Flyability launches new Elios 2 caged drone

Flyability has unveiled the Elios 2 - a new caged drone which is ideal for indoor inspection, helping you access hard-to-reach and dangerous areas safely and quickly.

This new aircraft builds on the success of the first Elios, boasting new intelligent flight handling and improved data-collection capabilities to help you make critical maintenance and certification decisions.

Flyability says that the Elios 2 is 'the most intuitive, reliable and precise indoor inspection drone'

The Elios 2 also brings to market many other features including a thermal camera, shockproof payload, Full HD live video feedback, distance lock, 2D measurements, 3D modelling, a modular design for easy maintenance and a completely redesigned software suite that streamlines data management for planning to reporting.

The Flyability Elios 2. Picture from Flyability

Key Features of the Elios 2

Some of the key features include:

• Designed For Indoor: Collision-resilient; Shockproof payload; Confined space accessibility; Robust wireless transmission.

• Intuitive To Fly: GPS-free stabilisation; Distance lock (ranging from 1ft to 6ft autonomously to help perform inspections); Full HD live streaming.

• Data Quality: Close up inspection; 4K camera; Thermal camera; 180° tiltable camera pod; 10K Lumen; Adjustable lighting; Dustproof lighting; Oblique lighting; Obstruction-free.

• Data Processing: Streamlined data management; 3D modelling; 2D measurement.

The Flyability Elios 2. Picture from Flyability

Flyability has reinvented collision-tolerance transforming a formerly passive mechanical protection design into active intelligence built into the flight controller and motors of the Elios 2.

Complemented by seven vision stability sensors pointing in all directions to provide GPS-free stabilisation, Elios 2 makes airborne indoor inspection accessible to everyone.

Features include 4K and thermal cameras, distance lock, Full HD live streaming, adjustable lighting and 3D modelling capabilities

With its 4K camera optimised for rendering images with a resolution of 0.18mm/px at 30cm, Elios 2 provides the level of detail professional inspectors would get by standing at an arm's length of objects of scrutiny.

The thermal and 4K cameras on the Flyability Elios 2. Picture from Flyability

The Elios 2, which has a maximum flight time of up to 10 minutes, also features the most powerful and intelligent lighting system ever built on a commercial drone. It produces 10K Lumen of light for increased situational awareness in large spaces. The Indirect, dustproof lighting configuration allows traversing dirty places without losing sight of the objective.

Flyability Elios 2 provides the right amount of lighting whether you need to see the big picture or the tiniest crack. Picture from Flyability

Finally, detecting pitting and cracks has never been easier; Elios 2 features an oblique lighting mode to reveal the texture of surfaces by creating shadows in all asperities. Coming together, these features turn the Elios 2 into an inspection tool fit to carry on regulated inspections.

'The Ultimate Indoor Inspection Drone'

Adrien Briod, Co-founder & CTO of Flyability, said: "In developing Elios 2 we asked our users to challenge us. With their critical feedback, we went back to the drawing board to design, from the ground up, the ultimate indoor inspection drone they had dreamt about.

The Elios 2 allows users to access hard-to-reach areas from a distance, keeping your workforce out of harm's way - increasing safety in the process

"The result is an intuitive-to-fly drone fitted with an unobstructed 4K camera that can hover in place to spot sub-millimetre cracks. It performs reliably in GPS denied environment, in dark, dusty and troubled airflows, beyond line of sight, and particularly in places that no other drone can access."

The Flyability Elios 2. Picture from Flyability

Since the launch of its first Elios platform in 2016, Flyability has quickly become the industry leader in remote . To date, more than 550 Elios drones have been deployed at over 350 sites to inspect critical infrastructure for industries as diverse as power generation, mining, oil and gas, and chemical, even operating in radioactive areas of nuclear plants.

Patrick Thévoz, CEO of Flyability, said: "While Flyability’s expertise is in drone technologies, we are really in the business of keeping people safe and reducing asset downtime.

Since the launch of the first Elios platform in 2016, more than 550 Elios drones have been deployed

"At the heart of Flyability products lies collision-tolerance. It is the true enabler to gathering data in the intricate and hostile places where our customers are searching for insights."