How VR helped to showcase a fleet of autonomous drones
Summary
In 2018, Bell preempted the technology-based disruption that has shaken so many other industries by moving into the tech sector itself, positioning an innovative, mobility-as-a-service business model at the heart of its offering. “We use the Vicon system to basically emulate GPS indoors,” said Casey Hanner, a hardware and software innovation engineer at Bell. As part of Bell’s strategy to position itself in the tech sector, the team was presented with an even bigger challenge - to replicate the setup with a ‘Nexus City’ at CES. This scaled-down smart city was to be the centerpiece of Bell’s presence at the largest technology show in the world, complete with a fleet Nexus 4EXs flying autonomously, nonstop, all day long, around a volume filled with replica buildings. We had confidence that the feedback the vehicles were getting was accurate and precise.” With the success of the CES show behind them, the Intelligent Systems team is back at the lab refining AerOS, and its drone/mocap operation has followed the arc of all novel technologies.