Marketer Hoàng Thy
Hoàng Thy

Marketer | Planner | Writer | Activist | Sustainable Learner @ Realtime Robotics

HERA - The World's Only Backpacked Drone From Viet Nam

Today on April 25, 2022 Real-time Robotics (RtR) has released Hera, the most advanced multi-copter ever made. Before Hera, the following was deemed impossible:

  1. A drone smaller than DJI M300 but can carry a 33-lb payload
  2. That drone can mount four gimbaled payloads simultaneously
  3. That drone can deliver 360-degree FOV for every payload bay
  4. That drone can fly for approximately 60 minutes
  5. That drone has concealed landing gears
  6. That drone can run AI at the edge for 4 payloads simultaneously
  7. That drone is a Swiss Army knife drone, serving all needs from portability to heavy payloads.

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With Hera, the wait was over. Hera did turn the impossible into possible by ingeniously integrating both small-size portability and heavy lift capacity, both backpack compactness and ample space for four payloads, plus 360-degree visibility for every payload – All in one unique body. At this time, Hera is the only drone in the world that has the:

  1. Best portability: Hera fits in a backpack with a battery and camera included.
  2. Highest lift capacity: Hera can lift a payload up to 33 pounds/15 kg, ten times as much as other drones of the same size.
  3. Most payload mounts: Hera can mount 4 gimbaled payloads simultaneously
  4. Best visibility: Hera has a 360-degree field of view for every payload bay.
  5. Top-flight time: Hera can fly for 56 minutes without payload or 46 minutes carrying a payload of 5.7 pounds/2.6 kg
  6. Concealed landing gears: Hera’s landing gears are completely hidden in both flight and storage, providing optimal aerodynamics, visibility, and portability.
  7. Most powerful AI capability: Hera can run sophisticated AI algorithms at the edge for four payloads simultaneously, using Jetson SOMs and delivering up to 105 TOPS.
  8. NDAA compliance: Hera ensures complete data security and transparency as required by the U.S. government.
  9. Most versatility: Hera is a Swiss Army knife drone, serving all needs from portability to heavy payloads.
  10. Highest productivity: Hera improves productivity by at least 100%.
  11. Lowest operational costs: Hera reduces operational costs by at least 100%.
  12. Best ROI: Hera increases ROI by at least 200%.

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Hera does translate its feature superiority into unprecedented application values.

1. Industrial Inspection: Four missions – one flight; a 200% ROI improvement.

Hera is the only drone that can carry: i) a visual camera, ii) a thermal camera, iii) a corona camera, and iv) a lidar simultaneously with 360-degree FOV for each payload. Having four simultaneous payloads, Hera can get four different jobs done in one flight: i) visual inspection, ii) thermal inspection, iii) corona inspection, and iv) lidar inspection, improving productivity and ROI up to 200%.

2. Mapping: Double mapping productivity.

Carrying one Phase One P3 camera of 5.7 pounds/2.6 kg, Hera can fly for 46 minutes capturing a map area twice as big as the closest competitor using the same Phase One P3.

3. Geospatial: Medium format photogrammetry plus RIEGL Lidar.

Hera is the only drone that can carry a Phase One P3 camera plus a RIEGL miniVUX-3UAV Lidar and fly for 40 minutes.

4. Tethered application: Spherical surveillance.

Hera is the only tethered drone capable of doing spherical surveillance thanks to its ability to mount four gimbaled cameras simultaneously. Hera can cover both ground and sky with 360-degree visibility. Hera quadruples the surveillance capability made possible by closest competitors.

5. Search and Rescue: Find and Save.

All backpacked SAR drones available on the market today essentially have only one function: find victims, whereas Hera can do both: find and save, and much faster. Mounting two EO-IR payloads on two ends, Hera doubles scouting area and search speed. At the same time, Hera can deliver lifesaving kits such as life vests, jackets, water, food, medical kits, etc. up to 33 pounds/15 kg.

In search and rescue, where a few seconds can make a difference between life and death, Hera’s ability to do both finds and save at doubled speed is priceless.

6. Defense: the most powerful individual combat drone.

Portability is vital in defense. Poor portability may prohibitively limit availability. A soldier simply cannot carry a heavy lifter, just because of its size, as a piece of individual combat equipment despite its tremendous usefulness on the battlefield. Hera is the only individual combat drone that can carry any weapon or equipment up to 33 pounds. Hera can serve as the most powerful backpacked loitering munition with a 33-lb/15kg warhead, 10 times more than the closest competitor.

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The story of RtR

RtR wanted to help after witnessing the tragic loss of life of the 19 heroic firefighters in Arizona in 2013. Firefighters did need a drone portable enough as personal gear, yet powerful enough to do everything firefighters need to keep them safe. Sadly, such drone did not exist.

All backpackable drones ever made have a lift capacity from one to five pounds max. To serve the majority of use cases, the lift has to be around 30 pounds. Having both backpack portability and a sixfold increase in lift capacity turned out to be extremely challenging. Nobody from giant drone makers to new startups has been able to find an answer.

RtR is the only drone manufacturer that has successfully tackled this puzzle. Our Hera drone is small enough to fit in a backpack, yet powerful enough to lift 33-lb payloads, mount four gimbaled payloads simultaneously, deliver 360-degree FOV for every payload, and ensure data transparency and security. Hera simply sets the world records in almost all critical features, an unprecedented achievement in drone history.

We invented Hera ahead of all giant global drone makers. It was like a feat by David against the Goliath in the drone technology race, almost too good to be true.

How could we possibly do it? Our journey is one of the typical American dream stories. Quoc Luong came to the U.S as an international student on a Fulbright Scholarship. He made the best out of the opportunities America offered: a good education, an invention enabling environment, and an encouragement to keep one’s birth culture and identity to make to the U.S. more diverse and stronger.

Quoc finished his Master’s at Cornell, his Ph.D. at UC Berkeley, went on to found Real-time Robotics in Silicon Valley, dreamt big, and landed a revolutionary invention that for the very first time in drone history puts the American civilian drone industry ahead of its competitors. This is how Quoc and RtR give back to the U.S., RtR’s adopted homeland, for an American dream that came true.

RtR’s Hera can now do more from less better than anybody else by a tremendous margin from two to ten folds. With Hera, RtR has taken one more step closer to achieving our mission - using drone technologies to advance humanity. Making drones to support greener agriculture, to fight wildfire, to respond to disasters, to promote clean energy, to keep the public safe, to protect the environment, etc. is to advance humanity. Providing drones for a just cause like freedom and sovereignty defense, we believe, is also to advance humanity.

We are truly thankful to have been able to make such a contribution. We will continue to try our best to come up with more innovations to make the jobs of our everyday heroes such as firefighters, public officers, farmers, inspectors, first responders, soldiers, etc. increasingly easier, faster, and safer.

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When will Hera be available?

Hera will be available for pre-order starting April 2022. The first delivery is scheduled for Aug 2022.

Register now: https://bit.ly/37NGgNf

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