Nov 30, 2017  -  Would you like to listen to what amount to verbal tweets while you are driving: short 42 second messages from friends, musicians, news reporters, thought leaders, comedians and others?  Well, technology from ASX-listed Israeli company HearMeOut will interest you. The company has developed a platform and smartphone apps to do just that, and has now made its service accessible while driving.

HearMeOut says its platform “enables users to share and listen to 42‐second audio posts through the platform’s native feeder on other social networks, such as Twitter or Facebook,” and that through its app, “people can express their authentic voice and put their unique signature on social media interactions.”

The company has now announced it has developed a working prototype of a device, which it calls Hoop, that will enable drivers to have full access to all the features of the HearMeOut platform direct from the steering wheel of their car, without linking to any other platform.

It says Hoop is compatible with any car steering wheel, and will let drivers safely use the HearMeOut platform with both hands on the wheel. It is being developed in conjunction with DSP Group, a global provider of wireless chipsets for converged communications.

HearMeOut describes Hoop as a natural extension of its existing connected car strategy. It has a distribution agreement with Ford for the implementation of its technology with Ford’s Applink Sync platform in the US, UK and Ireland.

The company has joined Spotify and Waze in a program overseen by the SmartDeviceLink consortium that includes a number of car manufacturers and brands including Toyota, Lexus, Lincoln, Mazda, Subaru, Suzuki, Peugeot, Citroen and Daihatsu.

SmartDeviceLink is a system to standardise the connection between in-vehicle infotainment systems and smartphone applications

While having short messages being whispered into their ear while they drive might not excite many drivers. HearMeOut CTO and co- founder, Lior Menashe, claims the development of Hoop to be “globally significant,” because “for the first time ever a user can seamlessly engage with the HearMeOut platform regardless of the technology in the car.”

Hoop’s development, he says, “positions HearMeOut as a global leader in the ‘connected car’ space.”

HearMeOut has a market valuation of $11.8 million and in Q3 2017 was rated sixth in the social platform category on Apple’s US App Store, below Facebook and WhatsApp.

The company claims its popularity is being driven by the increasing use of voice for interaction with online systems. It cites figures estimating that 20 percent of mobile queries are now voice searches, and says this number is expected to reach 40 percent by 2018. Also, the company says 40 percent of millennials use voice activated intelligent assistants.

On some estimates, quoted by Microsoft at a presentation in Sydney, within a few years people will spend more time talking to machines than talking to their spouse.

Against this background HearMeOut says it has a vision to become the leading social network. The means to achieve this, it says, will be to establish sustainable growth by expanding its assets in three main areas: automotive, entertainment and technology.

In the field of entertainment the company plans to work with media companies, broadcasters and celebrities to gain content and reach. It also plans to recruit influencers from various categories.

On the technology front the company says its application programming interface (API) is in constant development to fit various wearable devices and voice assistance hardware.

It has also foreshadowed Hoop 2 “an upgraded device that features an entire closed ecosystem based on HearMeOut’s services and platform.”

The company is also doing OEM development for car companies to enables one-to-one, one-to-group and one-to-many communication via third parties and social networks.

| An IOTHub release   ||  November 30, 2017   |||

Nov 30, 2017  -  Europe’s largest industrial manufacturing company, Siemens, has teamed up with one of the world’s largest software companies, Software AG, to address the IoT market by integrating Siemens’ IoT operating system, MindSphere, with Software AG’s Digital Business Platform.  Software AG CEO Karl-Heinz Streibich said the aim was to intelligently combine Siemens’ global industrial presence with Software AG’s software expertise in IoT.

“Bringing our high-performance components of our Digital Business Platform to MindSphere, users will have new opportunities to exploit the full potential of their data to get a competitive edge,” he said.

The two companies say the combination of their technologies will provide comprehensive market-leading capabilities enabling users to acquire and comprehensively analyse raw data produced by plants, machines, systems and products more easily.

“Software AG application and device management technology enables both centralised networking of devices as well as cloud-based management, providing scalable and flexible management for a network of millions of end devices, also in the area of edge analytics in the future,” Software AG said.

