The famous drone manufacturer from China, DJI, recently
announced a new drone that's devoted for the developer community. The drone is
named DJI Matrices 100, and is deliberately designed to be easily modified by
the geeks.
The appearance of DJI Matrices 100 looks ordinary, but
that's the main goal of this drone, which the developers are allowed to tether
assorted modules easily, ranging from cameras, sensors, communication devices,
to Raspberry Pi.
Just like the latest customer version of DJI drone, Phantom
3, Matrices 100 is also equipped with a special remote control, which can carry
the signal transmission up to a distance of 2 km. But what make this drone more
interesting are the accessories offered for Matrices 100.
One of them is Guidance feature. Guidance is a system that
allows the drone to be able to 'see' what is in the surrounding area, so the
drone can avoid obstacles by itself. As we know, most of the recent drones have
been equipped with autopilot feature or the like, but they may still hit birds
or trees in the route.
Guidance consists of several main components; the Intel
processor is masterminding everything and will process all data that has been
collected by a pair of cameras and ultrasonic sensors. Currently Guidance
system has been attached to the Matrices 100, and it's ready to fly accurately
despite its GPS function is inactive, even in high speed though.
As a result, Guidance technology allows Matrices 100 to fly
automatically while avoiding obstacles in its path. But the potential doesn't
stop there. In the video it's explained that a research team from Fudan
University in Shanghai has successfully utilized Matrices 100 and Guidance
technology for detecting the cars that are parked out of place, aka illegally.
So far, both Matrices 100 and Guidance technology are
intended for the developer community. But in the future, after the Guidance
technology has been developed to a final stage by the DJI and Intel, apparently
the next-generation of consumer version will be equipped with similar
technology, or at least there is similar accessory that can be purchased
separately.