U.S. Made Heavy Lift Drone: RMUS Partners with Watts Innovations

The industry leading Rocky Mountain Unmanned Systems (RMUS) has partnered with the Baltimore, Maryland based industrial drones specialist Watts Innovations. The duo are collaborating on the Watts Innovations PRISM, a U.S. made heavy lift drone solution, in order to provide sales, support, training and payload integration in North America.

Featuring a unique modular design, the PRISM enables the end-user to choose between a traditional quadcopter and an X8 coaxial configuration for heavy payload options of up to 25 pounds. With its rail-based mounting system, the PRISM allows for the payloads to be installed on the top or bottom of the platform. The Pixhawk-based flight control system makes use of a custom user interface designed for ease-of-use and in-flight capabilities. The PRISM also features standard and NDAA-complaint ground control station options.

U.S. Made Heavy Lift Drone Platform for Industrial Grade Payloads

“Our customers have been asking for a U.S.-made drone platform to carry sophisticated industrial-grade payloads like thermal cameras, LiDAR systems, optical gas imaging cameras, etc,” says RMUS founder and president JT Von Lunen. “We are very excited to leverage the core competencies of RMUS and Watts Innovations to bring these turnkey PRISM solutions to market.”

“We are happy to work with RMUS for payload integration and direct customer support as we continue to focus on designing and manufacturing the best aircraft possible for the American market,” says Bobby Watts, founder and owner of Watts Innovations. “The team at RMUS is absolutely fantastic and we believe that they will be providing an incredible amount of value to customers looking to purchase a turnkey package with our aircraft. This is just the beginning.”

Industrial inspections are a major sector for the drone industry.  RMUS has been developing payloads for the PRISM platform since mid-2020. Following a long testing and quality control process, RMUS now has several turnkey PRISM packages to offer, including the RMUS Powerline Inspector Drone®, RMUS High Resolution Mapping Drone, RMUS LiDAR Mapping Drone, and RMUS Optical Gas Imaging Drone.

“We see huge potential for these PRISM-based solutions in lots of industries,” adds Kevin Toderel, general manager of RMUS Canada. “We are excited to get the PRISM into our clients’ hands and to continue to develop new options for future use-case scenarios that we have yet to discover.”

Ian attended Dominican University of California, where he received a BA in English in 2019. With a lifelong passion for writing and storytelling and a keen interest in technology, he is now contributing to DroneLife as a staff writer.