To see the future of drones, head up the hill at the intersection of Industrial Drive and Electronics Avenue. Inside a bland brick office building, the team at CyPhy is working on tethered machines that can fly nonstop for days and pocket-sized drones for search-and-rescue missions.
It’s not a fancy building. There’s no giant aerospace or defence company here in Danvers, north of Boston. Just small teams of computer scientists and mechanical engineers working in spaces called “The Playpen,” “The Den” and “The Department of Failed Good Intentions.”
In many ways, the nascent drone industry looks a lot like the personal computer industry did in its infancy. The money to fuel development is coming largely from entrepreneurs’ own cheque books.
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“They get just enough money to make a prototype, get it out the door and get a couple of clients,” says Maryanna Saenko, an analyst with the science and technology consulting firm Lux Research.
Risky to bet on When the Federal Aviation Administration announces rules opening the U.S. airspace to some commercial drones, more investors are expected to get on board. But until then, many venture capitalists say, drones remain too risky and too expensive to bet on.
CyPhy Works is one of the few manufactures to attract deep pockets.
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