Top Three Drone Winners Announced at Commercial UAV Expo

In the electric utility industry, drones often play a major role in overhead maintenance inspections and storm response situations. Here's a look at what's going on with the latest drone technology at Commercial UAV Expo, an event that gathers 4000 commercial drone professionals and 200+ UAS solutions providers from around the world.

ANRA Technologies, FlytBase, and Aerial Vehicle Safety Solutions (AVSS) were selected as the three winners in the annual “Pitch the Press” session at the commercial drone trade show and conference held at Caesars Forum in Las Vegas. The event features more than 150 UAS experts discussing the most innovative technologies and urgent issues impacting the industry.

Each year, Commercial UAV Expo hosts “Pitch the Press,” an opportunity for exhibitors to present their products to a group of editors and reporters looking for the most unique new technology being showcased at Commercial UAV Expo. Seventeen exhibitors were selected from a large pool of applicants to share their new product or service during the one-hour event. Each exhibitor gave a two-minute elevator pitch to members of the media, followed by a short Q&A.

This year’s judges included Miriam McNabb, Editor in Chief at Dronelife, Brett Davis from Inside Unmanned Systems, and Jason San Souci host of the “Do You Know Drones?” podcast. During “Pitch the Press,” these judges listened to two-minute pitches from a company representative. They then evaluated the presentations, looking for innovation and potential for ROI, to select the top three.

The winners are:

Aerial Vehicle Safety Systems (AVSS): The judges were impressed by AVSS’ Guided Delivery System, which enables drones and other aircraft to deliver supplies to difficult, austere locations. AVSS’s presentation explained how the Guided Delivery System has been adopted by customers for when a delivery location cannot reliably and safely be reached by traditional methods. Commenting on AVSS’s presentation, Dronlife’s Miriam McNabb said, “they presented practical use cases, and they showed that there is already a market for the system.”

ANRA Technologies: ANRA was recognized for its Mission Manager X (MMX), which enables end-to-end drone mission management, covering every aspect of drone operations from pre-flight planning to post-flight analytics. The MMX is a complete enterprise drone operations management solution that is drone agnostic and can integrate 90% of commercially available systems, including drone-in-a-box solutions. According to Brett Davis, the MMX demonstrates how ANRA “is leading the market in what’s happening in traffic management in the U.S. and in Europe.”

FlytBase: FlytBase was chosen for its enterprise-grade drone autonomy software platform. Designed to fully automate aerial data collection workflows, the platform allows users to conduct scheduled and repeatable BVLOS drone flights using docking stations, all controlled from their remote command centers. Commenting on FlytBase’s selection as one of the three winners, Jason San Souci said, “FlytBase has done a very good job of creating an agnostic, open, and scalable platform.”

"The energy and activity that we saw leading up to and at Pitch the Press was truly unprecedented,” said Carla Lauter, Content Manager for Geo Week News, who served as the moderator for the event. “This year’s winners reflect the importance of the practical implications of drone technology. It is inspiring to see how of these solutions can make sense for operators and organizations in the present and future."

Below is a complete list of companies that took part in Pitch the Press: