Category Archives: Newsworthy

An Autonomous Robot Called Bat Bot or B2

Although detested and at the same time revered by people all over the world, bats are undoubtedly remarkable creatures when it comes to their ability to fly. While birds do perform the most nimble aerobatics, and most fishes swim superbly in water, bats possess the most refined powered flight mechanism, unmatched in the animal kingdom. Now a team of scientists has studied the way bats fly, and have built the first robot to mimic their flight mechanism. They have named the robot Bat Bot, or B2.

The scientists had a tough time when they tried to imitate the natural flight of a bat. Bats have flexible membranes on their wings, and use more than 40 active and passive joints with each flap of their wings. Moreover, they have bones with the capability to deform each time the bat beats its wings. The scientists found it very difficult to replicate the complete suite of biological tricks that bats use regularly.

In creating the Bat Bot, the scientists have achieved an engineering marvel. The Bat Bot weighs only about 94 grams—about as heavy as two golf balls. It has a carbon-fiber skeleton with a head filled with its on-board computer and sensors. The five micro-sized motors are strung along its backbone, and the entire skeletal structure has a silicone membrane stretched over it. A trio of roboticists at Caltech, led by Soon-Jo Chung, designed the Bat Bot capable of autonomous flapping flight. They unveiled it in the journal Science Robotics. At present, Bat Bot can perform only four main components of the movements of a bat’s wing—the shoulder, elbow, wrist bend, and the side-to-side tail swish.

According to Chung, his team had to give up the thought of simply mechanizing the flapping wings of a bat, joint by joint. They quickly understood the impossible task of incorporating all the forty joints in the design of Bat Bot, as it would only have resulted in a heavy robot, incapable of any type of flight.

After a careful study of a bat’s flight mechanism, including the biological studies documented by Dan Riskin of the Discovery Channel, the team tried to understand, among the 40 joints, those absolutely vital for the flight. Finally, they settled on a total of nine joints for the Bat Bot.

Although the Bat Bot is a sophisticated and advanced piece of machinery, it is still a very simple bat compared to the natural animal. For instance, Bat Bot does not have knuckles or joints in its carbon fiber fingers, and Bat Bot cannot actively twist its wrists that normal bats can do naturally.

Chung’s team had to make additional simplifications as well. For instance, the hyper-thin silicon membrane of Bat Bot has uniform flexibility, whereas the wing membrane of an actual bat has variable levels of stiffness in different places.

In spite of the above differences, Bat Bot does make elegant flights, almost indistinguishable from that of its biological cousin. While gliding through the air, Bat Bot has grace and fluidity, independently tucking and extending its wrists, shoulders, elbows, and legs.

Non-Toxic Batteries for Humans and Fish

Lithium-ion batteries are very popular nowadays, as everyone has one in their cell phones. Although people use batteries of a large variety of technologies and form factors, everyone wants one with high energy density, low weight and volume, superior charge/discharge characteristics, and low cost. The Lithium-ion chemistry is popular, as it tends to meet most of the above desirable characteristics, even though it has several variations.

However, some applications need batteries with unusual construction, form factor, and chemistry, those that the Lithium-ion battery will simply be unable to meet. Consider, for instance, the research under the guidance of Professor Christopher Bettinger, at the Carnegie Mellon University.

The CMU researchers are interested in developing edible, biocompatible batteries. They want to use non-toxic material already present within the body for parts of the battery, such as the acid in the stomach, which they want to use as the electrolyte. For this, the team has developed anodes made of manganese dioxide, already present in the body, and cathodes based on melanin, which the body contains as a pigment. They also claim to have developed other versions of batteries consisting of body-friendly materials.

The researchers are interested in developing body-friendly batteries where the electrodes can dissolve harmlessly within the body after use. Among the batteries the group has developed using different types of soluble cations, most have terminal voltages ranging from 0.5 to 0.7 volts. Although information is still sketchy, one battery was able to deliver about 5 mill watts of power for nearly 20 hours.

However, it is not only humans who need such special batteries. Fish too need batteries to power tracking devices, so scientists can follow their trail and understand how they migrate. For instance, researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have developed a battery small enough for injection, but powerful enough to enable tracking movements of salmon. This battery weighs only 70 mg, and has dimensions of 6×3 mm. It is handcrafted with several layers of rolled up material, thereby increasing the internal surface area, and reducing its internal resistance. The scientists have so far handmade over 1000 such rice-grain sized batteries, and implanted nearly 700 of them into fishes for powering tracking devices.

