLK ARC addresses the growing demand for autonomous solutions that can safely and repeatedly capture accurate 3D point clouds and panoramic images of changing environments with minimal user intervention, it added.
The Leica BLK2FLY is the world’s first fully integrated, autonomous flying laser scanning sensor, the company claims.
“With a few simple taps on a tablet, users can quickly and easily scan structures and environments accurately and entirely from the air,” the company said. “The airborne scanning provides value across multiple industries in need of accurate data of inaccessible or hard-to-reach areas (eg façade projections, rooftops), ensuring complete capture of a structure’s exterior features and dimensions.”
The BLK ARC and BLK2FLY connect directly to Hexagon’s cloud-based visualisation platform, HxDR, where immediate data upload from the field, artificial intelligence-enabled cloud processing and storage of the captured data enables instant delivery of a purpose-built smart digital reality to anyone who needs it.
Hexagon President and CEO, Ola Rollén, said: “The BLK2FLY and BLK ARC illustrate Hexagon’s commitment to empowering an autonomous future with smart digital realities. The purposefully integrated sensor-software systems are tailored to bring autonomous agility and speed to any reality capture workflow. The robots, sensors and software work together, dynamically adjusting reality capture missions to offer seemingly limitless business applications – from as-built site documentation for buildings to monitoring and situational awareness of remote or hazardous environments, such as mines, factory floors, off-shore facilities, fire investigations and more.”
While the first robotic compatibility for the BLK ARC is with the Boston Dynamics Spot, it can be integrated with other autonomous robotic carriers, according to the company.
The BLK2FLY introduces the next generation of flight safety with advanced autonomous obstacle avoidance. Sensor fusion of LiDAR, radar, cameras and GNSS ensures optimal and safe flight paths, it said.