
Gimball drone. Photo Credit: interestingengineering.com
With all the talk about drones lately, especially Amazon’s drone, I thought this would be cool to mention. Today, I want to introduce you to Gimball! The collision tolerant drone!
There is always a learning curve when first piloting a drone. You may not be as good as you think when you keep knocking into things. The last thing you really want is to watch your drone engage in a mid-air collision, but for Gimball it is it’s main selling point. Described as the first “collision tolerant drone” it won $1 million at the Drones for Good international competition held in Dubai.
It was created by Swiss company Flyability and it utilizes a rotating spherical outer cage that means it can be used safely in close proximity with people. Designed to enter hostile environments such as burning buildings and radioactive sites, Gimball maps its surroundings and can roll across ceilings and floors, navigate restricted areas, and transmit RGB and infrared images back to disaster relief services. Surrounding the multi-axis gimbal system with its built-in camera is a carbon fiber outer cage that absorbs the shock of any collisions and the gimbal system means that the cage can roll about independently of the camera.
Check out the video below!