The tiny batteries supply enough power to send a 744-microsecond signal every three seconds for nearly three weeks, or every five seconds lasting over a month. That makes the average energy density of the batteries to be 240 WHr/kg. Compare this with standard silver oxide button microbatteries, which have an energy density of nearly 100 WHr/kg. So far, the scientists have not revealed how they made these measurements and whether the comparison is fair.

Making such small batteries comes with some peculiarly unique issues. One such issue is attaching leads for connection. The microbatteries from the Pacific Northwest have leads internally built in. However, it is not very clear how the researchers from the Carnegie Mellon University connect leads to their edible batteries, especially as the users of such special batteries do not have access to vendors for obtaining standard holders or connectors.

Seaweed For Making Superconductors and Supercapacitors

Seaweed, a kind of algae, and a part of cuisines in many parts of the world could be worked to supply power to electronics and other devices. Researchers have developed a material from seaweed to produce better superconductors, batteries, and fuel cells.

The research has been presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) on April 5, 2017.

Dongjiang Yang, PhD, a team member explains that carbon rich materials offer the most efficient energy storage solutions. Since the team wanted to use a green method for making superconductors, they chose seaweed, which is highly renewable as the base material. The scientists have intended to use seaweed extract as a template for fabricating a chain of porous materials that could be used to build the superconductors and energy storage solutions.

Although conventional carbon materials like graphite and graphene dominate the prevalent energy scenario, upcoming advances in storage devices could call for more sustainable materials. Yang, who is at Qingdao University in China, says that abundantly available seaweed could provide a more lasting solution in this regard. He has worked with colleagues in Griffith University in Australia and in Los Alamos National Laboratory in the US to devise a special kind of structure from the algae.

Egg-Box Structure

The scientists drew out porous carbon nanofibers from the seaweed extract by the process of chelating or binding. This process involved attaching cobalt ions to the alginate molecules of the seaweed. These molecules enveloped the cobalt metallic ions, which resulted in the formation of the nanofibers with a special structure resembling an egg-box. This structure contributes to the stability of the material so that the synthesis can be controlled.

Wide Range of Functions

Tests performed on the material showed that its reversible capacity is very high, around 625 mA hours per gram. This is much more than 372 mA hours per gram, which is the corresponding value for that of traditional graphite anodes used in lithium ion batteries.

Furthermore, the material performed as an efficient superconductor with a capacitance as high as 197 Farads per gram. This could be exploited in supercapacitors and zinc-air batteries. Tests also revealed that the performance of these egg-box nanofibers is as good as platinum-based catalysts used in fuel cells.

The scientists had first made public their findings on the egg-box structure in 2015. Since then they have been upgrading the technology involved. It is expected that there would be further improvements of the material.

For instance, the researchers explain that they have worked on the egg-box structure to reduce certain flaws in the seaweed structure that increased the motion of lithium ions. This helped to fabricate improved cathodes used in lithium ion batteries enhancing the performance.

In a more recent development, the researchers have forwarded a technique by which they have combined carrageenann, a variety derived from red algae with iron to prepare a carbon aerogel doped with sulfur. It has a very porous surface making for an extremely large surface area. The researchers say that this could be used very effectively in supercapacitors and in lithium sulfur batteries.

The researchers are now working towards commercial production of the seaweed-based devices.

How Vulnerable is your Raspberry Pi

The IoT revolution has brought with it many Internet-connected computing devices, including several Single Board Computers, such as the Raspberry Pi (RBPi), going beyond the traditional mobile devices, laptops, desktops, and servers. It is common to see on the network devices such as Internet radio, refrigerators, thermostats, DVRs, and TVs, apart from SBCs such as the RBPi.

As projects rush towards completion, Internet security is ignored, resulting in severe consequences—this is applicable to both commercial products and hobby projects. The online search for IoT security may reveal results suitable for commercial products, with a long intimidating list of requirements. However, the commercial arena has to deal with several regulatory consequences for security breaches. As the RBPi is a Linux computer system, security advices for larger systems apply to it as well.

Hobby projects on the RBPi are fine, but leaving your device open to an attacker will allow them to use it as a stepping-stone to attack someone else from your network. Moreover, there is always the possibility that you have some data on your device you would prefer to keep private. Therefore, you need some tools for your toolbox and some ways to think about circumventing the problem.

