Drone data and digital workflows: FlyNex supports businesses and government agencies from the air

Whether buildings, power poles or agricultural land – our environment is full of objects about which data must be collected. For us humans, this usually means a lot of work. Companies with a large number of buildings sometimes have to check thousands of roofs. Employees of energy companies go to dizzying heights to identify damage. Surveying fields can take many hours. With FlyNex, companies and government agencies now have aerial support. Data collection that would otherwise take days and be costly or perhaps even dangerous is done by drones in the blink of an eye. But that’s not all: FlyNex uses a platform to store, analyze and process the information so that customers can use it immediately in their decision-making processes. COO Christian Caballero talks in an interview about how FlyNex supports well-known companies like EnviaM.

Christian, with your services around drones and digital workflows, you probably hit a nerve with companies and public authorities?

Yes, everyone knows that buildings are getting older and need to be inspected for maintenance reasons alone. Space, especially in cities, is becoming increasingly tight. Companies and authorities have to fulfill obligations and develop new infrastructures. That’s why we built our software platform. It maps the complete workflow – from planning the measurements, to assigning jobs to teams that are on site with the drones, to data collection and data analysis, which we enable via interfaces to various tools and AIs.

That means the drone flights and data analysis are handled by external partners?

We want to enable our customers to operate as autonomously as possible. This means that we provide drones as needed and take over the training of employees. For example, if a large number of roofs or masts are to be inspected, the flight is programmed in advance so that it is no longer necessary to control the drone on site. We have established interfaces with partners to analyze the data. Depending on the industry and the job, individual processing makes sense. For example, an agricultural business has completely different requirements than an energy company. Through our platform, both customers receive their results with just a few clicks.

That sounds promising! Can you tell us about an example of cooperation?

I’d love to! We are working together with EnviaM, for example. Our joint pilot project consisted of checking 71 electricity poles, especially the lines and the numbers of the poles. In addition, we were to see if there were any stork nests on the objects, which is always a big risk. After joint planning and preparation, the whole process of automated aerial survey took us 45 minutes. Afterwards, the data was analyzed by an AI. I think readers of our interview can imagine for themselves how many hours employees need to complete such tasks in a conventional way.

Certainly several days! How did you get the famous “foot in the door” at EnviaM?

The contact came about through the SpinLab in Leipzig, which, like EnviaM, is part of the Digital Hub Initiative of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. When we approach new companies, we always first try to analyze the problem situation from their perspective and break down the in-house procedures. Testing power poles not only involves a lot of time and expense. It also means a real risk for employees. On this basis, we can then offer our cooperation partners a solution that really helps them. With each new project, we also present our work outside in the field so that the customer can develop an in-depth understanding.

How do you deal with passers-by who may be frightened by such drone flights or feel they are being monitored?

Yes, drones still make many people uncomfortable. But fears of accidents or surveillance can also be occasions for dialogue. We make sure that there is always an employee on site as a contact person for questions from passers-by. The beauty of our assignments is that we learn every time and can always handle challenging situations better.

What have you learned as a startup from the cooperation with EnviaM?

The experience has helped us to develop a new area in our software with so-called “image annotation”. This involves annotating certain types of damage in the image, making it even more understandable for customers.

Do you have any advice for other startups looking to work with corporations?

It’s important to be prepared for processes to take longer. Startups that want to work with large corporations still need to be viable. This can work, for example, through a side business. In addition, one should offer real added value and not just focus on marketing. Companies notice when a solution has substance.

What current trends are you observing in your industry?

Getting used to drones is definitely progressing. More and more companies are using drones. The energy and construction industries in particular have already understood how much time and money it can save them. In our case, for example, it’s always at least 50 percent, if not much more, as in the case of EnviaM. Another trend is toward simplifying the processes involved in preparing and analyzing data. In the future, fewer and fewer clicks will be needed to arrive at a result. We are pleased to be able to make a contribution to this.

Contact

Webseite: www.flynex.io

LinkedIn: Christian L. Caballero