One of the many things I’ve done in my life is cofounding a drone/sensor startup, which is developing quite nicely. I won’t actively promote it on steemit, but just share from time to time some personal memories.
This was one exciting day: I was browsing stuff from Las Vegas’ 2015 CES (Consumer Electronics Show) and I found an article claiming that the best keynote speech was the one given by Intel’s CEO Brian Krzanich.So, I start watching the video.
At some point, the man introduces a prototype drone with indoor self-navigation capabilities and they start a live demo. That’s a hot topic for my company, so I pay attention. Towards the end of the demo, Krzanich emphasizes the drone’s vertical obstacle avoidance capabilities. I then pay even more attention, and…
You know when you think you got a glimpse of a friend in a crowd, and you did not expect it? That’s more or less what happened.
I watched the video a second time. Then, I was sure. The showcased drone mounted one of our sensors on its base, facing downwards, using it as a high-performance, high-precision altimeter.
Our infrared sensor enabled the drone to move smoothly but swiftly up and down when flying over a sound-absorbing carpet, which is something well beyond the capabilities of a standard ultrasound sensors.
So, I quickly checked this out with the marketing people in our company, and indeed, that was one of our sensors.
It’s good when big CEOs showcase your stuff (and they are probably not even aware of doing it…)!