One of the most dangerous jobs in America is power-line maintenance. More than 330 people were killed last year due to falls and electrocution while working on power lines, and thousands more were injured. Now one energy company is employing sophisticated drones to monitor power lines, allowing workers to trade the sometimes-scary task of climbing way up a swaying tower in possibly lousy weather to check out a junction for a ground-based drone control and monitoring job.
According to an AES exec: “We find that using drones, we can reduce the number of hazardous hours that it takes to do certain types of maintenance. And we can also enhance the efficiency of the business.”
And AES is not just focused on aerial drones to reduce occupational risks. It recently announced a program seeking unmanned methods of evaluating energy production and transmission equipment. The risk here is intense heat; when something goes awry, it often takes considerable time for the site to cool down enough for a human to enter and figure out what’s happened. AES is looking for ways to use “unmanned technology” to get in quickly, assess the problem and fix it.
See also: What Is the Future for Drones?
Measure is the company working with AES; Measure is deep into multiple ways to use drones in heavy industry. For example:
- shipboard workers using drones to check on container stability, possible fuel leaks, wiring and hoses
- firefighters using drones' heat-mapping capabilities to identify hotspots, vulnerable areas and trapped people
- tower workers using drones to keep nesting birds at bay
