Gadgetory

DJI is toughening up its drones to take more than just pretty pictures they're unveiling the M 200 series rugged drones for more industrial uses including search and rescue and powerline inspections the idea is to provide better access to remote locations and reduce the risk to workers it's built on a similar blueprint as their $3,000 inspired to drone but it's CJ's first to offer a dual gimbal setup on the front and an upward facing gimbal on the top though you can't mount all three cameras at once to avoid blocking the GPS you'll have to choose between the top or the front facing ones the pilot can focus on flying using the first-person feed from the built-in camera well someone else can monitor the visuals from the mounted cameras with a picture-in-picture display the cameras are interchangeable and must be bought separately it also has two sensors on the front to render images in 3d for more precise obstacle avoidance and a built in a DSP receiver which is an aircraft positioning system that alerts the pilot of nearby airplanes or helicopters we weren't able to see them in trees 200 in action but DJI envisions uses in areas like search-and-rescue construction farming bridge inspection or any other tasks that can create using the open SDK and because it's weather resistant it will get the job done rain or shine another first for DJI the company's drones had already been used in some of these scenarios but never with this level of customization in both hardware and software like the inspire to the M 200 has a dual battery setup but a longer flight time of about 35 minutes according to DJI there are three models in the series the M 200 with one gimble the M 210 with the dual mount or the top mount and the 210 RTK pictured here with a more robust navigation system for centimeter level precision during flight DJI will be launching the new line in the second quarter of 2017