3DR is an American company headquartered in

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

that makes enterprise drone software for construction, engineering, and mining firms, along with government agencies. Prior to 2016, the company designed and marketed commercial and recreational

unmanned aerial vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...

s. They produced consumer drones, ready-to-fly quadcopters for aerial photography and mapping, and fixed-wing UAVs based on the

Ardupilot ArduPilot is an open source, unmanned vehicle Autopilot Software Suite, capable of controlling autonomous: *Multirotor drones *Fixed-wing and VTOL aircraft *Helicopters *Ground rovers *Boats *Submarines *Antenna trackers ArduPilot was originally ...

platform. As of September, 2016, 3DR and the major open source

development community separated due to disagreements over the license of the open source code which 3DR products are based upon. The company was co-founded as 3D Robotics in 2009 by author and entrepreneur

Chris Anderson Chris Anderson may refer to: Sports * Chris Anderson (baseball) (born 1992), American baseball player * Chris Anderson (cheese roller), 22-time winner of annual cheese rolling * Chris Anderson (footballer, born 1925) (1925–1986), Scottish footb ...

and Mexican engineer Jordi Muñoz. The pair met online through th
DIY Drones
community, which was originally started by Anderson for aerial vehicle enthusiasts.

Products of 3DR

Below is a list of products released by 3DR. Solo Drone. Released in May 2015 and marketed to the consumer and professional aerial photography market. It is powered by two computers and designed specifically for the

GoPro GoPro, Inc. (marketed as GoPro and sometimes stylized as GoPRO) is an American technology company founded in 2002 by Nick Woodman. It manufactures action cameras and develops its own mobile apps and video-editing software. Founded as Woodman La ...

Hero camera. The stated aim of the SOLO drone is ease of both flying the drone and taking professional aerial photos and video. Chris Anderson & 3D Robotics (8409109253)

Chris Anderson & 3D Robotics (8409109253)

IRIS+ Drone. Released in September 2014, it was designed for the recreational drone market. With an additional GoPro camera it can capture some aerial photos and videos. This UAV comes ready to fly. It can travel at 40 miles per hour and reach distances of up to 3,280 feet. X8 Quadcopter. Released in November 2014, the X8 quadcopter has a modular design and comes in 2 versions. The X8+ with

gimbal A gimbal is a pivoted support that permits rotation of an object about an axis. A set of three gimbals, one mounted on the other with orthogonal pivot axes, may be used to allow an object mounted on the innermost gimbal to remain independent of ...

and GoPro camera is aimed towards

aerial photography Aerial photography (or airborne imagery) is the taking of photographs from an aircraft or other airborne platforms. When taking motion pictures, it is also known as aerial videography. Platforms for aerial photography include fixed-wing aircra ...

and

cinematography Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens to focu ...

The X8-M quadcopter is intended for mapping applications. Both X8 versions feature

waypoint A waypoint is an intermediate point or place on a route or line of travel, a stopping point or point at which course is changed, the first use of the term tracing to 1880. In modern terms, it most often refers to coordinates which specify one's posi ...

navigation technology. AERO-M Fixed Wing UAV. Released in November 2014, the Aero-M is a fully automated. It has a mapping platform that creates

georeference Georeferencing means that the internal coordinate system of a map or aerial photo image can be related to a geographic coordinate system. The relevant coordinate transforms are typically stored within the image file ( GeoPDF and GeoTIFF are exam ...

d and orthorectified mosaics. This fixed wing drone has a stated flight time of up to 40 minutes and is able to photograph an area of up to 250 acres per flight. The Pix4D software allows for the creation of georeferenced,

photogrammetry Photogrammetry is the science and technology of obtaining reliable information about physical objects and the environment through the process of recording, measuring and interpreting photographic images and patterns of electromagnetic radiant ima ...

and orthorectified mosaics from the images. The Aero-M is a commercial UAV with industries such as farming, construction and conservation expected to be benefiting from the creation of geo-referenced maps. As of March 2016, 3DR announced that they no longer produce any drones. In response to the company stopping to produce hardware, a former employee, interviewed in Forbes magazine in 2016, is quoted as saying "3DR was a $100 million blunder based on ineptitude.”

