If you’ve ever tried flying a cheap consumer quadcopter indoors, you’ll know how easily they can crash into walls or furniture. Now imagine imagine trying the same with a much more expensive industrial drone. That’s why the new Aertos 130IR is built to be tough.
Manufactured by Kansas-based company Digital Aerolus, the 130IR features a carbon fiber composite frame with grip tape-wrapped carrying handles, protective shrouds around its four propellers, and an omnidirectional array of nine sensors including LiDAR and depth-sensing units. Those sensors not only allow the drone to perform mapping tasks, they also help it to maintain its position in three-dimensional space – this is a particularly important feature in settings where GPS won’t work.