Given the shifting ice can suddenly close a massive crevasse that runs hundreds of feet deep into a glacier, safely exploring them is all but impossible. Unless you’ve got access to a flying drone that isn’t sent flying out of control the second it hits an obstacle.
Many drones have protective housings around their propellers to protect the blades, but Flyability’s Gimball wraps the entire craft in a specially-designed wire cage. It doesn’t just protect the drone, it also freely rotates when it encounters an obstacle so that the drone isn’t suddenly steered off course.
The resulting video is remarkably stable given how often the Gimball drone is actually crashing into the icy walls lining the narrow crevasse. You don’t even need to be an expert drone pilot in order to pilot the drone deep into this glacier. Although, you’ll probably want to practice a bit ahead of time to ensure you can also safely fly the $25,000 drone back out.
[YouTube via IEEE Spectrum]