Flight controllers

In addition to its Site Scan platform, 3DR makes professional flight controllers which are intended for multi-rotor stabilization control of various platforms or heavy payloads in aerial photography, mapping, and personal enjoyment. In addition to the main Pixhawk flight controller model, there is also the less robust APM 2.6 model. Pixhawk is an autopilot system designed by the PX4 open-hardware project and manufactured by 3DR. It features processor and sensor technology from ST Microelectronics and a

NuttX NuttX is a free and open-source Real-Time Operating System (RTOS) with an emphasis on technical standards compliance and on having a small footprint. Scalable from 8-bit to 64-bit microcontroller environments, the main governing standards in ...

real-time operating system. The APM 2.6 is an open source

autopilot An autopilot is a system used to control the path of an aircraft, marine craft or spacecraft without requiring constant manual control by a human operator. Autopilots do not replace human operators. Instead, the autopilot assists the operator' ...

system. It allows the user to turn fixed rotary wing or multirotor vehicles, including cars and boats, into a fully autonomous vehicle capable of performing programmed

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a Radionavigation-satellite service, satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of t ...

missions with waypoints.

Dronecode

3DR is a founding member of the Dronecode Consortium, a non-profit organization governed by the

Linux Foundation The Linux Foundation (LF) is a non-profit technology consortium founded in 2000 as a merger between Open Source Development Labs and the Free Standards Group to standardize Linux, support its growth, and promote its commercial adoption. Additi ...

. The Consortium was formed in 2014 with the goal of using open source

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

for the benefit of users with affordable and more reliable UAV software. Other notable members are

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...

Qualcomm Qualcomm () is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, and incorporated in Delaware. It creates semiconductors, software, and services related to wireless technology. It owns patents critical to the 5G, 4 ...

Parrot SA Parrot SA is a French wireless products manufacturer company based in Paris, France. It was founded in 1994 by Christine/M De Tourvel, Jean-Pierre Talvard and Henri Seydoux. Since 2017, it has focused exclusively on drone manufacturing. T ...

and Walkera, with funding increasing as new sponsors join.

Investment

Since 2012, 3DR has received funding for research, development and expansion from venture capitalists, technology firms, and investors: *December 2012 - 3DR raise US$5 million from True Ventures and AlphaTech Ventures *September 2013 - 3DR announces $30 million Series B funding from the Foundry Group, True Ventures, AlphaTech Ventures, and SK Ventures *September 2014 - 3DR announces an undisclosed investment from

Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is a British billionaire, entrepreneur, and business magnate. In the 1970s he founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields. Branson expressed ...

*February 2015 - 3DR raised $50 million Series C round led by

Qualcomm Ventures Qualcomm Ventures is the investment arm of Qualcomm Incorporated. Founded in 2000, Qualcomm Ventures is a corporate venture capital fund with 140+ active portfolio companies. Investing in startups targeting the wireless ecosystem, the group focuse ...

, True Ventures, OATV, Mayfield, and Shea Ventures *April 2015 - 3DR raised $14 million from WestSummit Capital, SanDisk Ventures and Atlantic Bridge Ventures *April 2017 - 3DR raised $53 million Series D to continue building Site Scan, its drone data platform

Partnership with DJI

On 1 August 2017, 3DR announced a partnership with DJI, the global leader in drone manufacturing. 3DR integrated its Site Scan software with DJI's drones.

Cessation of Internet Presence

Footage of the company's activity was last released on its Facebook page in 2019. As of November 2022, the company's website no longer exists.

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

BBC News: The Mexican immigrant who set up a global drone firm
Electronics companies established in 2009 Companies based in Berkeley, California Technology companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Unmanned aerial vehicle manufacturers 2009 establishments in California