As all RBPis have the same default username and password, this is the first thing the attackers look for. Therefore, change the default password to something difficult to crack. Always keep the system updated, including all the packages installed. Use the commands “sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade” for Debian systems, and “sudo dnf update” for Fedora systems.

The security of your Raspberry Pi depends on what it does and what is on it. So you will have to figure out what is it that makes it a target. Attacks may come from different sources, such as an individual manually attacking your device, worms that automatically enter from the network, or viruses installed by someone operating the system.

In general, DIY IoT devices usually do not have medical or financial data, but possibilities do exist. However, there may be other type of data on the RBPi. Stored passwords may be used to attack other systems. The attacker may get access to a web interface that he/she could analyze for finding out more attack methods.

Other vulnerabilities on the RBPi can be the hardware under its control, the devices that it communicates with, or the information it displays. For instance, the attacker may take over the camera connected to your RBPi, monitor the network traffic if you are using your RBPi as a network router, display wrong messages, or vandalize the display. If not anything else, the attacker may take over your RBPi and make it a part of a botnet, or use it as an anonymous relay to attack other sites.

Using encryption for networked connections works very well—the RBPi is powerful enough to handle encryption. For instance, configure web servers to use HTTPS with SSL/TLS. For remote logins, use SSH. Use software packages for the encryption. That way, you will not have to learn to be a cryptographer, but always keep the key a secret.

How Does An All Solid State Battery Work?

At the University of Texas at Austin, a 94-year old professor of engineering and his team continues to work on their invention—batteries. John Goodenough, one of the inventors of the most commonly used batteries — the lithium-ion battery. At present, Goodenough is working on an all solid state battery, a low-cost cell that offers a long life cycle, fast discharging and charging rates, and high energy density.

According to Professor Goodenough, one of the reasons for battery-driven cars not being widely adopted is the drawbacks associated with the commercially available lithium-ion batteries. Among the factors he includes are safety, cost, energy density, life cycle, and the rates of charging and discharging of the battery. Goodenough is of the view the all solid state battery will address all these problems.

As the journal, Energy & Environmental Science describes it, the non-combustible battery has an energy density of nearly three times that of lithium-ion batteries currently in use. As an electric vehicle derives its driving range from the energy density of the battery cell, a higher energy density helps to propel the vehicle more kilometers between charges. The number of discharging and charging cycles that the UT Austin battery allows is also greater, and that equates to batteries that are longer lasting. Where the typical charging time for batteries in use today is in hours, the researchers claim their battery attains full charge within minutes.

The difference between the two types of batteries lies in their electrolyte. At present, batteries we commonly use contain a liquid electrolyte for transporting ions between their anode and cathode. When charged very quickly, metal whiskers or dendrites form on the electrodes, and these can traverse through the liquid electrolyte to form a short circuit. The result can result in explosions and fires.

The new battery replaces the liquid electrolyte with a glass-based one, and normal electrodes with alkali-metal anodes. According to Goodenough and his senior research fellow, Maria Helena Braga, this prevents the creation of dendrites, mitigating the hazard of short circuits.

Additionally, in the glass electrolyte, there is no lithium. Rather, the researchers have used low-cost sodium instead. Sodium is cheaper, as it can be easily extracted from widely available seawater. According to Braga, that makes the new batteries much more environment friendly compared to those containing lithium-ions.

Conventional batteries cannot use alkali-metal anodes with lithium, sodium, or potassium. However, this technology allows the new batteries to attain their high energy densities and longer life cycles.

Plummeting temperatures freeze up the liquid electrolyte, preventing normal batteries from operating in low temperatures. This has been a major obstacle in practical use of batteries. However, the all-soli-state glass electrolyte has no such drawbacks, and can easily operate down to extremely cold temperatures of -20°C.

Braga began working on solid-state electrolytes while still in the University of Porto in Portugal. She has been collaborating with Professor Goodenough and Andrew J Murchinson, another researcher at UT Austin, since two years ago.
The glass electrolyte simplifies fabrication of the battery cell, as it allows them to plate the alkali metals and strip them on both the anode and the cathode sides, without creating dendrites.

Is Chirp Microsystems Usurping UI?

