Marlborough’s American Robotics has become the first company approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to operate automated drones without human operators on-site.
This approval is a pivotal moment for the drone industry, according to a release from the company. Prior waivers and certifications awarded by the FAA required human visual observers stationed along the flight path to keep eyes on the airspace at all times, or required other restrictions such as infrastructure masking.
The FAA’s approval for American Robotics will be the first drone technology allowed to continuously operate without human observers. The company’s Scout System features acoustic Detect-and-Avoid technology that enables its drones to maintain a safe distance from other aircraft.
“With this set of approvals, American Robotics can begin safely operating our automated Scout platform for the benefit of the energy, infrastructure, agriculture, and security market verticals,” Reese Mozer, CEO and co-founder of American Robotics, said in the release.
Each Scout drone lives within a weatherproof base station, which enables autonomous charging, data processing and analysis and data transmission. Once installed in the field, all facets of Scout’s operation are automated, according to the company.
