To find out what inspires their interest in UAS and attracts the Advisory Board Members to support Drone World Expo, we scheduled a series of exclusive interviews. Our eighth interviewee is Colin Guinn, SVP Sales & Marketing at 3D Robotics.
Colin, how did you get started with DJI? Were you a hobby flyer at the time?
I’d been flying for fun for a long time, and taking aerials for luxury homebuilders. But the real beginning for me was when I decided to start my own company, Avean Media, where I designed and built my own autonomous helicopter systems and gimbals for use in real estate photography and later in professional filmmaking. That early experience with Avean is really where most of my expertise comes from, because I had to learn it all for myself, literally from the ground up—I’ve just applied that and continually built on it, in the industry, as a serious pro and also just as a guy who loves to fly and film for fun.
Between DJI and 3D Robotics you’ve acquired an enviable experience of the domestic drone market. Could you give us an estimate of how many are flying in the US at present, and how many could that be in say, 3 to 5 years time?
It’s probably impossible to say for sure, because so many hobbyists out there have been building their own. Today, well over 100,000—that’s a very conservative estimate. In 3 to 5 years, it’ll be well over a million.
What new technologies will we be seeing next year?
Industry-wise, you can surely expect others to follow our lead with more advanced and easy forms of automatic cinema. Also look for more developments in situational awareness, things like sense and avoid—that’s becoming increasingly important. On the macro level, we’ll probably start to see some viable models for air traffic control for drones, and perhaps refinements in delivery, as well as other components like cameras and battery energy density figures.
How do you rate the FAA’s approach to integrating UAS operations into the NAS? Are they being too cautious?
I used to worry about it more than I do today. The reason is that this year the FAA has been opening the valve on their section 333 commercial flying exemptions—on Jan 1, 2015, there were 12 out there, I believe, and now there are over a thousand. (Quite a few for 3DR vehicles, by the way.) Plus the FAA has listened to the industry and is conducting research with what they’d once considered more radical operations, like Beyond Visual Line of Sight flying, which is crucial to things like railroad inspection, delivery, agriculture, and is actually quite safe and efficient with the technology out there today. Most importantly, they’re paying more attention to the smaller class of UAVs—that’s the sub-2kg consumer class of drones called “micro drones,” which Solo fits into. I really really hope they pass sensible legislation that regulates micro drones differently than the bigger and much more dangerous and risky aircraft. I can’t stress how important it is they get that right—for consumers, but also for safer commercial operations and faster innovation. But I’m more confident that we’ll see reasonable regulations than I was at this time last year.
There’s been an explosion of interest in exhibitions and conferences about UAS in the USA this year. Why did you choose to support Drone World Expo?
This is a serious conference, without the hype or fluff. Serious players are involved at the top level, with serious issues discussed at the conference and use case level. High impact leaders and some of most influential people in drones will meet here, and they’ll learn and teach and make valuable connections; I’m confident it’s a conference that will help advance the industry, where people will get things done.
[UAS Vision is an Official Media Partner for Drone World Expo – Ed.]