User Interface (UI) is on the verge of a major shakeup as it was evident at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) this year. Leaving behind other UI interfaces such as motion, touch, and voice, touch-less is now looming large and lucrative as the new UI of choice for consumer devices. Touch-less means you can operate your device simply by waving your hands near it, without actually touching it.

The CEO of Chirp Microsystems, Michelle Kiang is of the opinion that the UI revolution has been bringing on constant consumer electronics breakthroughs. Chirp is offering a single-chip sensor working as a time-of-flight (ToF) ultrasonic unit, to allow users to interact with wearable devices even without actually touching their screens, or interacting with devices that work without screens.

Although the touch-less technology, based on ultrasonic sensing, is not yet ready to replace other existing UIs, Kiang is of the view that it will certainly add another level of modality to automotive, smartphones, AR/VR, and wearables.

Chirp Microsystems is a startup from Berkeley, California, with a UC Berkeley and Davis heritage. At the MWC, they presented the company’s first high-accuracy ultrasonic sensing development platform. As they have especially targeted the platform for wearables, it has ultra-low power consumption. The breakthrough by the team of engineers and researchers at the University of Berkeley and Davis—miniaturization of the MEMS-based ultrasonic sensor—formed the foundation of the startup.

According to Kiang, most smartwatches and other wearables suffer from small screen sizes that have limited surface, and do not work well with fat fingers. The MEMS-based ToF ultrasonic sensors embedded inside the smartwatch helps users with any type of fingers to use gestures. They can control the functions of the watch, even without touching the screen.

For instance, the wearable wristband has no space for a screen on it. That makes it powerless to interface with its wearer directly. However, the ToF ultrasonic sensor is tiny enough to be embedded within the band or even in a ring. Now, all popular wearable bands can interact with their wearers.

The ToF ultrasonic sensor from Chirp comes in a 3.5 mm package called Land Grid Array (LGA). According to the company, the chip operates on a 1.8 V supply, and is similar to a MEMS based microphone. Integration into consumer electronics products is simple, as the IC has an I2C interface.

Along with the MEMS ultrasound transducer, Chirp has also developed an accompanying mixed-signal CMOS ASIC. Then they combined both into a system-in-package, making it easier to use.

The on-board microprocessor with the ToF sensor works in an always-on mode for applications requiring wake-up sensing. According to the company, the pulse-echo sensing range is greater than a meter, but consumes only 9 µA, working at 1 Hz sampling rate.

After the transfer of the IP and the key researchers from the University to Chirp, including David Horsley, several PhD students and postdocs from the University have also joined Chirp. David Horsley was a professor at the University of California and Davis, in the department of mechanical and aerospace engineering, and is now the CIO at Chirp Microsystems.

Moving 3-D Sensing Into Smartphones and Vehicles

Chirp Microsystems, a new startup from Berkeley, California, has developed a new Time of Flight (ToF) ultrasonic sensing platform for use in wearables and Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR/AR) systems. They have selected some big customers to whom they have made available their development platform.

At present, the high-end VR/AR systems are typically confined to a prescribed space, or tethered to a base station. The limit comes from the requirements of additional equipment in the space for creating better tracking experience. Usually, the additional equipment is often a magnetic sensor or a camera-based system that can correct drifting by using the inertial measurement unit (IMU) within the head units of the VR/AR system.

Chirp has demonstrated they can embed their miniaturized MEMS ultrasound sensors within the AR/VR head unit. With the sensors in place, the user has a 360-degree immersive experience, as the tracking system moves along with the user. Supporting inside-out tracking, the ultrasound sensors from Chirp can have controllers or input devices working with six-degrees of freedom—offering 3-D sensing.

VR/AR systems already use the optical or camera-based system for tracking. However, the camera is only a 2-D device, incapable of providing any sort of depth information. Even to detect if objects have shifted from one frame to another, a camera needs to use the point cloud, while applying very complicated calculations.

On the other hand, ToF ultrasound sensors can easily detect 3-D movement. This is because the technology is adept at triangulating data easily, and simpler calculations demand much less power.

Although it is another option for 3-D sensing, infrared technology has limited use when the sensor is outdoors—the heat outdoors tends to wash out infrared sensing. However, ultrasound sensors are robust and consume low power, and able to perform well in VR/AR systems outdoors, even in the presence of a bright sun.

While using the ToF ultrasound sensors in VR/AR systems, Chirp hopes the low-end VR/AR systems will improve the interactive experience, and smartphones and vehicles can start using the untethered high-end VR/AR systems.

