Started joint development of a "graffiti erasing drone" with US startup company GRAD. Young Silicon Valley entrepreneur wins competition with professional drone

Prodrone Inc. (Headquarters: Naka-ku, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, President and CEO: Masakazu Kono, hereinafter referred to as "Prodrone") is pleased to announce that its Americas sales subsidiary, Prodrone Inc. (Mountain View, California, USA), will jointly develop a "graffiti eradication drone" with GRAD, a startup company based in San Jose, California. The jointly developed "graffiti eradication drone" will be developed domestically by Prodrone. Actual operation in the United States is scheduled for sometime in 2018. [Background] Caltrans (California Transportation Authority), which manages roads in the city of San Jose in the United States and the state of California, has long been burdened with the high cost of removing illegally painted graffiti on road walls, overpasses, bridge piers, etc. To address this issue, the city of San Jose collaborated with Innovate Your State, a non-profit organization that uses technology to improve government operations, to hold a contest called ``Unleash Your Geek'' to find solutions to remove graffiti from city streets. GRAD, led by Chris Farmer and Candace Mulberry, was chosen from among 140 companies to win the contest. The solution proposed by GRAD was to develop a graffiti eradication drone using ProDrone's PD6-CI-L wall-mounted drone. San Jose Mayor Sam Ricardo, presenter of Unleash Your Geek, commented at the announcement event held on September 13th, ``If this graffiti erasing drone becomes a reality, we will be able to reduce traffic control and the cost of erasing graffiti, which costs about $60,000 (approximately 6.7 million yen), so I have high hopes for it.''

Presenter San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo

Mr. Chris Farmer of GRAD (left photo) explaining about the Pro Drone aircraft.

Explaining the concept of graffiti erasing drone using a professional drone aircraft

Introducing the video of Prodrone PD6-CI-L

■Unleash Your Geek概要

Sponsored by

: Nonprofit organization Innovate Your State / City of San Jose

Competition agenda

: Presenting a solution to effectively erase illegal graffiti on roads etc.

Date

: September 13, 2017

Venue

: Hammer Theater, San Jose, California, USA

Number of companies applying

: More than 140 companies

Official website

： Contest URL / サンノゼ市ニュースリリース / サンノゼ市長室URL

■本件のお問い合わせ先

株式会社プロドローン

Responsible

：営業部　松永

Email

：press@prodrone.com

TEL

: 052-950-1278

Fax

: 052-950-1277

Location

: 16th floor, Sakatane Sakae Building, 2-4 Shinei-cho, Naka-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 460-0004