NEWS PHOTO IAN SORENSEN
Sterling Cripps, vice-president and chief operating officer for the Canadian Centre for Unmanned Vehicle Systems, holds an Aeryon Scout, built in Waterloo, Ontario.
Andrea Klassen Medicine Hat News
The most surprising thing about the Aeryon Scout is how light it is.
The unmanned vehicle, comprised of a dome about the size of an average soup bowl surrounded by four propellers, weighs less than a bag of flour, can fit in a carrying case the size of a suitcase, and sells for about $45,000.
“It's a fully autonomous, self-flying helicopter,” explains Sterling Cripps, vice-president and chief operating officer for the Canadian Centre for Unmanned Vehicle Systems (CCUVS). “It'll do the work for you without you having to know how to fly.”
The Scout is one of several vehicles included in CCUVS’s unmanned vehicle training courses, which it runs across the country.
Because the unmanned vehicles are lightweight, quick to set up and, in some cases, require minimal flight knowledge to operate, Cripps says they’re ideal in situations where quick aerial surveillance of a scene is needed — such as a fire, or a crime scene where hazardous conditions prevent law enforcement from immediately entering an area.
Set up three years ago, CCUVS aims to connect this innovative technology with civil and commercial groups across the country. It has already run successful training programs in Medicine Hat, with another set to start this April.
CCUV's helicopter just one example of new technology
In the summer, Cripps and the Aeryon Scout will head to Toronto to train the Halton Regional Police on the technology, and he’s hoping to do similar programs in Edmonton and the Maritimes.
While unmanned vehicles are a common part of military training operations, Cripps says little work has been done on their domestic uses. Transport Canada has yet to set up regulations for flying them in populated areas, and applying for the special certificate needed to operate them is a complex — but largely unstructured — process.
"They (Transport Canada) don't have anybody embracing this and holding it close,” says Cripps. “So that’s why we do this.”
In addition to its training programs, the centre is working with the government to set up regulatory standards which would make using the technology easier. Cripps is also working on a training manual that will cover the basics of operating an unmanned vehicle, as well as basic air safety and knowledge.
CCUVS’s headquarters, located at the Medicine Hat airport, also play home to a research lab. Technology officer Fady Khaled says the centre works with universities, colleges and law enforcement groups across the country to produce cutting-edge robots.
One project for the Calgary Police Service — known in the lab as Spot — uses a 360-degree camera to seek out and monitor hazardous conditions. Another experiment uses
42 — REPORT ON SOUTHEAST ALBERTA 2010 ■ Celebrating our Community
sonar technology to “see” its surroundings as it explores.
“Our project is to build a robotic infrastructure,” says Khaled. “And this infrastructure would make it easy for a business starting out in the unmanned area to come in and say ‘okay, this is what I actually need to build my robot.’ ”
Cripps says that while the unmanned vehicle industry is still in its early stages, there’s already a lot of excitement about the technology’s commercial capabilities. In addition to law enforcement concerns, the aerial devices — which are equipped with cameras — could be used for everything from pipeline surveys to film-making.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120