Our investment in vHive
A change is in the air. Unmanned aerial systems (i.e. drones), typically associated with hobbyists, are now accelerating towards in-house enterprise adoption. The commoditisation of drone hardware has led to widespread adoption within several industries such as telecommunications, insurance, agriculture and construction with large enterprises looking to automate dangerous, manual and time-consuming tasks. Regulators are trying to move quickly to keep up with the advances oiling the wheels for their rapid adoption.
These developments have paved the way for exciting activities within the software space, which include mission planning, data capturing, image processing, data analytics and collaboration. Mass adoption by the enterprise however, will require a software platform that makes drone deployment easy to use, frictionless, autonomous and scalable. To us, this means a software solution that enables enterprises to digitize their field assets and operations using multiple autonomous drones. This is where the vHive platform is unique.
The cloud-based platform that vHive has developed allows enterprises’ field operations to plan workflows. Non-expert field employees can deploy autonomous off-the-shelf drones, whether that be a single drone or multiple drones that work together dynamically. Changes in the field environment and mission progress are tracked and the mission is reconfigured as it progresses. This capability is key to the scalability of the platform. In the past, a cellular tower site inspection, for example, would require an employee to climb the tower with heavy equipment attached, while taking random pictures of the asset. vHive’s software solution enables the tower company to equip their field personnel with low cost, off-the-shelf drones to safely inspect their towers from the ground.
The mission output is naturally the most important part for the end users. Given the large amount of accurate data generated from these missions, customers seek a high-quality data analytics platform that removes the need for separate analysis or a separate analytics platform. vHive has really built a platform with the enterprise at its heart.
Ultimately, we look to back exceptional teams at Octopus and vHive is one of these. Their impressive execution and early traction bears testament to the strength of the team’s background and experience, technical and commercial, with each member bringing at least ten years of relevant technical expertise. As unashamed drone geeks, they are as keen on autonomous drone hive algorithms, as they are on building solutions for industries like telecommunications, insurance and construction.
We are thrilled to be joining vHive on their journey towards the mass commercial adoption of their software solution using autonomous drone hives. This won’t just be a futuristic spectacle, but a powerful implication for the accurate, safe and efficient harnessing of data which will provide a shared ground truth for asset-owning enterprises.
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