DR. DRONE REVIEW
Bebop-Pro Thermal
Parrot has confirmed the addition of two quadcopters to its ‘professional’ fleet of craft. It’s unveiled the purpose-designed Bluegrass offering a bespoke quadcopter for agriculture users, along with the Bebop-Pro Thermal, an amended version of the Bebop 2 which is geared towards helping the construction industry and rescue services carry out thermal inspections in safety.
The Bebop-Pro Thermal was originally announced back in May and is a modified version of the Bebop 2, with a rear mounting for the 36.5g, FLIR One Pro thermal camera, with a built-in 1440 x 1080p RGB sensor and 160 x 120p thermal sensor. In addition to the drone and a decent bundle of the usual accessories – SkyController 2, three batteries, two chargers, and a backpack – the system comes with access to the FreeFlight Thermal app, which enables the FLIR One Pro to be used with three imaging modes.‘Standard’ mode displays thermal images from red to blue, allowing for quick identification of hot and cold spots; ‘Dynamic’ offers a similar function but adapted to the ambient temperatures; and ‘Hotspot’ is designed for fire safety and emergency search and rescue specialists, highlighting only the highest temperatures combined with the RGB image. Estimated thermal temperature readings for an area can be gained by accessing the app on your smart device – which is a free Android download, but only compatible with the Bebop-Pro Thermal.
Despite the additional weight of the FLIR camera and its housing, we’ve been assured
by Vanessa Loury at Parrot that “there is only a minor impact on flight time” with the
projected 25 minutes a little down on the 30 minutes offered by the recent Bebop 2 Power.
Vanessa also told us that Parrot has been collaborating with firefighters for several years and that during the 2016 summer floods in Paris, the French manufacturer’s drones were used by firefighters to survey the severity of the flooding in real-time, thanks to the live streaming functionality available on the craft. The information gathered then allowed for the quick decision to evacuate some 4,000
residents from the area. As well as being a useful and very portable tool for firefighters and other emergency services, the Bebop-Pro Thermal and its companion app also target the work of
architects, builders, real estate agencies and other professionals in related fields.
Launched at the same time was the Bluegrass, Parrot’s first quadcopter designed specifically
for use in the agricultural industry (not counting the fixed-wing Disco or eBee Ag models the company also owns). The craft comes equipped with two monitoring systems: a front-facing Full HD video camera and a Parrot Sequoia multispectral sensor, which allows for the collection of images over four distinct spectral bands. This combination enables users to carry out low level and precise monitoring of farmland and infrastructure, as well as spotting potential problems with crop fields. With a 25 minute flight time, it’s able to cover up to 30 hectares of land at an altitude of 230 feet (70m). The system also comes equipped with the Pix4Dcapture flight planning app for ease of operation, as well as access to the AIRINOV FIRST+ mapping and analysis platform for processing the collected data. Parrot’s move into agricultural quadcopters and they explained: “We wanted to design a drone capable of transporting a payload (the Parrot Sequoia multispectral solution) while offering the right flight time to fly over a needed are them to detect problem areas in all type of crops.” they also stated that the Bluegrass is able to fly at low altitude (and up to 2km or 1.2m), whereas its fixed-wing sibling, the Disco-Pro AG is able to cover larger areas whilst flying at higher altitudes. Although the Bluegrass appears to be a new design that is optimized for different tasks to the Disco, we’re told it does inherit a lot from Parrot’s fixed-wing projects. They say the new model “is designed around Parrot C.H.U.C.K. (Control Hub & Universal Computer Kit), the advanced autopilot also included in our fixed wing drone Parrot Disco.” We were also told that Parrot’s experience with fixed wing systems, together with its ongoing interest in understanding how professionals work and the feedback they receive from them, has enabled it “to identify areas in professional activities where our drones – associated with a complete solution –would be able to save time, perform better and generate more business.”
The Thermal package is priced at $1,500(£1,226) with the Bluegrass at $5,000 (£3,755).
Details on both can be found at Parrot.com.
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