Siemens describes MindSphere as a cloud-based, open IoT operating system that “connects real things to the digital world,” and “an open platform as a service (PaaS) [that] enables a rich partner ecosystem to develop and deliver new applications providing a basis for new business models, such as in the fields of preventive maintenance, energy data management or resource optimisation.”

Siemens says MindSphere’s APIs and support for open connectivity standards enable the production of OEM and customer specific apps. “For example, for machine manufacturers, Siemens MindApps provide the basic functions for machine manufacturers to enter the digital world,” the company says.

“Machine manufacturers can use these basic functions to apply their specific and comprehensive machine and process knowledge. … This allows them, for example, to monitor machines scattered throughout the world, or whole machine fleets, and to reduce their downtime.”

The Digital Business Platform is Software AG’s flagship product. It is essentially a methodology for a business that wants to undergo digital transformation and is complemented with a range of software products to enable that process.

In the IoT sphere the Digital Business Platform underpins Software AG’s Cumulocity IoT, launched in September 2017.

Software AG said at the time. “[Cumulocity IoT] brings together the power of Software AG’s Digital Business Platform and the original Cumulocity products portfolio into a single, comprehensive and leading IoT portfolio [that] will take full advantage of Software AG’s industry-leading integration, business process, advanced analytics and machine learning capabilities, based on its heritage in enterprise middleware platform leadership.”

Cumulocity originated as a spinoff from the, now defunct, Nokia Siemens joint venture in 2010 and was acquired by Software AG in 2016. According to Software AG, Cumulocity now has over 200 eco system partners including device partners, network and connectivity partners, application partners, system integrators and ISVs.

MindSphere is part of Siemens’ Digital Enterprise Suite, which the company says is used for product lifecycle management, manufacturing operations management and totally integrated automation to make “products, like laptops, computers, televisions, cars, trucks, planes, heavy equipment, fitness devices, white goods, etc.”

Siemens envisions these products being connected to MindSphere so their data can be collected and analysed in MindSphere applications and connected back to the complete digital twin to drive innovation.

MindSphere fulfils a similar role in the IoT ecosystem as Predix from US based industrial giant GE and the Siemens/Software AG tie up is the latest in a series as Siemens and GE seek to increase the role of their respective platforms in industrial IoT.

Earlier this month Apple announced a software development kit to enable developers to create iOS apps integrated with GE’s Predix industrial IoT platform. A year earlier GE and Microsoft announced a partnership to make GE’s Predix industrial IoT platform available on Microsoft Azure.

In September 2016 Bosch and GE announced plans to work on technology interoperability and platform integration through Predix operating system and the Bosch IoT Suite.

In December 2016 Siemens and IBM announced plans to integrate IBM's Watson Analytics and other analytics tools into MindSphere.

| An IOTHub release   ||  November 30, 2017   |||

Nov 30, 2017  -  Fuel is flowing to and from Port Taranaki’s refurbished storage and distribution terminal near New Plymouth.   Lessee BP New Zealand has started operation at the former Chevron tank farm on Centennial Drive, with the first diesel passing through the terminal earlier this month. Petrol is expected to be on-stream early in 2018.

Port Taranaki bought the facility in 2015 and entered into an operational agreement with BP New Zealand to enable larger parcels of petrol and diesel to be shipped in, stored and distributed throughout the region, reducing costs and the number of road tankers coming into Taranaki to deliver fuel.

More than 100 million litres of fuel is expected to pass through the terminal annually.

“The facility needed extensive refurbishment ahead of lessee BP taking responsibility for its operation,” Port Taranaki chief executive Guy Roper said.

“This work began in August last year and has included a new truck-loading gantry, a new control system, new tank-gauging systems and the replacement of pumps and valves.”

Port Taranaki has also brought the associated pipeline to the Newton King Tanker Terminal and a loading arm on the terminal back into use to support the project.

Mr Roper said the work had gone well and he was delighted the facility was now operational.

“We saw the purchase and refurbishment of the site as an opportunity to secure an important piece of infrastructure for the region and develop long-term commercial opportunities for our business. It will have the twin benefits of fuelling Taranaki’s businesses, farms and communities, and reducing the number of fuel trucks on our roads, with large amounts of fuel coming into the region by ship rather than by road tanker,” he said.

“A facility of this nature demands high operating standards and the health and safety of staff and contractors is a priority. With new Major Hazard Facility regulations in place following the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, the work required a lot of collaboration from the many parties involved.

“Throughout the process we’ve had a great relationship with BP New Zealand and thank them for their support and knowledge as we have worked to make the terminal operational,” Mr Roper said.

BP general manager marketing supply, Courtney Ireland, echoed Mr Roper’s statements.

“Safety is a No 1 priority for BP, so it was very important to us that the terminal was converted in adherence with the new Major Hazard Facility regulations.

“Terminals are an extremely important part of BP’s strategy, and enable us to effectively support the needs of our customers across the country. BP is pleased and proud to be in a partnership with Port Taranaki that allows us to support ongoing growth in the Taranaki region,” Mr Ireland said.

| A portTaranki release  ||  November 28,  2017   |||

Nov 30, 2017  - It’s encouraging to see an increasing level of automation application and acceptance among manufacturers of all sizes, from small subcontract shops to large OEMs. Competitive pressures, demands from customers, the skills gap, Industry 4.0 and more are among the drivers of this phenomena. Like all evolutions in manufacturing protocols and best practices, there are pauses and plateaus along the path towards optimal efficiency. Sometimes it’s waiting for one aspect of the overall system to catch up with another.

For example a cutting tool advancement can spur a subsequent new capability in CNC programming software. At times two technology advancements may be developed concurrently. Then a period of increased productivity might be followed by several years of the new status quo until the inspiration for the next innovation sparks and becomes a viable solution.

I’m sensing that we in manufacturing are in the midst of rising off of a plateau. For about 25 years now, we’ve embraced and configured our shops and factories into the cellular approach to part production. Pallet changers and work handling robots are fairly common at this point. Still, many of the secondary operations such as deburring and part washing are conducted outside of the cell, sometimes in another part of the shop altogether. Companies markedly ahead of the trend or with significant resources may have incorporated these kinds of functions into their cells within the last five to 10 years. But now, even many smaller shops are adding them, or at the very least inquiring about how to integrate all the secondary operations into a single cell and fully complete a process within it. That’s a positive turn. Yet there’s still more that can be done.

With the advent of shop-floor CMMs, probing and other metrology tools, the automation loop is closing even further for automation adopters. Particularly with the CMM in the configuration, dimensional workpiece data can be fed back to the machine tool control while the part is being cut. Should the data ping that the part is trending towards an out-of-tolerance condition, the signal is sent to the machine tool control, which makes the correct toolpath offset on the fly. Likewise, cutting tool life can be monitored and cutting parameters can be modified automatically in a similar fashion, accommodating the change in the edge or insert condition. When part deburring and washing are integrated into the cell, and fully automated, the part may, on occaston, go back into the machine tool if it makes sense in the process or part design to perform certain operations after a round of deburring.

Many shop owners and operators are concerned about the level of difficulty to bring more automation into their workspace. Is it hard to figure all this out? It can be a challenge, however that’s where your automation provider partner can help break down the goal into manageable tasks and possibly accomplish it in phases with a modular, scalable system. The software that ties it all together is open and scalable, too, and I’ve written about the software aspects in previous columns in Manufacturing Engineering.

Flexibility is the way to go, so that the investment evolves as needs change and unfold. Automating a manufacturing process is similar to other job functions at a company—matching pieces of information, gathering the tools required to do the job, and connecting all the dots. It’s more tedious than difficult, but once the system is fully functioning and the company is enjoying the benefits of improved part accuracy, optimal spindle uptime, and smart labor allocation it’s worth the initial effort. Evolving from there, with a smart initial plan, gets easier.

The time is now to go beyond the pallet changer-based cell. Keep adding functionality to it along with feedback data and automatic offset capability. Close that loop and, as the kids would say, drop the mic, because while you may not be finished with your factory automation goals, you will enjoy many advantages at this stage.

| An AdvancedManufactuirng release  ||  November 30, 2017   |||

Nov 30, 2017  -  Amazon's arrival in Australia brings with it opportunities for New Zealand firms writes Wellington consultant Hamish Conway in his company, Sell Global blog.  Amazon is in 11 marketplaces around the world, with 123 fulfilment centres, and buying customers in 189 countries. The States is the biggest, with the UK able to fulfil to the other 26 European countries. They’re in Japan, and China but they’re having a tough time in China. AliBaba and the WeChat Group just dominate the Chinese market, with Amazon only having something like a 5% share of the market and consistently struggling there.

So, that’s all interesting, but obviously they are about to arrive in Australia. I was recently in Australia meeting with Fabio, from Amazon, who’s setting it up and running it, and they’re hiring now, looking towards a late November/December launch. Initially this is going to be a soft launch. They don’t want to over promise and under deliver around Christmas time.

Certainly a Q1 start is when it’s going to be happening. But, they have been building the catalogue over the next few months. They are getting their catalogue full, so when they do launch, this is a great opportunity for New Zealand companies that want to really stamp their mark on the Australian market, using Amazon as a channel.

Getting in early on Amazon, and getting on that page one should be the goal of all product selling companies in NZ. 86% of sales come from being on a page one search. Getting in first, and putting your stake in the ground and going, “right, I’m going to claim the peanut butter category on Amazon,” or whatever that category might be is going to be a huge advantage. Getting there and keeping it is far easier than coming in late and trying to claim that spot.

There are all sorts of categories that’ll just be open for business. According to a recent survey, one third of Australians who shop online, which is millions of people, they have said that they will switch to Amazon. They’ll definitely be looking at Amazon when it arrives. I suspect it would be more than that once it does launch, and they start to prove their worth.Amazon is going to really change the landscape. Not only in Australia, but in New Zealand as well. They look at Australia and New Zealand as one. New Zealanders will be buying from Australia.

Amazon has its own products that they sell, largely the tech products, like Alexa and Kindle. They will also buy products from you, like wholesale. So, if they like the look of your product, they’ll go we’ll buy that. They’ll pay you as little as possible, and take for as long as they can to pay you. But enough people do that because they just think that that’s the right way to go. Actually Amazon doesn’t really look after it that well, but they do it. If you look at some products on Amazon, it’ll say “Ships and sold by Amazon” even though it’s a brand you might be aware of. Or, you can be a third party seller, of which any third party sellers can go and set up their products on Amazon.

The products that are currently in America don’t necessarily end up in Australia, so it’s going to be a whole lot of new products that are Australia and New Zealand centric. People from the States or from Asia will be sending products down to Australia into the Australian warehouses there for purchase. People probably still could shop in America for awhile, but once the inventory and catalogue builds up over time, as more suppliers or third party sellers put product in, that’s when it’s going to become bigger and bigger, and a really great opportunity for New Zealand and Australian businesses.

What is the impact from that? If you are a retailer, a brick and mortar retailer, it’s absolutely a problem. If you are a brand owner it’s good news. Being on Amazon gives you so much free traffic, and free brand awareness. For small companies breaking into Australia, it has previously been quite a tough gig, going through the traditional approach and maybe trying to get into supermarkets or through big pharmacy chains, or whatever it might be with what you’re selling. Being on Amazon, people are searching and if you’re there then they’re seeing your brand.

If you control your brand, and the distribution of it, and you’ve got your own e-Commerce store as well, Amazon is going to be a major support for that. If you’ve got products that you don’t control the distribution of then you’re in trouble. The bottom line is that it’s a huge opportunity for any business, whether they’re small and just getting going, or bigger businesses, who will need to be there, and be protecting their brand on that platform. If you aren’t selling your products on Amazon, other companies, other people, other distributors might start selling it there instead.

| Source:  Sell Global  ||  November 30,  2017   |||

Nov 30, 2017  -  A major tourist attraction that will include a cable car, toboggan rides, zip wire, as well as a restaurant and event venue on Kilvey Hill in Swansea has taken a step forward.  Board directors of New Zealand-based Skyline Enterprises have given the green light for the company to start the detailed design process and begin legal discussions for the attraction the will overlook Swansea Bay.

Representatives from Skyline Enterprises will now work with Swansea Council to move the deal forward and get it approved.

Once an agreement is in place, Skyline Enterprises will start working towards its planning application.

Should the scheme go ahead it will be funded entirely by private money, with no funding required from taxpayers.

Cllr Robert Francis-Davies, Swansea Council's Cabinet Member for Culture, Tourism and Major Projects, said: "This is great news for Swansea, for Swansea's tourism industry and for Wales.

"Thanks to a 'Team Swansea' approach and the backing of a number of local businesses who have been supportive of the Skyline proposal, we were able to convey to Skyline Enterprises our enthusiastic support for the scheme during their recent visit.

"This decision is a great vote of confidence in Swansea as a tourist destination and builds on the great work being done through the City Deal and our bid to be the UK's City of Culture in 2021."

Skyline Enterprises already runs two resorts which feature cable car rides and other attractions in New Zealand, as well as luge rides in Canada, South Korea and Singapore.

The cable car attraction set for Swansea would be the company's first outside New Zealand.

Representatives of the company have been to Swansea twice in recent months to check out the potential of Kilvey Hill as a tourism hotspot capable of attracting tens of thousands of visitors a year.

The latest visit included meetings with Swansea Council and major local businesses at the Liberty Stadium to advance Swansea's case for the attraction, which would further build on plans to regenerate the River Tawe corridor.

Cllr Rob Stewart, Swansea Council Leader, said: "Kilvey Hill, standing 193 metres tall, enjoys spectacular views over Swansea Bay, the marina, SA1, the Liberty Stadium and the historic Hafod Morfa Copperworks site.

“It's been an underused resource, and has huge potential to be transformed into a fun visitor destination for local people and hundreds of thousands of visitors a year.

"We were determined to do all we could to help bring this project to Swansea because it would also attract additional investment and benefit local businesses by generating more spending and supply chain opportunities."

Geoff McDonald, Skyline Enterprises chief executive, said: "Skyline Enterprises is very excited about the potential opportunity to partner with the Swansea community to create what we believe will be a significant and vibrant attraction for the area.

“We are encouraged by the enthusiasm and interest in our gondola and luge operation, and look forward to on-going discussions."

The cable car attraction would add to the work Swansea Council and Swansea University are continuing to do to breathe new life into the historic Hafod Morfa Copperworks site.

With support from the Welsh Government, Cadw and European funds, progress on site has included clearing vegetation, stabilising buildings at risk, improving access for visitors, community archaeology fieldwork, new pathways, an audio-visual trail and new information panels.

| A bqlive release  ||  November 30, 2017   |||

Nov 30, 2017  -  Raw material availability is a cornerstone of the U.S. industrial sector, and clearly vital to its growth. So as positive economic indicators continue to point towards manufacturing gains through 2018, it makes sense that the steel industry continues to experience growth as well. The benefits of which are being felt from Willmar, Minnesota to Conroe, Texas.

West Central Steel in Willmar has entered the final stages of its ninth expansion since transitioning from salvage yard operations in 1968. Officially starting last fall, the company has demolished its previous facilities totaling about 55,000 square feet to make room for a new 85,000-square-foot manufacturing facility. The new structure is scheduled to open in December, allowing for the installation of several pieces of new equipment.

This equipment includes a 30’ wide, 1,100-ton Ursviken press brake built in Sweden for bending steel and a Tanaka 6,000-watt CO2 laser cutter from Japan. A Kinetic plate processor from New Zealand, PythonX steel shaping system from Canada, and two Behringer saws will also need to be installed. These investments will be key to preserving the company’s two-day delivery times.

The company, which focuses on custom-fabricated steel parts utilized by manufacturers across a range of industries, will also be adding as many as 20 new employees to the current workforce of 150.

Falcon Steel America in Conroe also has a connection to the number 150. In announcing its acquisition of a 226,000-square foot facility, the steel engineering and fabricating business will bring 150 new jobs to the Houston suburb. The larger facility and workforce will allow Falcon Steel to more than double its manufacturing capacity for high voltage steel-lattice towers and commercial galvanizing and dulling operations. The company is the only fabricator of high voltage steel-lattice towers in the U.S.

