Who, what, when, whir of high tech
Annual AUVSI Xponential trade show features drones, robots, and autonomous maritime and car advances
Did you notice a strange whir of activity coming out of the Colorado Convention Center on Tuesday? Drones had taken over the parking lot’s rooftop for the annual AUVSI Xponential trade show.
“We’re flying from the roof of a parking lot for the first time. This is Class G airspace where that’s allowed because the airport is so far from the city.” said Brian Wynne, the president and CEO of the nonprofit Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International that organized the show. “We also have a very large cage inside the hall for the drone racing. Those things move very, very fast.”
The annual business event, which also features robots and autonomous maritime and car technology, has tapped into a growing industry that has its hands in construction, public safety, oil and gas, mining and defense. A big focus on this year’s show is public safety.
But drones seem to be the highlight of the show, thanks to popular manufacturers such as DJI and Intel, as well as Colorado’s budding commercial drone industry. In the state, the group UAS Colorado helped get Federal Aviation Administration approval in 2015 to test drones in the San Luis Valley to fly up to 15,000 feet above sea level. That has since spurred business activity
and research, including flying over the Great Sand Dunes to study the shifting sand.
“What’s happening here in the state … we’re seeing the adoption of unmanned technology in a commercial context with agriculture, construction and public safety,” Wynne said. “This is a state where there’s a lot of collaboration required to make things work right, and that seems to naturally fit with what we’re doing.”
Xponential targets business users, but Wynne said curious consumers were welcome to check it out and even fly a drone themselves. The trade show ends Thursday.