Delft startup AeroVinci receives €300,000 investment from investment fund UNIIQ and Delft Enterprises. This was announced during the TUS Expo in The Hague.
AeroVinci is working on the development of a fully autonomous drone network. The investment will allow this to be expanded and the technology to be tested extensively.
Flying without a drone pilot
AeroVinci is a spin-off of TU Delft and is working on the development of the so-called 'DroneDock' technology. This technology allows drones to take off and land fully autonomously, process data, recharge and perform other specialised operations. With this updated technology, a drone pilot is no longer needed, which could bring major financial benefits.
In September last year, AeroVinci launched a prototype hybrid drone. Depending on sensors, the drone is capable of flying distances of up to 22 kilometres and up to a maximum time frame of 42 minutes.
Eventually, the DroneDock aims to let drones autonomously determine when to leave the station to carry out scheduled missions.
"The drone must be able to take off and land very precisely vertically because it operates from a ground station," AeroVinci's Jochem Wieringa explained earlier. "It has to perform long-distance flights as efficiently as possible. Therefore, we combined the vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capabilities of a quad with the range of an aircraft. Integrating the rotors into the wings makes flying the drone safer. In addition, the W-shape allows the drone to manoeuvre well."
Inspection of agricultural land
AeroVinci focuses on agriculture in particular with its DroneDock. The technology allows farmers to inspect their land from the air and get immediate advice on targeted deployment of irrigation, fertilisation and pesticides. This ensures higher yields per hectare and lower costs.
Wieringa: "We are very happy with this funding. It shows that our vision of making large-scale deployment of drones affordable thanks to full autonomy is endorsed by investors."
UNIIQ is investing in AeroVinci because it sees great potential in the 'DroneDock' technology. "Drones represent a huge untapped market. The problem is that every drone currently requires a human pilot," said Liduina Hammer Fund manager of UNIIQ. "Thanks to AeroVinci's technology, human intervention will become unnecessary, allowing the drone market to accelerate. We are delighted to add another company with pioneering technology to UNIIQ's investment portfolio."
"TU Delft is among the world leaders when it comes to innovations in the field of drones," said Paul Althuis, Managing Director Delft Enterprises. "We are delighted to see that technology that originated at the university is now finding its way into successful applications such as those developed by AeroVinci. This also further strengthens TU Delft's position as a technological forerunner in the drone field and we are happy to invest in that."
By: Kelly Bakker
Photos: © Marc Verhees / daniel@verkijk.nl
