The COVID-19 crisis has led to many changes in the industrial sector. It has particularly accelerated the use of robotics in industrial operations. This transition from manual to robotic technology has increased the demand for autonomous surveillance drones.
VECROS is one such autonomous drone-producing company that builds flying machines with a 360-degree object avoidance feature even in GPS-less environments. Launched in 2018, VECROS is an AI-based drone-technology startup that facilitates industrial inspection using autonomous drones, thereby eliminating manual monitoring requirements.
Rewinding a few years back
Besta Prem Sai, an IIT Delhi engineering physics graduate, began working on drone technology in 2016. He and a couple of friends from his college formed an aeromodelling club at IIT Delhi to train and build drones to compete in competitions.
Eager to learn more, he enrolled in a design innovation fellowship at IIT Delhi to study drones. That’s when Prem realized there was a major issue with drone navigation. Any interruption in the GPS connection can cause the drone to fall, collide with an obstacle, or fly away uncontrollably. Prem was determined to build a drone without GPS. He also wanted to automate drones and reduce manual intervention. So, in 2018, he co-founded VECROS with Rajashree, a Nagpur’s Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology graduate.
At present, Prem is the CEO of VECROS and an engineer with a strong interest in building robots and drones. He has helped to build VECROS from the ground up and established the processes and structure of the high-functioning and productive team.
“Our drones complete the task in less time at a faster speed. Inaccuracies in data collection are also reduced due to autonomous planning. With autonomous drones, the need and budget for training pilots also reduced considerably.”
Besta Prem Sai ,CO-FOUNDER,CEO
ATHERA- VECROS’s intelligent, futuristic product
VECROS specialises in drone inspections with visual assistance. “Athera,” a product of VECROS, is a 4G autonomous drone with AI on the edge that provides cognitive insights to the human remote operator and provides excellent value by making the drone easy and safe to operate. Athera can avoid obstacles in all directions in 3D space, making it highly durable, and it can also fly in environments without GPS. VECROS provides real-time detection, tracking, and following to the designated location using AI on edge technology.
It also provides services to numerous businesses, including inspections and surveys of power lines and electric grids, inspections and surveillance of mining sites, oil and gas industries, chemical industries, etc. Athera is an autonomous, intelligent drone that requires minimal human involvement. This extremely potent tool can be utilised in various ways, including surveillance, security, navigation, and planning.
What lies ahead?
The company is planning to grow a solid employee base by recruiting talent in a few months. It is also planning to reduce the drone’s size and increase its efficiency, thereby increasing its appeal to even more clients.
There are many industries where VECROS can play an important role. This will help private and government companies reduce risk and cost and increase productivity, time, and efficiency. For customers, it’s ten times faster and 30 times cheaper than the other market players.