While the consumer drone industry is gaining pace, concerns are growing because of increasing hype and misleading marketing. As more companies try to confuse the market, it could also jeopardize China’s UAV industry by making the industry appear unreliable to all of the world’s consumers.
At CES in Las Vegas, a Chinese company named Yuneec came exploded onto the scene. Intel’s investment into this company was a magnet for attention, however it has made me more skeptical than ever about Intel’s investment and about the whole industry.
There Are Secrets Behind Intel & Yuneec.
According to various news reports, although Yuneec demonstrated amazing obstacles avoidance and tracking capabilities at CES, this demonstration was false. Despite a 60 million USD investment, the RealSense system integrated into Yuneec’s drones did not function as advertised, possibly because of serious technical hurdles that have yet to be overcome. Since this issue has already been widely reported I won’t go into it here, but it does beg the question: if these issues can’t be resolved then what was the investment for? Intel, through its investments in Ascending Technologies and Yuneec, clearly sees a role for itself in the consumer drone sector. It’s a chip company and sees an opportunity to sell into a new, fast-growing sector as growth in its core smartphone market slows. But if Intel is looking to pick a winner, it probably should look more closely at who and what it’s investing in.
VICON devices on Yuneec’s Typhoon H (evidence of cheating!)
Yuneec Does not Develop Core Drone Technologies
According to news reports in January 2016, Intel acquired Ascending Technology, a Germany UAV company that develops advanced flight control systems and flying platforms for technical applications. From early test videos, we can see that it is them, not Yuneec, that is behind tracking and obstacle avoidance technologies. Is it possible that Intel does not believe Yuneec is capable of developing core technologies? It looks as if Intel had no choice but to ask Ascending Technology to develop these technologies to keep competitive in the drone space.
In another test video of a cloudy flight, we can see that the weather may affect RealSense’s functionality. Since it is based on infra-red, it is vulnerable to interference from natural light. This means an area filled with bright light could stop the system from functioning entirely. Does that mean Intel wants to sell a product that only works at its best when the sky is overcast?
Yuneec Tried, and Failed, to Clear Up Misunderstandings at CES Asia
At CES Asia, Yuneec can’t rely on the expensive Vicon system this time but professionals could still see a huge difference between the drones used at in the US and in China. In the US, flight was smooth and fast while in China it was slow and clumsy. Why was the difference so large? It has been proved that some customers also reported the CN version of Typhoon H was worse than the US version.
US Version CN Version
( The difference of Camera Lens and Quality )
This difference came from the simple fact that neither Vicon nor RealSense were used. Instead, they used ultrasonic technology that has its roots in developments from over 20 years ago. There have even been reports of Chinese high school students creating an ultrasonic obstacle avoidance system for drones, so the technology clearly is not extremely complex. Whether it is reliable or not is still up for debate.
Chinese high school students invented the first ultra-sonic obstacles avoidance system of drones in the world.
According to Yuneec’s official stats, the effective range of ultra-sonic obstacle avoidance is 1.5m. However, we can see that the aircraft begins avoiding the trees very slowly and only stops when it is only 0.2-0.5m away. This is less than 1/3 of the claimed range and is not consistent with performance at CES US. In the video, we can see there are four trees in line, which make me wonder if there is some cheating. As long as the GPS coordinates of the trees are loaded into the aircraft, it could be set to automatically rise when it reached the designated point.
Yuneec was an OEM for model aircraft. How can it now compete with DJI in drones?
In its early days, Yuneec’s product list included the Firebird 403 glider, Blade quadcopter, and the Typhoon series made up of Blade components.
Firebird 403 Glider
The above picture shows the messy internal circuit board of the Typhoon Q500, which is the same board, internal structure and components as in Blade quadcopters. Yet surprisingly, the Typhoon Q500 is as expensive as a Phantom 3.
Let’s take another look at disassembly images of the XPLORER and the Phantom 3. Yuneec does not do itself any favors in comparison in terms of workmanship.
XPLORER
Phantom 3
Clearly, Yuneec has a long way to go in terms of R&D and production.
Yuneec exhibited two different drones at CES US and CES Asia and even used an unreliable ultrasonic obstacle avoidance technology, perhaps in an effort to mislead its audience. This raises huge concerns about the company and makes Intel’s 60 million USD appear to be a fool’s errand.
In my opinion, any company can earn a place on the market, even if it is not a technology leader, but the company has to be dedicated to its products and not chase profit at the expense of quality. This is a lesson many companies learn the hard way and it appears that Yuneec has yet to learn.
DJI is the only company of the many Chinese UAV companies that does not copy its body design, webpage design, and app design. This tells us as consumers that we need to look passed the gimmicks and the polish to see the real company and avoid making the wrong choices.
Great article - I think Intel is going to be very sorry about this one - Yuneec is far from world class and the stories (crashes) I am hearing about with the new H are worrying. Intel is not going to want to have their name on such things.
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