SiaSearch Blog Top Computer Vision Startups Developing AI for Drones

Artificial intelligence gives machines the ability to interact in an intelligent way. Pairing computer vision models with state-of-the-art drone technology enables these machines to simultaneously capture and process aerial data in real-time.It's no surprise that a large number of drone startups have sprung up in recent years. AI-powered drones provide value across a wide range of sectors, including agriculture, defense, surveillance, construction and more. Drones have become key tools for everyone, from firefighters to farmers. In this blog post, we at SiaSearch have collected a list of the most innovative computer vision startups building AI for drones.AI-Powered Drone StartupsAgricultureDrones have revolutionized the agriculture industry by helping farmers cut costs and enhance efficiency. With the ability to quickly survey hundreds of acres of farmland, drones are able to map properties, report on crop health, monitor livestock and much more.Based in Cape Town, South Africa, agri-tech startup Aerobotics combines aerial imagery obtained from satellites and drones with proprietary ML algorithms to provide early problem detection. Among Aerobotics' offerings include AI-enabled pest detection, disease detection, drone imagery services, orchard and yield management.Aerobotics Precision Agriculture PlatformHummingbird Technologies is another company that provides aerial imagery capturing and insights to the agriculture industry. The company claims to cover 34 million data points per hectare, providing rich image processing and data analytics. Hummingbird Technologies' drone operators conduct site surveys, capturing and uploading data to the cloud before it's processed using proprietary computer vision models. Users can access this rich data via their web or mobile platform.Airlitix makes machine learning-enabled drones for greenhouse management. The San Jose-based startup provides drones that can fly around greenhouses to collect data on temperature, humidity and carbon dioxide levels to ensure that plants are growing in an optimal ecosystem. In addition to taking measurements, Airlitix drones analyze soil and crop health to ensure plants grow disease-free.LogisticsFast and accurate data collection is particularly important in logistics. While rolling robots can provide inventory counts of goods stacked on store shelves or grocery counters, warehouse racks store goods far too high for their line of sight. That's where drones come in.Pensa Systems is an Austin-based startup that provides shelf intelligence using a combination of computer vision and drones. The system aims to help retailers minimize stockouts, optimize product planning, and increase overall revenue. The company claims that it has recognized more than three billion CPG product images with more than 98 percent accuracy.Founded in 2017, Gather is a software company that works with off-the-shelf drones to automate warehouse inventory management. With Gather, drones use computer vision to fly themselves, use cameras for localization, can detect and read barcodes, and can even take the temperature of inventory to monitor if stock has gone bad.Public SafetyFor several years, police departments and public safety agencies have been using drones to help search and rescue missions, disaster response, crowd monitoring, and more.Houston-based startup Paladin offers a solution that dispatches drones to disaster scenes in a matter of seconds. The company also recently announced the release of its Knighthawk drone and its Watchtower software package, which work together to allow first responders to obtain overhead video of crime and other emergency scenes.DroneSense is another software platform that takes raw data captured by drones and turns it into actionable insights for emergency teams. The DroneSense OpsCenter lets multiple drone users monitor drone activity, tracing flight patterns in real-time to combat a variety of public safety threats. Today, DroneSense also helps SWAT obtain scene intelligence, assessing damage after natural disasters and locating missing individuals.ConstructionFinally, drones have multiple applications in construction, including asset tracking, monitoring, and structure inspection.Bay Area-based construction startup TraceAir employs drones to collect imagery of construction sites, enabling supervisors to remotely monitor projects and track progress over time. The startup's cloud-based platform offers a variety of features for construction companies that can reduce waste, minimize errors, and better communicate in order to increase project efficiency.TraceAir Routing ToolSimilarly, Indian startup Huviair provides software solutions to improve construction productivity. They utilize drone data and a cloud-based productivity platform to help construction companies visualize, analyze, and optimize various construction stages. This enables construction projects to adhere to faster timelines, as well as reduce reworking.Defense, Security & SurveillanceDrones are also highly capable in surveillance, and are already in use by the military, government entities, and law enforcement. For example, Nightingale Security is a fully-autonomous drone solution with proprietary drone-infrastructure technology and a first mover advantage in aerial robotic security.Similarly, Shield AI has developed a deep neural network-based system to create a fully autonomous drone for battlefield applications. Equipped with "Hivemind" software, Shield's UAVs communicate with each other to quickly discover surroundings and identify individuals in emergency situations and assist law enforcement and military personnel in reconnaissance missions.Infographic: Computer vision startups developing AI-powered dronesVisual Data Management for Drones & UAVsCompanies that build AI-powered drone technology are constantly building and growing their ML training datasets. Today, most computer vision teams have to rely on internal tools or manual solutions.SiaSearch makes it easier and faster to access and select highly qualified training data, helping you build better AI-powered drones at lower costs. 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