(Courtesy: Wal-Mart)
Does it seem like there are a lot more drones buzzing around overhead lately? Well, get ready because there’s about to be a lot more.
Thanks to improved technology and lower prices, pilot-less drones were one of the most popular gifts last holiday season. Go to YouTube or any other video-sharing site and you are bound to find thousands of videos made by people fitting drones with Go! cameras and flying them over rock concerts, sporting events, national parks and more.
Businesses Using Drones
Now industry is finally catching on to the popularity of drones. Innovative companies are coming up with practical applications for the devices.
Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, already has announced plans to use drones to deliver products to customer’s doorsteps — possibly within 30 minutes or less of when they order them.
Now Drone Scan, a South African start-up company, is developing robotic drones that can autonomously conduct product inventory in warehouses, distribution centers, and other storage spaces even when no human workers are present.
Drone Scan is a start-up company that fits drones with bar code scanners. The devices also have lasers that are connected to mapping software that captures the dimensions of the warehouse to be inventoried.
This data is then used to calculate the drone’s position and automatically navigate it throughout the space as the bar code scanner captures data about products quantities and locations. Even products stored on higher shelves can be accessed simply so that an accurate inventory can be compiled.
Automated Inventory
Best of all, according to Drone Scan, the entire process can be done completely automatically. So workers can leave work at the end of their shift and return the next day to find the entire warehouse accurately inventoried. The inventory data can even be accessed remotely from PCs, laptops, tablets or even smartphones.
The drones themselves will fly without a human controlling them. Instead, they will access navigational data stored in a central computer. Plus, when their batteries start to run low, then can automatically guide themselves to recharging stations.
This new twist on emerging technology could end up saving businesses big money by reducing the amount of labor dollars spent conducting inventories.
Inspired by Fishing Trip
Drone Scan’s co-founder, Jasper Pons, said he came up with the idea while using a homemade drone to map fishing sites on the Msunduzi River, in South Africa. He simply replaced the Go! camera with a bar code scanner and the company was up and running.
Currently, the technology is being tested as a pilot project with an unnamed European company that has more than 400 warehouses worldwide. But it is expected to be available to businesses worldwide by 2020, if not sooner, said Pons.