No feedback, this just sounds really cool.
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At my job [0] we work in this exact space, but on the data analytics side of things. We build computer vision pipelines for corrosion, components, defects, etc. We process imagery from drones, helis and satellite.
This is a tough problem to solve and for a lot of operators ultimately comes down to cost.
We're based in the UK but reach out if you wanna chat!
Sounds like a neat space to be in. Wishing you calm skies next month. I guess you'll have all the goodies (RFI detectors, thermal imaging sensors, etc.) to collect data? I wonder to what extent detection from a distance (discovery?) and investigation of faults can be automated. Hopefully using drones for good will be sufficient for a viable business model. We've enough surveillance as it is.
Is the inspection data you're accumulating becoming a moat in itself?
We don't need to keep the data - we'd rather sell it to other (qualified) folks to build useful tools on top of our data platform.
Think verifying hail claim insurance for farmers (no need to send a guy out there), or helping NOAA assist truck drivers with weather conditions on interstates etc. etc. (the list is very long)
Maybe we'll cover all that surface area ourselves, but that sounds pretty challenging.
A good proxy is satellite companies. They're typically just a API call for data, not full-stack collection + analysis.
For utilities, we'll probably stay vertical, so that we have our first 'application' to bring our data to market. We'll see.
Also - at scale we're excited to help build physical world models with our data. To be seen if this is something we'd do in-house.
We're super excited to help new startups build data that were never possible before with the extreme high cost of data collection :D
How does this get around the problem you mentioned with FAA line of sight regulations?
Follow up question, why aerial drones? Couldn't crawler drones work and avoid FAA regulations? Though obviously would be limited in speed and where lines have been damaged, though perhaps they could be managed to go around the damage via remote control.
Crawler drones are not a bad idea! They're just a bit slow and limiting. Also doesn't drive our long term plan (can't leave power lines)
It's also mechanically complex and there's many line & pole types that make it challenging to build for.
When we let go of distribution line charging, we considered this idea. Off some rough calcs we thought there would be lines that we'd get 'stuck' on so that was hard to overcome...