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Cleo Robotics launches doughnut-shaped drone for indoor industrial inspection

Cleo Robotics, which claims to be the first company to successfully develop a stable and highly maneuverable ducted bi-rotor drone, has launched its Dronut X1 for law-enforcement, industrial inspection, construction and defense markets.

Cleo’s patented thrust vectoring technology has, for the first time ever, made the hyper-efficient ducted fan design stable in flight. The Dronut’s completely enclosed propellers enable the X1 to safely bounce off objects and people and is a fraction of the size of similarly featured drones.

For industrial and commercial applications, the Dronut X1 now enables unmanned inspections of dangerous and confined spaces (tanks, pressure vessels, crawl spaces, and so on) where no drone or robot could previously go.

The Dronut X1 is a portable, rugged and reliable intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance solution for GPS-denied environments making it ideal for defense use cases.

Law enforcement benefits from a highly intelligent device that can scout areas in advance of deploying officers into high-risk situations. For facility security, the drone is ideal as a flying surveillance camera.

Weighing under 16oz ounces, and measuring only 6.5” across, the Dronut X1 is the first professional-grade, collision-tolerant, safe-to-touch, intelligent drone built with a patented, enclosed ducted-fan design that prevents damage to its propellers, carries advanced payloads and can come in direct contact with people without risk of harm.

It can operate around sensitive equipment and in low-light conditions.

The Dronut X1’s industry-leading intelligence and sensing includes LiDAR-powered obstacle detection, and a sensor suite built for image and data collection with HD video/pictures and 3D point cloud output.

The Dronut X1 pilot assist – powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon – makes flying easier and safer, allowing the operator to focus on collecting the data they need instead of manually managing the drone’s flight. The frame is built from carbon fiber composite materials ensuring durability and reliability even in tight spaces.

Omar Eleryan, founder and CEO, Cleo Robotics, says: “Built to solve what had been thought of as unsolvable technical challenges with ducted fan aerial vehicles, we developed and tested the Dronut platform through rigorous and innovative engineering. We are excited to see the impact that the Dronut X1 will have on the industries that it is designed to serve.

“Having worked in the oil industry, I experienced the dangers and costs associated with confined space inspections. The Dronut X1 is the solution that removes the need to risk humans’ safety on the job.”

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