Pioneering Precision: SmartDrone’s Commitment to the Future of Surveying

In an exclusive interview with Rob Cammack, CEO of SmartDrone, a trailblazer in the drone manufacturing industry, insights were shared on the company’s journey, its innovative solutions, and the future of commercial drones in a changing global landscape.

Discovery 3

Founded in February 2020, just before the world ground to a halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic, SmartDrone faced unprecedented challenges as a startup. “It was really a lot to work through for a startup when you were locked down and couldn’t really access your customers or get your engineering team together in a physical location,” Cammack explained. Yet, these challenges also birthed unexpected opportunities. Supply chain disruptions prompted the company to enhance in-house development, significantly strengthening its manufacturing resilience.

SmartDrone, based in Tyler, Texas, prides itself on its three main business divisions: manufacturing, services, and soon-to-launch data processing. Their flagship product, the Discovery 3 integrated LiDAR platform, was developed closely with land surveyors to ensure it meets their specific needs. “We interviewed over 50 land surveyors during development… it’s the easiest platform for a land surveyor. They can learn it in less than a day, be doing jobs that day, and create their own deliverables the next day,” Cammack noted.

The Discovery 3 is designed to handle 50 acres per flight, streamlining land surveying significantly. Combining LiDAR with high-resolution cameras, SmartDrone has developed a comprehensive tool that delivers detailed and accurate data efficiently.

Innovations in Service Offerings

SmartDrone also offers bespoke service packages tailored to their client’s needs:

• LiDAR Launch: A basic package that includes simple LiDAR data collection, suitable for straightforward surveying tasks.
• LiDAR+Ortho Ascent: An intermediate package that provides both LiDAR data and orthophotos, offering a richer set of data for more complex projects.
• LiDAR+ORTHO+Linework Journey: The most comprehensive service, including data collection, orthophotos, and detailed line work for complete project analysis. This package caters to clients requiring intricate detail and precise measurements.

Nearly all SmartDrone customers become repeat clients, a testament to the efficacy and value of these packages. These service offerings are designed to be user-friendly, ensuring that clients can easily integrate drone technologies into their workflows effortlessly.

Discussing the state of the commercial drone industry, Cammack highlighted the anxiety permeating the market due to geopolitical tensions, particularly the U.S. blacklisting certain non-compliant companies like DJI. This situation, however, has opened doors for American drone companies. “It’s nothing but up and to the right growth for the drone industry, and I’m glad that there’s plenty of American drone companies that will very soon be able to meet the demand regardless of the political situation,” he asserted.  Seeing the rapidly evolving geo-political situation, Cammack trademarked “The U.S.A Drone Company” at the founding of the company.  To bolster the marketing theme of SmartDrone, he added the marks, “Collect. Process. Deliver.” and “YOUR DRONE DEPARTMENT”.

“Our Professional Services Division helped surveyors in 32 states last year” Cammack reports.  Looking ahead, SmartDrone plans robust growth across the United States, aiming to become the go-to name among land surveyors for drone services. While currently focusing on the domestic market, future expansions into Canada and Mexico are on the horizon as demand grows.

For more information about SmartDrone and their innovative solutions, visit their website at smartdrone.us.

Tags: Drone, SmartDrone

Categories: UAV, Xponential

This entry was posted on Friday, May 3rd, 2024 at 8:18 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.