# Automated Drones for Utility Inspections - Event: Xpress ’23 - Published: June 21, 2023 - Length: 8:38 - Watch: https://nestgen.org/library/watch/9PGuB-5FkyE/ > The transcript of a recorded NestGen session, for reading or for use with an AI tool. It comes from the video's > captions; automatic captions can mishear names and terms. ## Transcript **[0:00]** [Music] [Applause] [Music] hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of NestGen Express we are here with the CEO of unmanned vehicle Technologies or uvt Mr Chris Fink Chris welcome to the show thanks for having me Jason appreciate it absolutely it's going to be a fun this is going to be a good one I just know it I just know it I feel it so let's get to it because you guys do a lot with uh utilities and you do a lot with a lot of other vertical markets we'll talk about utilities for a second so how do automated drones fit into the broader trend of digital transformation that's happening in the utility industry and what role do they play in enabling the collection and Analysis of large volumes of data that's a great question I mean it's top of mind for everybody digital transformation is not new drones are pivotal to that drones and Robotics right not just in the air in the ground the water the sea everywhere underground in pipes and tunnels Etc um I think that they're I think **[1:02]** they're pivotal I think honestly in the next couple of years they're going to become almost a requirement for this this digital twinning you know sort of a lot of everybody's going after right we could set a drone out humans don't have to be involved obviously with proper waivers but once you once you alleviate that human component they're going to be critical to everything right they're going to be uh sending a drone out to do a solar array inspection that data then automatically gets uploaded no human involvement at all yeah maybe even the data crunching by like Raptor Maps or picks or whoever else grown deploy you remove that human element not just removing it I guess but reallocating it right so that human resource and moves to that work that that o m guys doing or the gis work and somebody else is doing they're not having to worry about oh but I swap my batteries or my battery's dead do I need to get a new drone is my doc working um and then also you take all the camera technology right you're able to create actual replica digital information of assets so you create some station maps and to create TD transmission distribution asset inspection right create those models to then just take further action on that data **[2:04]** you know drones aren't sexy anymore nobody cares about the hardware it's about that data right what's that deliverable going to be and drones are the key to getting that deliverable I'll be still my heart yes no drones are cool um but the data is the sexy part I 100 agree with you um so a serious question so like so how do we address the potential for drones to become sentient during automated utility inspections and start exhibiting behaviors like boredom curiosity or even a sense of humor are we ready for drones with personalities uh what scares me more is the robot bug that was just walk in the room I get asked all the time with our robot about 10 can you just kind of give it a kick one does it do if you kick it and I tell it I'm like listen at some point the drought the robot's gonna kick back and I don't know I don't want it to do that drones don't get tired they're going to fight longer than I can fight um I do think it's interesting though because you know even just watching a solar array from a doctor own after 10 20 rows my eyes are just like I'm you know blinking really quickly but the drone's **[3:06]** just out there doing it and I think that's truly it's a great question I think truly that's the benefit of a drone right you get that same deliverable every single time it's not going to get bored it's not going to get tired it's not gonna hopefully not gonna fight back it's gonna go back home do its dock through whatever system you're using go to sleep wake up again the next day and go right back to work and do the exact same thing absolutely so I mean you go home to the misses you know maybe put like a mini drone in there yeah no they could like watch the movies with the kid yeah if it's props you know Netflix and chill yeah yeah of course motor arms for a little bit take a load off absolutely absolutely it's probably one of the most fun interviews hopefully so let's see so how is another question so how can automated drone technology be integrated it into other smart grid Solutions it's a pretty big keyword in the utility industry smart grid such as iot sensors or Advanced data analytics to create a seamless and holistic utility management system I'm actually curious about this that's a great question I wish I had all the answers some thoughts at least a bazillionaire that would be a good jillionaire you're not sure **[4:07]** if that's bigger or smaller but it's going to be a lot of money uh no I think it's critical right so you've got scada systems already out there at use stata is kind of one of those keywords it's all about mitigating your you know Sadie and safety metrics so you've already got these systems out there if you know my Ozarks electric shout out they're my local Cooperative um if if my power goes out of my house they probably already know about that now they may not know what coal is down for it was a swirl that got fried it was a lightning storm whatever but they know generally speaking this whole neighborhoods without power um it's going to be critical to take that data that they already have maybe refine it a little bit put it to a different language and then send it to that drone Dock and say hey drone I've got an outage in this radius go to me where that outage is is it a swirl that got fried is it a yeah is there a pull down Etc and you can combine that with other Imaging systems right we've got a lot of substations have thermal and visual cameras already installed right now they're being monitored only if necessary but what if that camera was used to then trigger something and say hey there's an intruder send out the robot dog hey there's a you know I'm sensing a **[5:07]** heat signature on the other side of the substation what is that yeah so integrating all of those things to create that smart grid to once again reallocate the human resource and and really kind of refine how we're spending our time the human time to make that grid that infrastructure that asset more safe and efficient absolutely I think Effectiveness efficiency those are words that come to mind when you thought about smart grid and the integration of all this iot because drill is still just an iot device if I'm just the right way absolutely so it goes back to the 3DS right those dangerous or dirty we know how to do it we got to make it efficient exactly that's why we have robot dogs look at it that freak out regular dogs it was a regular dog here and it was a barking the hell out of it like I don't know what that is so another serious question so in the context of automated drones for utility inspections um can you share some of the weirdest or funniest drone names that you've come across I don't know something like Sparky or Ziggy Stardust drone we've got we've had a couple I would say sparkle farts was one of the best ones also alerts red five **[6:08]** which would be a Star Wars fan red five yep and then supreme leader now of course that's the m300 because it's the leader of the mothership uh we've had death star from one of our doc names obviously yeah Chief Docker all kinds of things so yeah there's some that I won't say publicly but I think you know who you are I think we do okay uh as as the adoption of automated drones for utility inspections continues to grow what opportunities and challenges do you see for collaboration between the utility companies drone manufacturers and all the other stakeholders to further Advance this technology yeah I mean where do I start right yeah like honestly this event at exponential here in Denver is a great example I mean you see end users you see Partners you see business owners you see industry experts you see influencers such as yourself we already had that conversation I didn't get an invite to the influencer party but maybe next year uh yeah so we see all these people walking around right understanding hey this Market is huge if you've never come to one of those shows and **[7:09]** you're just a utility guy and you just go to work and you do your own M work or whatever you may not realize all the different options that are out there true it's absolutely critical for electric co-ops energy generation companies construction companies to send your people out there go go spread your wings and fly walk swim whatever it is and find the drones and robots and cameras and parts and servos and iot devices that work there's got to be that collaboration there and then we also can have siled information right we find that a lot in government where you've got police is doing one thing and fire might be like oh that's cool but I'm not going to talk to it about it but I'm gonna go I'm gonna do it myself we can't have that Silo especially we we all need power we all know what that's like there's no real competition and something they're going to go and convince me to move to a different house and because the other co-op's cooler although Ozarks go is pretty awesome but I'm just saying you've got to have that collaboration and you got to share all your resources don't reinvent the wheel learn from each other make the industry better and then we're all going to be the jillionaires kajillionaires you heard you hear a vote we're all going to be cajillionaires so I **[8:13]** hope that's going to be amazing for all of you Chris this has been a great interview had a lot of fun thank you so much for joining the show I look forward to the next episode because that is my last episode for the day um but that being said this has been a great show great conference exponential day two NestGen estrian Express this is uh gonna be a FlytNow TV you'll be able to catch it out after the conference and we'll catch you on the next episode bye now