For instance, smartphones use infrared technology currently as a proximity sensor. This actually prevents the user’s cheek from dialing the phone by itself. However, this requires the smartphone to have a tiny hole for the infrared sensor embedded on the face of the smartphone.

According to Chirp, some smartphone vendors have shown interest in replacing infrared with ultrasound. This would improve the aesthetics of the smartphone by removing the tiny hole on the face of the phone. Additionally, the ultrasound sensors can also add features such as autofocus when taking selfies, and add simple gesture functions to the phone.

At present, vehicles use bulky ultrasound sensors, for say, backing up. Chirp hopes to replace them with its ToF ultrasound sensors. They can also use the sensors as a User Interface (UI) inside cars for infotainment systems. However, as automotive applications tend to use long design-in cycles, Chirp is keeping this in low-priority for the time being. Chirp is planning to ramp up production of its ultrasound MEMS sensors and accompanying ASICS later this year.

Stylus: The Future of the Electronic Pencil?

So far, people have been rather disappointed in using Electronic Pencils (styluses) for the purposes of taking notes on their smartphones. However, a new combination of the MyScript Nebo note-taking app and the Apple Pencil on the iPad Pro seems like a winner. This is really helpful to people who are coming up with ideas at odd times of the day, and have to look for a piece of paper and pencil to jot them down.

The trouble with the paper and pencil approach is eventually every hand-written note has to be laboriously transcribed to the word processor running on a PC. Additionally, a drawing program such as Inkscape or Visio must recreate any hand drawn sketches. Many also have the habit of capturing on paper random thoughts as they crop up in their heads, and later, going back to flesh things out, moving paragraphs around, deleting some, editing others, and adding new material. At the end, there is invariably huge amounts of crossing outs, intermittent notes, and forward/backward pointing arrows.

Presently, those with smartphones, capture their notes by typing things out at a snail’s pace on the soft keyboard, although some are adept at using the same keyboard at lightning speeds. However, the result is nowhere near those achieved with a piece of paper and pencil.

The Apple app store offers two apps free for use—the MyScript Calculator and the MyScript Nebo. You can use the calculator on your iPad by writing your problem using your finger or a simple stylus. Therefore, this becomes a handy app for those always doing simple calculations.

However, the MyScript Nebo app is different. It will not allow you to proceed unless you have an Apple Pencil. Although the Apple Pencil is expensive compared to other styluses available in the market, it is worth spending on this intelligent stylus.
Apple’s Electronic Pencil has a much finer nib than most other styluses do, along with pressure and tilt sensors inside. Once you have mated the stylus with your iPad Pro using Bluetooth, using the stylus becomes a simple affair—just detach the magnetic cap and insert the end of the pencil into the lighting connector on the iPad. A prompt will come up asking if you want to mate this pencil. Simply touch the ok button, and the link is established.

By scanning the signals from the pencil almost 240 times every second with almost zero latency, the iPad Pro achieves results that are close to actual writing with a pen on paper. One can think of this as using crayon or paint brush on paper, depending on the application. The app MyScript Nebo recognizes handwriting very efficiently, and it is much better than other handwriting recognition software available on the market. It also has a spelling correction feature, which works as you write.

A simple scribbling motion is all you need if you wish to delete a letter, sentence, or a paragraph. In the same way, inserting additional material is also possible wherever it is necessary. MyScript Neo is good at deciphering bad handwriting, and recognizing sketches. A simple eraser tool is available to rub out unwanted parts.

Redefining MEMS with 3-D Interactive Projection

At the Mobile World Congress 2017, Bosch introduced a combo of a micro-scanner and projector, capable of turning any surface into a virtual user interface. Bosch is the world’s oldest and biggest manufacturer of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), and in its combo projector, it is using infrared for scanning and laser for projecting.

Currently, engineers are using MEMS devices for a variety of gadgets, especially where a human-machine interface (HMI) is necessary. These include in-car heads-up displays, infotainment, medical devices, robotics, industrial equipment, and on the factory floor. With the new microscanner BML050, Bosch Sensortech has extended its portfolio to include optical microsystems. This move also expands Bosch’s market from being only a component supplier to becoming a system supplier as well.

To sense where the user has placed his finger on the projected interactive display, the new Bosch BML050 uses a combination on two MEMS scanning mirrors. One of the mirrors tracks the X-direction, while the other scans the Y-direction. Sensing the finger also makes use of an infrared laser and an RGB laser.

