Almost everybody has experienced at least one neighbor down the street that cracks open a couple of cold crispy boys after work, flying his amateur drone over every single house around the neighborhood and late into the night. Besides television tropes on robotics, it’s this kind of nuisance or invasion of privacy that unfortunately comes to mind when a lot of people think about drones. But there’s a handful of companies leapfrogging over all the misconceptions to deliver some pretty groundbreaking and revolutionizing services. These are the 5 of the Hottest Drones/Robotics Startups in 2018.
Saildrone
Working with governments and private companies around the globe, Saildrone designs and manufactures wind and solar powered autonomous surface vehicles that they call, you guessed it, Saildrones. Not only does the autonomy make cost-effective ocean data collection possible at scale, they’re literally collecting these huge high resolution ocean datasets because of it to help with so many environmental things, like more accurate weather predication for example.
Starship
The latest project from Skype co-founders Janus Friis and Ahti Heinla, Starship is out to revolutionize how packages are delivered by replacing delivery drivers with drones. Amazon may have their flying machines, but these guys have what are essentially boosted remote control cars. And they’re already moving in multiple cities.
Mindgrub
Leveraging emerging technologies, such as virtual and augmented reality, robotics, wearable tech, and mobile gaming, to solve tough client challenges— Mindgrub is an award-winning technology innovation agency that creates custom mobile, web, and digital marketing solutions for a variety of clients to bring their brands to digital.
Marble
Looking like something that came straight out of Back to the Future II (or even Terry Gilliam’s Brazil), Marble has built up a series of self-driving, wheeled courier drones to transport things on the street like fresh hot food that stays hot and fresh all the way to your door. While they say that they also move groceries and medicines, it seems like their positioning on food delivery is really their linchpin here.
Flirtey
Flirtey is building drones to fly in the sky to quickly and safely deliver medical supplies fast. Listed as one of CNBC’s 2018 Disrupter 50 picks, they write that, “Flirtey drones will deliver defibrillators to 911 callers to help treat cardiac arrest.” Like this is what they do. They’re on a mission to save lives and improve lifestyles by making delivery instant for everyone.
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