Here I would like to share my impressions after UAV UNVEX 2014 exhibit in Madrid, Spain. It took place from 4th till 7th of March.
About third of people who attended expo were in uniform. MOD of Spain was personally here for about a half a day. Indra, MBDA, Thales and Airbus have created killer UAV system and that is the center of attention in expo.
It is definitely Spanish expo not European. Today got just four visitors not from Spain. Two of them other exhibitors.
Nevertheless, got interest even from them and their English-speaking colleagues have arranged meetings to look at UGCS later.
Overall was busy enough not to get asleep or bored at booth and did not had time to go around other booths. Neighbors are building copters. For fixed wing, they will write their own autopilot, they found our software interesting and will pass info to developer of autopilot.
Two Microdrones resellers/users come by. One have MD4-3000 mockup at their booth, I would like to see one in operation.
Couple of universities are present and one person have even already downloaded our software but have not yet installed.
Others are trying to write the software themselves. I told to look at ours and stop wasting their time. Initially did not got the message, but then I explained how much effort has gone into UGCS got thoughtful and told that will have serious thinking on their estimates.
Couple of potential resellers and more or less serious drone builders came along. Couple could be perspective, as they clearly understood that it is waste of resources to work on all fronts by themselves.
I have several meetings scheduled with other participants with whom had just chance to say Hi at the opening day.
It is central UAV event in Spain and is really UAV only. Even people from other industries have come to look at the expo.
Next day was less intense but overall better quality. People like how our product looks, especially after they have tried or seen how easy it is to use. Especially building tool is eye-catching piece.
Met couple of drone builders who were looking for mission planning software for their drones. Both are writing own autopilots. They will download UGCS and take a more detailed look at it later.
There where system integrators who liked option of custom maps, re-branding and our ability to add new autopilot in ~3 months.
Met several end-users. They like UGCS, but experienced ones are not that impressed. They have their specific usage, which we by being "universal" have not addressed properly at the moment. OEM and integration companies catch on idea of saving time and effort by adapting UGCS. End-users, at least individuals or very small companies, on the other hand rather would like to have fully functional all-inclusive UAV package for particular task without need to go around shopping on different components and learning about all “Lego bricks” in UAVS.
Met three universities, they were interested in using free U|g|CS Open version and SDK for their projects.
Today military noticed our booth. Got little bit intimidating moment with whole delegation of military attaché getting around our booth, not used to ~10 uniforms peering at you with stone faces while you present your product.
Representatives from big companies came by. One where Thales subcontractors. They thoroughly watched every aspect of UGCS and told that will consider UGCS as simulation/training platform. Cloud Cap came by. They liked functionality and looks of UGCS.
One of integrators/service providers who works with Microdrones came for second time with his tech person. Tech person was not so impressed said that mdCockpit is good enough for him as he is used to that software, but U|g|CS map is definitely better and for first timers learning curve would be shorter with U|g|CS.
We have to work more on information about us and U|g|CS. To let world know we have platform that can be customized quickly and easy for particular task or individual needs of customer.
Last day of expo. Today mainly students, universities and institutes. They like our concept of free U|g|CS Open version for research and prototyping.
Came by two clusters. Madrid aerospace and tech hub of engineering companies creating parts for UAVs. I gave bunch of our flyers to pass around their members. They were caught on idea that with our help their members can deliver products faster to the market and save costs on mission planning software development.
In total 1200 visitors were here.
Today demo day. UAVs up to 50kg were flown. Most from http://www.usol.es
In Spain, autopilots from local airelectronics.es and Embention are popular.
Most interesting thing, Go Pro showed to be great camera. Some hi-tech gimbals gave worse picture.
Interesting product was small fixed wing. Made by USOL with Airelectronics autopilot on it. It had DGPS and therefore geo-referenced online video. Transmission and picture where very good even up to 2-3km. Frame, provided acceptably priced, could be good for our test purposes.
USOL K50 is nice craft. Acceptable noise, stable flight, auto landing with ease.
Fixed wing UAV in shape of foam brick with yellow tail from Aero-Tools. Despite the looks, it flies surprisingly well and lands on tarmac without any damage. Have agreed to catch up later to discuss using U|g|CS for the UAV.
Had a chat with Indian and South Korean defense attaches. Nice guys and surprisingly well versed on topic. Listened with interest on our OEM advantages and promised to pass our message to manufacturers they know at home.
In the end I would like to thank whole team of U|g|CS. hank you guys for creating great product which leaves impressed both students and big players in UAV industry alike.
Thanks,
Janis
