Autonomous flight specialist Wonder Robotics has announced a US$4m (£3.3m) funding boost, which will be used to launch its new autonomous flight landing solution.
The company claims the current technology for operating drones beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) is lacking, which limits the ability to provide safe, autonomous drone flights and makes commercialisation expensive.
In response, the firm has developed its WonderLand solution, which reportedly provides precise autonomous landings and can be installed on any drone.
By clearing landing zones in real time, Wonder Robotics claims the solution can support emergency autonomous landings in unprepared, uncharted and unattended sites.
Wonder Robotics’ smart safety layer was designed to include vertical awareness and robust precision landing, which should safeguard the drone beyond the operator/mission manager’s line of sight.
In cities and built environments, this can help prevent collisions with people and infrastructural obstacles such as trees, cables and buildings.
“We are thrilled to take part in the drone revolution, by partnering with major industry players leveraging on our technology to launch their commercial multi-drone operations,” said Idan Shimon, co-founder and CEO of Wonder Robotics.
“Since raising the seed round, we have partnered with Spright, Air Methods’ new drone division, helping it realise its mission to improve access to urgently needed medical supplies for healthcare providers.”
According to Wonder Robotics, its technology is suited to commercial package delivery, infrastructure inspection, mapping and advanced urban mobility for people.
Its vision is to expand its offering to include horizontal situational awareness for navigation, obstacle detection, avoidance and safe precision landing in the event of denied GPS.
