Airobotics Drones Survey $1 Billion Israeli Port Project

Israeli drone provider Airobotics is improving its home country’s coastline, partnering with a major construction developer to survey a new seaport in Haifa.

The startup will work with Shapir-Ashtrom – a joint venture of construction and civil engineering companies, Shapir Civil and Marine Engineering Ltd., and Ashtrom Properties Ltd. – to develop Gulf Port, a $1 billion port project “intended to further develop Israel’s coastline areas and increase maritime traffic and international commerce.”

Airobotics drones survey reclamation areas and monitor breakwater construction and stockpile measurements covering the 810-acre complex.

“We’re proud to take part in the largest port construction project in Israel, and continue to reach more complex industrial environments,” said Ran Krauss, CEO and Co-Founder at Airobotics. “This partnership is another step on our way to leverage the automation technology we’ve created to benefit any industrial site around the world.”

Krauss explains:

“Within eight hours of drone mission completion, Airobotics delivers orthophotos to the customer, on a daily basis. Airobotics produces high-resolution aerial visuals from data that’s automatically collected and measured using hundreds of thousands of surface points to create an accurate visual model, instead of traditional humanly operated surveying techniques that measure only hundreds of points.”

Airobotics’ automated, autonomous drones streamline workflows, eliminate logistical overhead, increase response times and data acquisition pace. “Airobotics’ full automation overcomes limitations posed by manually operated drones, by having the capability to fly at high altitudes, without maintaining a line of sight, and interfering with construction infrastructure,” a company statement notes. The drones can survey up to a 3-mile radius in short missions under 45 minutes.

“Drones are the future. Utilizing Airobotics’ automated drones in this project proved to be an efficient choice, and I’m certain that this valuable tool is innovating the way we operate in construction sites,” said Ofir Uzana, Senior Project Manager at Shapir Civil and Marine Engineering. “We managed to build a very reliable working mechanism using Airobotics’ system, that shows results in almost real time, which is a huge achievement.”

The partnership is yet another victory for Airobotics – the firm scored in a successful funding round last year of $32.5 million led by BlueRun Ventures China, as well as Microsoft Ventures, OurCrowd.com and another strategic investor.