At CES there were lots of UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), also known as drones or Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA). However, I didn’t see any AAVs (Autonomous Aerial Vehicles). Two key areas that will require further technology development are: longer-life batteries and autonomy systems.

ETRI (Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute)

They were showing a huge x8 multi-rotor platform designed for remote-sensing applications.

Fig. 1:

Volt Spider by Safeus Drone

They were showing a prototype of their UAV for inspection of high-voltage power transmission lines.
Apparently it can land on the cable and grasp it. It also has inductive charging.
Website: www.safeusdrone.com

Fig. 2: The Safeus booth.

Fig. 3: Close-up of the grasping mechanism.

CX-180 Reveal ONE by TTRobotix (Thunder Technology Co. Ltd)

An unmanned, electrically-powered helicopter with a payload for thermal imaging and detecting human vital signs.
Website: www.ttrobotix.com

Fig. 4:

SurV by Radii Robotics

This is advertised as an indoor, autonomous security drone.
What’s interesting is that it looks like a UAV with a big TV screen.
Website: www.radiirobotics.com

Fig. 5:

Fig. 6: Radii Robotics

360Fusion by Leti (CEA Tech)

This research institute was demonstrating their anti-collision software for drones, by flying a little micro UAV inside a dome.
It looks like the small drone has 6 proximity sensors facing in 6 different directions.

Fig. 7: The dome at CES.

Video: Interview and demo. CEA Leti

SolarDrone by National Taiwan University

They were showing videos of their solar-powered quadcopter.
Website: ntu.edu.tw/~lincf/

Fig. 8:

Flying Screen by Arquimea

They have developed a light-weight, LED based screen that can be used outdoors and potentially attached below a drone.
At their booth they showed a screen consisting of 3 vertical sections, hung side-by-side.
Website: www.arquimea.com

Another company, NTT Docomo recently announced they have developed a spherical flying screen:
www.nttdocomo.co.jp/media_center/pr/2017/0425_00.html

Fig. 9:

Drone Interactive

They are developing drone-based, interactive games for amusement centers.
Website: www.drone-interactive.com

Fig. 10:

Eyesee

Apparently this is the “first autonomous drone for warehouses”.
It reminds me of the Parrot drone, but it’s designed for inventory checking in warehouses.
Website: www.eyesee-drone.com

Fig. 11:

Yamaha

They were showing two UAVs designed for industrial or agricultural purposes.
The “YMR-01” is electrical and has 8 rotors. It’s design is something between a hexacopter and an x6.
The “FAZER R” is a gasoline (petrol) powered helicopter.

Fig. 12: Signage for their drone display.	Fig. 13: YMR-01
Fig. 14: Fazer R	Fig. 15: Fazer R

D-02 by XDynamics

They were demonstrating their D-02 x8 multi-rotor, designed for professional cinematography or industrial purposes.
Website: www.xdynamics.com

Skeyetech – Azure Drones

They had on display a quadcopter painted in camouflage, designed for surveillance purposes.
Website: www.azurdrones.com/en/

Fig. 19:

UpAir by SGI (Shenzhen Gten Innovation) Technology Co. Ltd

SGI were showing their UpAir photography drone, which looks quite similar to DJI’s Phantom drone.
Website: www.upairdrone.com

The following website has a comparison between the SGI UpAir and DJI Phantom:
www.halfchrome.com/upair-one/

Fig. 20:

Autel Robotics

An orange-colored photography drone that looks similar to the DJI Phantom.
Website: www.autelrobotics.com

Fig. 21:

Wingsland (Shenzhen Wingsland Technology Co. Ltd)

This company sells various orange-colored drones. Their “Minivet” is similar to the DJI Phantom.

Fig. 22: The Wingsland booth.	Fig. 23: The Minivet (left/right) and K3 (center)
Fig. 24: Minivet drone.	Fig. 25: K3 drone.

Yuneec

The “H520” is an orange-colored drone for industrial purposes.
The “Typhoon H Plus” is a hexacopter designed for professional photography. They had a custom Typhoon fitted with some “Rugo” spotlights, by Foxfury Lighting Solutions (Fig. 28).
Website: us.yuneec.com

Falcon 8+ by Intel

This octocopter has a no-nonsense design with the rotors arranged in two rows. It can carry imaging payloads like a full-size SLR camera.
Website: www.intel.com/products/drones/falcon-8.html

Fig. 29:

Hercules 10 by DroneVolt

This company has various products, such as a tethered quadcopter for surveillance.
The “Hercules 10” is a x8 multi-rotor with a high-pressure sprayer for agricultural purposes.
Website: www.dronevolt.com/en/

Fig. 30: The Hercules-10 high-pressure spraying drone (right).

DJI (Da-Jiang Innovations Science and Technology Co. Ltd)

One of the most well-known companies in low-cost drones.
Website: www.dji.com

Fig. 31:

AerialTronics

Their “Altura Zenith” is a x8 multi-rotor designed for industrial inspection.
The “Pensar” imaging payload combines a Sony HD camera with 30x zoom, FLIR Boson thermal camera, NVidia Jetson GPU, OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and object recognition using deep learning.
Website: www.aerialtronics.com/en/

Fig. 32:

Volocopter

They are working on an electric multi-rotor designed as a personal transportation device.
So far they have demonstrated vertical take-off and hover (with human passenger), and a pilot-less takeoff and short flight.
Website: www.volocopter.com/en/

Fig. 33: