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American Robotics’ Scout System can now be used to automate the inspection of oil and gas assets. | Source: American Robotics

American Robotics, a subsidiary of Ondas Holdings, and Infrared Cameras Inc. (ICI) announced a strategic partnership. American Robotics will use ICI’s optical gas imaging (OGI) and thermal sensors in its autonomous Scout System.

The Scout System is an autonomous drone system involving Scout, the company’s AI-powered drone, Scoutbase, a weatherproof charging and edge computing station and Scoutview, a front-end fleet management and analytics software. ICI’s sensors will allow the Scout System to automate the inspection of oil and gas assets.  

“American Robotics continues to see some of the oil and gas industry’s largest companies focus on integrating autonomous drones into their operations to conduct regular site inspections and ensure employee safety,” Reese Mozer, co-founder and CEO of American Robotics, said. “Through our strategic technology partnership with ICI, we continue to expand our product offerings with key features tailor-made for the oil and gas industry, enabling customers to automate inspections of critical assets such as tanks, pipes and pumps. Importantly, the solutions being developed in connection with our ICI partnership are designed to meet specific customer requests.”

The new partnership between the two companies will allow Scout System users to reduce operating expenses, minimize reputational risk and safeguard employees and the environment. ICI’s OGI and thermal sensors allow Scout to collect critical data on missions and identify anomalies like methane leaks and equipment and electrical hotspots. 

“We are excited to partner with American Robotics to bring innovative solutions to the oil and gas industry,” Gary Strahan, Founder and CEO of Infrared Cameras Inc, said. “We believe that our state-of-the-art software and multi-sensor payloads combined with American Robotics’ leading drone solution, will greatly benefit clients across the oil and gas industry.”

In September, American Robotics announced that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued the company a new exemption that removes conditions and limitations that restricted commercial operations from its previous exemption. The company received a Part 107 Waiver for expanded Automated Beyond-Visual-Line-of-Sight (BVLOS) flights.

American Robotics was the first company to receive FAA approval to operate automated drones without humans on-site in 2021. This latest exemption is an amendment to that waiver, which originally restricted operations to research and development, crew training and market surveys. Now, the company has the full authority to operate its autonomous Scout System drone commercially without limitations.