The newly created positions will include quality assurance and quality control inspectors, welders, fitters, machine operators, and truck drivers. Falcon Steel uses only 100 percent U.S. recycled steel in its products.

| A thomasnet release   ||  November 30, 2017   |||

Nov 30, 2017  -  The vacuum-powered soft robots are reported capable of lifting objects a thousand times their own weight.  There have been a number of soft robots inspired by the ancient art of paper folding – origami – recently, including polymer-based microgrippers and the safety-first Twister. Researchers from Harvard and MIT say that robots made of soft materials are often not as strong as their rigid counterparts. This thinking has led to the development of inexpensive artificial muscles that have been designed to give soft robots superpowers.

The artificial muscles have been developed by a team from Wyss Institute at Harvard University and MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), and use only air or water pressure to assist soft robots in lifting objects up to a thousand times their own weight. And they bend and flex in a less, well, robot-like fashion.

The muscle-like actuator is made up of an inner skeleton, which can be fashioned from a range of materials, including a metal coil or folded plastic, and is surrounded by air or liquid, before being sealed in a plastic or textile outer skin.

Muscle movement is triggered when a vacuum created inside the skin collapses around the skeleton, causing tension in the structure that results in movement. The type of movement is controlled purely by the shape of the skeleton, meaning that system processing and complex control algorithms may be surplus to requirements.

"One of the key aspects of these muscles is that they're programmable, in the sense that designing how the skeleton folds defines how the whole structure moves," explained Shuguang Li, Ph.D, a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Wyss Institute and MIT CSAIL. "You essentially get that motion for free, without the need for a control system."A single vacuum source drives this snake-like soft robot with gripper

The researchers have built a number of different soft robots to demonstrate the numerous capabilities and resilience of their creation. They report that the artificial muscles are both lightweight and very powerful, claiming that one 2.6-gram actuator is capable of lifting a 3-kilogram object.

They're cheap and quick to make too. An actuator can be put together using materials that cost less than a dollar in around 10 minutes. And to demonstrate the scalable nature of the development, the researchers have made artificial muscles as small as a few millimeters in size to a meter, without any dip in performance.

The team also considers its innovation to be safer for close contact assistive robotics than other soft robot systems in development.

"Vacuum-based muscles have a lower risk of rupture, failure, and damage, and they don't expand when they're operating, so you can integrate them into closer-fitting robots on the human body," said co-author of the paper Daniel Vogt, M.S.

Potential usage examples include surgical devices, exoskeletons, deep sea manipulators and even architecture that can change its shape or function when needed and large structures that can be sent into space to aid exploration. A water-soluble version has also been developed, opening the door to potential use for ingestible robots.

"Now that we have created actuators with properties similar to natural muscle, we can imagine building almost any robot for almost any task," said Rob Wood Ph.D, Founding Core Faculty member of the Wyss Institute.

A paper detailing the research has been published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Article source Wyss Institute and New Atlas where a video can be viewed   ||  November 30, 2017   |||

Nov 28, 2017  -  Kiwi-owned and operated VigilAir has launched its semi-autonomous aerial surveillance drone technology onto the global market – a product that has the potential to change the face of security worldwide. “The VigilAir software product is one of the first of its kind and will undoubtedly disrupt the security industry. Simply put, our software will enable drones to be the first-response security guards of the future,” says director of VigilAir Limited, Mike Marr.

Mr Marr’s company has spent some years pioneering the use of drones with new technology for security purposes, including self-funding their own research and development, and it’s all run out of their Auckland premises.

New Zealand has been at the forefront of drone/UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) regulation. VigilAir continues to work closely with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to develop the equipment, systems, and processes to provide a safe and effective service.

The VigilAir solution will be provided as a full-service solution, with drone enclosure, installation and full ongoing support provided.

The product and service operate under a current Civil Aviation Authority certification, with work underway to rapidly expand the operating parameters. International patents are also well underway for the software that can dispatch camera-equipped drones to investigate any external security event.

