3D Robotics Launches Line of Mapping Drones

Right on the tail of last month’s IRIS+ announcement, drone manufacturer 3D Robotics announced on Tuesday two more UAV platforms, both designed for industrial mapping. The Aero-M and X8-M are equipped with a Canon SX260 visible-spectrum camera but the payload system is modular so the drones can be outfitted with a variety of sensors and cameras.

But the payload is just a part of package. With the Aero-M and X8-M, 3D Robotics has created an end to end data-gathering solution that includes programmable, automated flight, live-stream data capture and post-flight image-processing software (developed by Pix4D).

The Aero-M and X8-M will provide data acquisition solutions to industries such as agriculture, construction, mining and land and resource management.

Both drones have starting prices of $5,400 and start shipping at the end of the month. You can preorder yours here.

For more on these two new platforms, check out the intro video and read more at 3DR.com

Alan Phillips

Alan is serial entrepreneur, active angel investor, and a drone enthusiast. He co-founded DRONELIFE.com to address the emerging commercial market for drones and drone technology. Prior to DRONELIFE.com, Alan co-founded Where.com, ThinkingScreen Media, and Nurse.com. Recently, Alan has co-founded Crowditz.com,  a leader in Equity Crowdfunding Data, Analytics, and Insights.  Alan can be reached at alan(at)dronelife.com