Iris Automation (YC S16) gives drones situational awareness to fly autonomously | Hacker News Reader

Iris Automation (YC S16) gives drones situational awareness to fly autonomously

themacro.com

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How is this different from all the other companies doing this?

- TeraRanger [1]

- DJI (Phantom) [2]

- Neurala [3]

- Intel / Yuneec [4]

- Aevo [5]

Then there's the work at MIT [6], which is open source (Github code: [7])

[1] http://www.teraranger.com/drone-flies-in-the-forest-with-col... [2] http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2500144,00.asp [3] http://www.neurala.com/technology/collision-avoidance-drones... [4] http://www.pcworld.com/article/3019468/ces/intel-demos-colli... [5] http://www.suasnews.com/2015/05/new-collision-avoidance-unit... [6] http://www.roboticstrends.com/article/watch_mit_drone_autono... [7]

The Iris Automation system can see much further and track dynamic objects like aircraft, balloons, birds, etc. This article does a pretty good job of summing up why we need much more than the "bumper solutions" you mention above: https://medium.com/@alexharm/why-situational-awareness-is-ab...

How do they handle tracking dynamic objects if they are also moving dynamically? Is it just a SLAM method, where you can identify objects between frames?

The only way I have seen this done us using post-processing on object edges. There is no horizon, so it would be pretty difficult to do in real time (I.e. ~20 fps), perhaps to slow to make decisions.

The system is much more than just a basic SLAM algorithm, allowing it to have a full picture of the world, tracking both static and dynamic obstacles that the drone may encounter.

The technologies in the OP are also attempting to provide a solution for air traffic collision avoidance. What is the specific use case Iris will solve better than any other existing technology?

Hi Alex, I had a chance to talk with Hassan Bhatti last week about some of the problems being worked on at Iris. I asked him about how Iris plans to provide solutions to the wide range of applications that an industrial drone can contribute to, and he mentioned building a modular platform that can be modified to suit the unique needs of the different applications.

With DJI currently offering a general purpose flying platform (Matrice 600) in addition to a highly specialised agricultural drone, I am wondering if you can provide some more insights into the pros and cons of developing a modular platform, give some examples on the different kind of modifications that can be made, and whether there is plans down the road to develop more specialised drones for specific applications.

Oh, and tell him Jimmy said hi when he gets there today :)

Alex Harmsen here, co-founder at Iris Automation. Happy to answer any questions and share more about how the drone market is changing!

Have you thought to do everything by software only? If yes that may help you acquire much more customers.

Definitely! The core of our product is software so ideally we just sell software licenses (much higher margins). Turns out there are a lot of drone companies that want a plug and play product though, and don't have spare processing power around to run our software.

So how does it work?

Is it a sort of SLAM algorithm?

SLAM + deep learning algorithms, all visual

Interesting! Are you guys doing SLAM using deep learning? IIRC SLAM is still mostly done with traditional computer vision.

Can't give away all of our secrets ;) Email me at alex@irisautomation.ca if you want to chat more!

> Today’s SLAM systems help machines geometrically understand the immediate world (i.e., build associations in a local coordinate system) while today’s Deep Learning systems help machines reason categorically (i.e., build associations across distinct object instances). In conclusion, I share Newcombe and Davison excitement in Visual SLAM, as vision-based algorithms are going to turn Augmented and Virtual Reality into billion dollar markets. However, we should not forget to keep our eyes on the "trillion-dollar" market, the one that's going to redefine what it means to "work" -- namely Robotics. The day of Robot SLAM will come soon.

from http://www.computervisionblog.com/2016/01/why-slam-matters-f...

I'm more familiar with "classical" computer vision and pattern recognition, but this makes sense to me.

Definitely on the right path

Nice. Are you guys using Jetsons for cpu+gpu?

Are you using something like OpenCV behind the scenes?

Alex, what is the maximum detection distance you expect is required for Iris to successfully negotiate an avoidance maneuver in its concept of operation. Further, what are the typical targets/obstacles that Iris would intend to detect and avoid?

Seems this didn't get any love, so I'll clarify. There is a tradeoff in exposure area and distance, for a given data rate out of the sensor. Because there are already many projects related to obstacle avoidance in the near field, I am curious if Iris chooses to address traditional air traffic targets (as depicted on the website image). If this is the case, what types of aircraft and at what distances. Put yet another way, does Iris intend to compliment traditional TCAS-like systems (albeit for non-cooperative targets)?

One of the major advantages of the Iris system is being able to deal with other aircraft in the national airspace (especially non-cooperative targets like you mention). It means that any system that will actually be useful will have to be able to see and track objects correctly further than 500m away, like Iris can.

I know it's very early for you guys, but I was curious if you have a ballpark for your product price? Even cheap LIDARs still cost a decent penny, and camera only systems have issues with drift.

One of the main reasons we choose to go with simple cameras is because it can be so much cheaper than LIDAR and RADAR sensors. Won't disclose the actual price, but it is definitely a lot cheaper.

What is the business case for drone delivery with regard to energy efficiency and total cost of ownership and fundamentally to deliver? Except for high value, low-weight items, how do you see competition in the coming years in the face of fleets of autonomous terrestrial vehicles that don't have to lift their payloads into the air?

I know Amazon has said previously most of their items "can" be delivered by drone, but the question remains should and will they, considering the high cost of current battery technology. Will it ever really be financially viable to lift items into the air in an individual manner when you can get them to their destination far more efficiently via the ground? It seems to me the case is for elimination of the human component in delivery.

If drone delivery is really so important, why aren't the major shipping companies working on it and scraping their existing air freight and hub and spoke distribution systems?

The article makes it sound like this is primarily for the drone delivery segment. That makes some sense, because it's at least easy to define the end goal. Do you also have plans for applications where the goal isn't as easy to define? That is, what can you automate beyond obstacle detection/avoidance?

Sounds like the package delivery part was more for journalistic flair than the core market. Collision avoidance beyond-line-of-sight is useful for pipeline inspection, agricultural surveys, search & rescue, forestry management, and many more use cases!

So are you planning to copy everything from Skydio or just the job posting?

https://www.google.com/search?q=The+core+of+our+system+is+th...

Will it learn from ducks?

of course!

Hey guys. So you do consulting for drone companies looking to solve a particular problem, by adapting your previously made software system?

Iris is selling an independent collision avoidance system as an OEM technology for existing drone companies.

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