Developed the world's first "water-air combination drone" - The drone flies autonomously to the inspection location, enabling remote underwater inspections -

Image of how to use this machine

Main unit

KDDI, KDDI Research Institute, and Prodrone have developed the world's first ``hydro-air combined drone'' (hereinafter referred to as this aircraft), which is equipped with an underwater drone (child unit) capable of video transmission and positioning using sound waves, on an aerial drone (master unit) that autonomously flies to inspection locations, with the aim of saving labor and ensuring safety in inspections of dams and port facilities, monitoring of fisheries fishing grounds, etc., and completed technology demonstration on May 31, 2021. In recent years, labor shortages have become a serious problem in the fields of aquaculture and water infrastructure inspection due to factors such as the declining birthrate and aging population. While the demand for underwater drones that can support underwater operations is increasing, conventional underwater drones require a ship to be sent to the inspection site. By utilizing a smart drone platform, this aircraft autonomously flies to the inspection location without launching a ship, and after landing on the water, the underwater drone is separated, allowing for remote underwater inspection. In the future, it is expected that new markets for drones will be created in fields such as work in lakes and under the sea. The three companies will conduct demonstrations for each application during fiscal 2021, and will proceed with development with a view to commercialization in fiscal 2022. For details, please see the KDDI announcement materials. https://news.kddi.com/kddi/corporate/newsrelease/2021/06/10/5181.html