The integrated module for infrared, red, green, and blue (IR-RGB) is only 6 mm high, and is capable of HD resolution. The two MEMS scanning mirrors are capable of both projecting images as well as collecting the reflected light, thereby determining accurately where the user’s finger is touching the projected image. According to Bosch, this technique is adaptable to 3-D scanning as well, where they can apply time-of-flight calculations using the reflected light from an object.

A major advantage over Digital Light Processors (DLPs), the Bosch laser-based MEMS scanner is always in focus, even when the projection surface is uneven. According to Stefan Finkbeiner, the chief executive officer of Bosch Sensortech, DLPs require thousands of mirrors that need focusing, and the entire outfit is expensive.

At present, the reference design of the Bosch BML050, although containing all the technicalities for use in almost any application, is much larger than the expected OEM circuit board. Finkbeiner informs that despite this, customers are already integrating the BML050 into their products, and they will be in the market by Christmas this year.

The BML050 has a two-mirror system, with one hinged in the X-direction and the other in the Y-direction. The mirror system projects from the module, which measures only 6 x 24 mm, and uses 30-lumen lasers. This arrangement allows Bosch to alter the size when using low-power lasers, or when using high-power lasers for instance, for industrial sized images. The reference design for the BML050 contains all required drivers and processors. This includes ASICs for driving the mirrors, processing the video, managing all colors, managing the system and laser power with two PMICs.

According to Finkbeiner, the two-MEMS mirror architecture is very simple to integrate. Therefore, for the future, Bosch is planning to use a sealed module design after further miniaturization. The design will then be suitable for use in tiny gadgets such as for IoTs and smartphones. Very soon, you may find virtual human-machine interfaces on everything from toys to industry equipment on the factory floor, robotics, medical devices, and infotainment such as in in-car heads-up displays.

What is Special about the SkyX Drones?

SkyX is a drone maker from Markham, Ontario. This startup has some unique designs for industrial drones. For instance, the SkyOne drone of the company can take off and land without needing a runway. That is, its takeoff and landing is more like that of a helicopter, but in flight, the drone resembles an airplane more closely. In technical terms of the drone industry, the SkyOne has both Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) and fixed-wing elements, while flying more than 40 km on one charge.

SkyOne has a plethora of sensors and cameras on-board, enabling the drone to collect data about anything below it. It then sends the collected data to cloud-based applications for analysis. For launching and landing the drone, SkyX provides proprietary charging stations, which the company calls xStations. When the drone is not moving, the xStation closes a shell over the UAV, protecting them from theft, and charging them. The charging stations charge the batteries within the drone directly, rather than removing and replacing them.

Other drone producing companies such as Matternet allow their UAVs to land on charging stations, where their depleted batteries are swapped with fresh ones. Charging stations can be positioned along a route, giving the drone a virtually unlimited range. This scenario is likely to continue unless battery technology and other power systems improve significantly.
Didi Horn, the founder and CEO of SkyX, had earlier worked for the Israel Air Force. As he always wanted to develop drones and aviation for commercial use, he went in for the long-range UAV consumer market, where the demand was huge, and the products scarce. According to Horn, the world already has millions of kilometers of oil and gas pipelines, all at the risk of leaks and/or terror attacks.

The oil and natural gas industry faces its biggest challenges when inspecting its pipelines for leakages or damages. Its critical infrastructure can be difficult to monitor, especially when the lines cover several kilometers, often crossing inhospitable terrain. For instance, the Internal Energy Agency claims the expenditure on pipeline monitoring alone costs energy companies more than $37 billion every year.

Initially, SkyX is targeting the energy industry, since its UAVs and charging stations can then be configured to cover long distances from one pumping station to the next along pipelines carrying oil and gas. According to Horn, the drones can also cover vast farms carrying acres of solar panels installed on them. Likewise, the UAVs can also be used for inspecting wind turbines installed in remote areas. As the xStations are capable of plugging into typical electrical outlets, they can be connected to solar panels or any other freestanding generators as well.

While the drones being used in the field today have some features still under development, SkyX is working with several energy companies for conducting pilot projects and safety tests in the US. Although the drones can fly autonomously, the company has to secure permissions for flying beyond the line of sight of human observers on the ground.

In the long run, apart from improving the efficiency, energy companies may find using drones from SkyX to be less expensive.