Spright and Wonder Robotics completed a series of test flights in Pendleton, Oregon, with the WonderLand vertical autonomy solution for safer autonomous drone delivery.
Pendleton, Oregon: April 21, 2023 – Spright was ready to test their medical and healthcare drone delivery service in challenging weather conditions. Despite the wind and clouds at Pendleton’s airfield, the Spright ops team was determined to execute a complete delivery mission with the WonderLand vertical autonomy solution fully integrated into their WIngcopoter 198 drone. This technology would enable Spright drones to perform their mission autonomously with optimal safety and security, reducing risk to people and structures, on the ground and in the air. With fewer people needed to operate them, Spright drones could offer more reliable and affordable service, even in diverse weather and light conditions.
Wonder Robotics, an Israeli company specializing in vision-based autonomous solutions for drones and eVTOL, successfully completed its first delivery to Spright drones, providing its innovative, vision-based, vertical autonomy solution called the WonderLand. The WonderLand applies advanced 2D semantic algorithms and 3D geometric analysis during vertical flight to provide drone services with capabilities like robust precision landing. This is achieved using multiple layers of trackers’ algorithms that back up each other in real-time, ensuring highly-reliable autonomous landing that works flawlessly in any light conditions. Additionally, the WonderLand gives the drone advanced vertical awareness for low-altitude missions and performs vertical “detect and avoid” for dynamic and static obstacles such as trees and power lines. If the drone’s communication channel or GPS is lost during flight, the WonderLand offers a reliable contingency plan. It can operate in strong winds and gusts and performs edge computing SLAM, providing an accurate and reliable real-time backup to the GPS.
The Wonderland Vertical autonomous solution is designed to connect seamlessly with any commercial drone; increasing its level of autonomy and increasing Spright’s service robustness. WonderLand’s full autonomy helps lower operating costs and optimize the process for more widespread implementation, making drone services, such as deliveries, more economically feasible.
“The WonderLand technology is a key element of our fleet safety and reliability, and we are excited to now have it implemented on our aircraft,” says Spight’s president, Joe Resnik. “Our strong partnership with Wonder Robotics is a testament of our safety-driven mentality and commitment to operational excellence.”
“We are proud to support Spright’s drone service delivering greater access to healthcare for the American public; Drone autonomy is the main enabler for a scalable, safer, and affordable drone operation, working closely with Spright, our partner, to prove it both to the customers and the regulators,” said Idan Shimon, CEO and co-founder of the company.
About Spright
Spright is based in Gilbert, Arizona, and is a division of Air Methods. Applying cutting-edge technology and an innovative service model, the company offers streamlined and sustainable drone-based solutions to overcome the everyday challenges of ground transport operations.
About Wonder Robotics
Wonder Robotics was founded with the goal of optimizing the commercial viability of drones through the use of cutting-edge vision base technology, resulting in safer and more dependable operations. Based in Israel with offices in Syracuse, NY, USA, the company boasts a team of world-renowned experts in the fields of drones, robotics, navigation, and 3D visual applications, with extensive experience serving both commercial and military markets.
