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You asked, we answered.

We asked everyone who downloaded our 2018 Commercial Drone Industry ebook about the questions that were most pressing to them in the commercial drone space.

In the above video Colin tackles them head on, discussing investor relations, autonomy, on-board computing, hardware opportunities and more.

 

Analysis: Skywatch & Komatsu

One of the most discussed topics in 2018 is Skycatch and DJI selling 1000 commercial drone units (DJI’s biggest commercial sale ever), to Japanese construction giant Komatsu. We break down the sale, what was purchased, how the units are deployed, the timeline of the companies working together, and what an enterprise sale of this size entails.

 

 

The Info & Links That Matter

Below we walk through two key concepts to help our community dive deeper into Skycatch’s 1000 unit sale to Komatsu. The first is an overview of how Komatsu sells, and in particular their Technical Service Expert (TSE) network.

Komatsu is not a general contractor like DPR, AECOM or other large Skycatch clients, but rather a reseller of industrial equipment for construction. Their sales come from direct equipment sales, and also from providing services on site operating and integrating equipment. The latter part of their sales are done by the TSE’s we mentioned, who are spread around the globe regionally. For Smart Construction, they provide a set of equipment (automated machines and drones) for the whole or part of the lifecycle of a construction project. There are hundreds (perhaps thousands) of Komatsu TSE’s around the world, meaning that Skycatch’s systems and that data will end up in use for processes construction companies of all kinds of sizes around the world.

For an example, we look at Australia. There, six Komatsu TSE’s became certified commercial drone operators by CASA (Australia’s version of the FAA). They can operate the Skycatch systems on site, but also teach and guide teams on site to get their certifications and do the same.

Our second concept overview, is the timeline through which these companies have worked together, with relevant links.

Partnership Announcement – 2015
https://blog.skycatch.com/2015/01/20/skycatch-partners-with-one-of-the-largest-and-most-innovative-heavy-machinery-makers-komatsu-to-automate-constructor-job-sites-world-wide

Wall Street Journal Skycatch Feature – 2015
https://www.wsj.com/articles/drones-next-job-construction-work-1421769564

Investment Announcement – Fall 2015
http://www.komatsu.com/CompanyInfo/press/2015093014002801113.html

Post-Investment Promotion – Fall 2015
https://www.theverge.com/2015/10/13/9521453/skycatch-komatsu-drones-construction-autonomous-vehicles

Partnership Promotional Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThMEw98ejGo

Thousands of Job Sites Tweet – 2017
https://twitter.com/skycatch/status/887752715501285377

Australian TSE Certification – 2017
https://www.australianmining.com.au/news/komatsu-takes-aerial-view-site-surveying/

Nvidia Collaboration – 2017
https://www.slashgear.com/nvidia-and-komatsu-to-bring-ai-to-construction-sites-with-drone-surveillance-12511674/

TSE Explanation – 2017
https://www.engineering.com/Hardware/ArticleID/16332/NVIDIAs-AI-Coming-to-Komatsus-Smartconstruction-Job-Sites.aspx

Sales Announcement – 2018
https://www.engadget.com/2018/03/22/dji-skycatch-construction-giant-komatsu/

Related – Edge Specs
https://support.skycatch.com/hc/en-us/articles/360001234514-Edge1-Base-Station-Specifications

Related – Workflow Overview
https://aecmag.com/technology-mainmenu-35/59-features/1176-aligning-real-and-virtual-construction