I’m a college student who recently worked on a project to develop a micro aerial vehicle swarm capable of autonomy in GPS-denied environments. While my team didn’t fully achieve our goal, we did manage to build a drone that navigates with agility using only visual and inertial data. I’m considering continuing this research to make the drone smaller and more practical.
My question is: How realistic would it be to create a startup around this technology? I have great contacts with PhD students who specialize in this field, but I know very little about business or the drone industry. Is this kind of technology already widely available? Would it be a waste of time to pursue? And aside from military applications, who else might find this useful?
The Department of Defense (DoD) might have interest in this technology. You should look for government bid opportunities that align with your project. If you find a relevant opportunity, reach out to your PhD contacts and collaborate on submitting a proposal.
Governments in the EU and US are investing heavily in non-Chinese drone technologies. Even creating something similar to DJI drones but fully independent of Chinese parts could be a major business opportunity.
A good starting point would be reverse-engineering DJI drones to understand their visual-inertial odometry, reliability, mechanics, and sensor placements. If you can replicate this level of quality and control the entire supply chain domestically, you could be incredibly successful.