VigilAir is a SaaS product that integrates drones into existing electronic security systems. It’s suited to large outdoor sites such as retail and industrial parks, hospitals, university campuses, schools, ports, prisons, and town centres that are at risk of burglary, vandalism or security breaches. A security drone will also be an effective deterrent.

When not flying, the drone sits in an enclosure - dubbed a nest - located on a business site. When alerted by an alarm sensor trigger, it will be dispatched to fly over the site to investigate, recording and live-streaming high definition video footage to whoever’s monitoring the action.

The drone may include a thermal or infra-red camera, and bright LED floodlights to illuminate any intruder and record the scene. The hovering drone may sound a siren or even talk to the intruder using a two-way communications system.

Before leaving the nest, the VigilAir SaaS system checks the weather data, then the drone flies a pre-determined flight route that’s geo-fenced to preserve neighbours’ privacy and comply with flight regulations.

A future release will allow the drone to be further manoeuvred to follow any fleeing suspects, capturing images of them and their vehicle license plate number as they evade. The drone then returns to its nest to recharge.

“After considerable R&D, innovation and years of trials, not to mention processing technology and software patents, to now be able to unleash the product onto the international market is really exciting.

“VigilAir’s system is all about delivering faster, safer, and more cost-effective security for organisations or businesses with large sites and security installations.”

Mr Marr says to be able to fly a rapid response drone literally directly into a crime, and to record and transmit all that’s happening, has huge advantages over a traditional on-the-ground security response.

“And we’ve designed it to be user-friendly. Security guards, whether on site or operating remotely, will be able to use the system and it’s one that can already ‘talk’ to 99% of all existing electronic security systems.

“As you can imagine this is all a lot safer than dispatching a guard on foot to check out a security problem. Drones will help catch perpetrators as everything’s recorded which is gold for any eventual prosecutions. And importantly, the ongoing cost will be lighter on operational budgets.”

Mr Marr says VigilAir has the potential to make $400m in annualised revenue. This is largely because the fully integrated semi-autonomous system is a world-leader and its ease of operation and effectiveness has wide appeal for any organisation needing to protect its assets or people.

VigilAir is completing reseller agreements with two major international corporations, providing a channel for product export and on-going support.

“We’re very confident in its success. We’ve done exhaustive searches and cannot find anything to compare with VigilAir’s system worldwide. It’s truly a global first with unlimited potential.”

Further, he believes harnessing drone technology for security purposes was somewhat inevitable for a company that has been at the forefront of CCTV and wireless security technology in New Zealand.

VigilAir’s interest in drones however doesn’t stop at security. Mr Marr says while their use for aerial photography is well established, considerable potential remains in core New Zealand sectors like agriculture, construction and forestry.

“Our drones have assisted the police in search and rescue operations in hard-to-reach terrain like cliffs and crevasses. And we’ve done all sorts of work from inspecting the Auckland Harbour Bridge to looking for leaks on the roofs of central city buildings.”

As well as inspecting infrastructure and assets, smart drone technology is used for Infrared imagery to track heat-loss and to create 3D models that are dimensionally correct to a few centimetres.

VigilAir was invented and developed by ASG Technologies - a technology incubator established three years ago by TPT Group. Over 150 people are employed at TPT Group which has a stable of security businesses - the best known in New Zealand being Advanced Security.

Based at East Tamaki, Mr Marr is the founder of TPT Group and remains its CEO. He is also directly heading VigilAir which was founded last year to commercialise ASG’s drone control software.

Mr Marr says the experienced VigilAir team, led by Andy Grant an ex Warfare Officer from the Navy, includes software and mechatronic engineers and a commercial pilot. The team remains focussed on the ongoing development of the VigilAir capability and delivering world-leading future-focused security technology.

“To now launch a semi-autonomous ‘eye in the sky’ solution, incorporating an on-site drone with cloud-based SaaS software, is a long way from how we initially viewed drones - as flying CCTV cameras to support the fixed ones.”

He says with the world continually urbanising, ongoing security technology innovation will help with many governments’ aspirations to develop safer cities.

TPT Group is also advancing robotic technology with the intent of one day launching fully autonomous ‘foot patrol’ robots to work in conjunction with its security drones.

| A VigilAir release  ||  November 28, 2017   |||