Drone technology has (forgive the pun) taken off in the last decade. These now-ubiquitous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are being used by industries across the spectrum from entertainment to archaeology.
They’re becoming an increasingly common sight on the horizon – giant turbines towering imperiously over open countryside as wind power is embraced as an effective alternative to fossil fuels.
But wind turbines need regular maintenance. They are exposed to extreme conditions including lightning, UV radiation, snow, hail, and storms, which can damage them and affect their performance.
Can you imagine spending eight hours a day navigating muddy paddy fields in hot and humid environments, carrying heavy solution in a backpack sprayer to protect one hectare of rice? This is the hard reality of the average rice farmer in Asia.
For employees and the facility at-large, an experiment with Koch Disruptive Technologies portfolio company Percepto is transforming mundane routine tasks into cutting edge tech
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A team of entrepreneurial tech enthusiasts have helped launch an initiative that is elevating inspection and safety programs at Koch Fertilizer’s largest production facility.
The six-employee team in Enid, Oklahoma, began operating autonomous drones over the 500-plus-acre facility in February (one of the largest fertilizer production plants in North America). The program is designed to alleviate monotonous, difficult and sometimes dangerous — but required — tasks by automating them, says Mike Kleis, vice president of operations and plant manager.
Staying ahead on digitalisation and innovation has been a priority of the CLP Group in order to meet the fast-evolving needs of energy users. In its latest Sustainability Report, CLP highlighted the important role of technologies in strengthening the Group’s business and operational resilience amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
The world’s package delivery leader is also a leader in the emerging, potentially high-margin delivery-drone field. UPS’s Flight Forward unit is partnering with health care systems and others in North Carolina, Virginia, and Utah to deliver patient samples to labs, prescriptions to patients, and supplies to hospitals. Delivery by drone is up to 10 times as fast as by van, as the unmanned aerial craft fly past traffic jams. And since they don’t choke roadways, drones help reduce CO2 emissions.
UPS is exploring a range of solutions to make deliveries within cities more efficient and with zero emissions, including with electric bicycles and tricycles. We launched our first eBike delivery pilot in Hamburg, Germany, in 2012. Today, we are working on more than 30 urban logistics projects in cities worldwide.
By Janet Ooi, IoT Industry Solutions and Marketing
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The world was not prepared for the pandemic. Never before has the entire world experienced such strange times. Working and studying from home has now become the new norm. The world is desperate to find a cure for this pandemic. Scientists are working hard to find the best treatment options, while “scientist-wannabes” are coming up with a variety of hoax measures to treat the global pandemic— everything from sesame oil, vinegar gargles, and sheep's head soup to garlic water. You name it.
When Marcus Ramirez joined INVISTA Victoria as a fixed equipment inspector 10 years ago, he knew what to expect on the job. Scaling scaffolding to assess equipment high above the ground. Boating across a 130-acre containment basin. Juggling a heavy schedule of inspections. All in a day’s work. But he never expected his resume would one day feature the phrase “FAA-certified drone pilot.”