The fact that Skydio is resuming drone production, after several months of virtually everything being in coronavirus COVID-19 shutdown mode, is music to our ears.
Skydio is an American robotics and artificial intelligence company based in California.
It was founded in 2014 by Adam Bry, Abe Bachrach, and Matt Donahoe, who met while attending the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Skydio launched its first product, Skydio R1, in 2018, and what differentiated the Skydio R1’s from other drone consumer products, was the company’s focus on autonomous flight, that is, its ability to fly without the need of a pilot. In addition, Skydio R1 utilizes 13 onboard cameras to understand and navigate its environment while filming a subject.
The Skydio 2 is one of the most talked-about, but least seen, drones on the market today, and it has become very popular due to its impressive subject tracking, which makes it possible to fly autonomously while filming the subject of a video.
The Skydio 2 became somewhat elusive since the company became overwhelmed with orders for equipment. The lockdowns that took effect in California in March made it difficult for Skydio, which was already contending with a production backlog before the coronavirus COVID-19 attack.
Because China has basically recovered from the pandemic, DJI’s factories are back producing new, popular drones, such as the Mavic Air 2.
China has become the global hub for drone manufacturing in the past six years. About 70% of the global civilian drone market is supported by China, which had about 1,200 drone manufacturers in the beginning of 2019, a very impressive increase from 130 manufacturers in 2013.
The drone industry is helped by the Chinese government, which clearly sees the tremendous potential of the positive place that drones already play, and will play in the future, in their society. Therefore, the government is providing various subsidy schemes, and other favorable domestic policies, for drone purchases to promote the adoption of drones in various industrial sectors. However, Skydio is back ready to go online.
According to a company spokesperson:
“We’re stoked to be able to start shipping drones out to our loyal (and very patient) customers.”
This newer innovative company is getting back to offer products that will surely interest drone customers as they compete with rivals, such as Autel and DJI.
Future
The fact that Skydio, this innovative and futuristic robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) company, is resuming drone production, is very encouraging, and it makes us hopeful that our government will become more aware of the contributions drones are already making, and, like the Chinese government, provide favorable domestic policies that promote the adoption of drones in various industrial sectors.
