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The session offered a detailed look into how ExxonMobil is leveraging advanced robotics and digital solutions to tackle one of the most challenging aspects of industrial inspections—refractory inspections in confined spaces.

From enhancing safety to optimizing operational efficiency, drones and robotics are reshaping traditional practices in the energy industry and opening up new horizons for exploration and production. 

American Robotics has announced the addition of new capabilities to its autonomous Scout System drone to allow visual inspections of oil and gas facilities to be carried out autonomously.

Ondas Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:ONDS), a leading provider of private wireless data, drone and automated data solutions through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Ondas Networks Inc. and American Robotics, Inc. ("American Robotics" or "AR"), announced today that American Robotics received a new purchase order from Chevron for its fully autonomous, FAA-approved, Scout Systems. This will be American Robotics' second Fortune 100 customer in the oil and gas space.

Autonomous inspection leader Percepto has announced that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has approved Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations for Delek US Holdings' refineries in Tyler, Texas and El Dorado, Arkansas. The facilities were inspected by Percepto drones, which provided visual data management and analysis. This BVLOS approval positions Delek US's refineries as the first to receive such an approval, as well as one of the first among US energy companies. This is only the latest of many operational approvals to be received by Percepto customers,such as Florida Power & Light, Verizon Skyward, and other industrial sites in Australia, Italy, Spain, Norway, Portugal and Israel.

A partnered state effort announced earlier this month is leveraging new drone technology and magnetic surveillance to spot abandoned oil and gas wells statewide.

Autonomous drone developer Percepto has snagged a financial bounty just in time for Thanksgiving—$45 million.
Koch Disruptive Technologies led the Series B funding round to launch "a transformative solution for remote, fully autonomous, asset monitoring, inspection and compliance of industrial sites."

Amazon is launching a new Ring security camera that's fixed on top of a flying drone.

While the introduction of unmanned aircraft vehicles (UAVs) has been a game-changer in the oil and gas and petrochemical sectors, industry leaders agree the next major step in the field will be utilizing fully autonomous drones.

Shell announced recently that in July it inked a deal with Baker Hughes' drone venture company, Avitas, to expand drone-monitoring services at its unconventional assets in the Permian Basin.

VP Racing Fuels, a company that has been fueling champions in virtually every form of motorsport on land, sea, and air with its fuel technology since 1975, has for more than 10 years now been indirectly working with UAVs

There may not be many pure-play drone stocks at the moment but the list is growing. There are other promising investment opportunities to consider. Here are seven drone stocks to watch.

The George Kaiser Family Foundation launched a new technology-led economic and workforce development organization to support Tulsa as an emerging tech hub.

Having eyes on the ground, quickly, is essential to any effective disaster management plan. Having them in the air, however, looks set the be the next big thing in the offshore oil and gas industry.

Things are looking up as the drone industry is expected to reach $100 billion by 2020 and even up to $1.5 trillion by 2040 according to Morgan Stanley. 

Iris Automation successfully completed the first FAA-approved drone flight in Kansas taking place "beyond the visual line of sight" and using only onboard detect-and-avoid systems.

Breakthroughs in drone technology aimed at oil and gas companies, such as advanced integration of artificial intelligence (AI), have added urgency to the fight for regulatory gains with the Federal Aviation Administration. Drones, or unmanned aerial systems, are increasingly pairing with AI capable of analyzing data gathered from oil and gas infrastructure in response to industry needs. As a result, interest from midstream operators has grown.

There are many terrific benefits of drones across multiple sectors.  Every week, we read about the new benefits of using UAVs for inspections.

In this question & answer articke frpm Prairie Business, SkySkopes CEO Matt Dunlevy talks about his company's role today as a drone service provider.

In our 2019 drone industry survey, we sought out to understand how the U.S. drone industry is doing — are pilots making money? What industries are they in? How often are they flying?

Drone service firms are finding success in the oilfields.

In this Q&A in Prairie Business, Northern Plains UAS Test Site executive director Nicholas Flom talks about the work this North Dakota-based organization has been doing to safely integrate UAS into the National Airspace System

It's been over a year since the UAS Integration Pilot Program (UAS IPP) winners were announced, and a lot has happened since then.

Percepto, the global market leader for industrial autonomous drone solutions, today announced that it has raised $15M Series A Round Funding, led by U.S. Venture Partners (USVP), with participation from existing investors: NHN, Spider Capital and Emerge. The company has to date raised a total of $27.5M. 

This week, SkyX systems, a unmanned aircraft systems provider announced a partnership with E'Kabel on a plan that will use drones and fiber optics placed inside a pipeline to monitor for pressure changes, leaks or disruptions along pipeline corridors.

With its airport, Air Force base and college aerospace program, the Grand Forks region has celebrated several takeoffs and landings over the years. On Monday, leaders of the local unmanned aerial systems sector celebrated another takeoff as they gathered to celebrate a $33 million investment in North Dakota's UAS and drone industry.

Expanding into the U.S.' oil and gas market, SkyX, an Ontario-based provider of an aerial monitoring solution for long-range assets, has opened a new location in downtown Houston.

A recently released whitepaper from drone technology provider PrecisionHawk and Skylogic Research outlines the areas of opportunities for BVLOS inspections with electric utilities, insurance companies the oil and gas industry and other businesses. According to the paper, what motivates companies to explore BVLOS operations with UAS are safety, costs, data quality and consistency and time to value.

North Dakota is hoping to expand the role of unmanned aerial systems, or drones, in the state's oil and gas fields by pushing federal regulators to allow use of the devices "beyond the visual line of sight" of an operator.

CustomWeather Inc.—a provider of high-resolution weather data and alert services based in San Francisco—has entered into a partnership with TruWeather Solutions LLC to produce high-resolution forecasts supporting the specialized needs of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) operations.

Today, Avitas Systems, a GE venture, announced that it received the first-ever Federal Aviation Association (FAA) civil approval to fly an unmanned aerial system (UAS) with the use of radar and without direct human supervision.

India, the largest importer of unmanned aerial vehicles for defence, allowed their use in commercial mapping, surveys and photography. Startups operating in the nascent industry hope that would boost investor interest.

A Colorado-based firm is shedding new light from above on vital data for the oil and gas pipeline industry.

Cheap drones are poised to boost output and cut operating expenses for the energy industry.

Attendees at this year's Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Technology Forum in Broken Arrow, Okla., can expect to hear a wide-range of quality speakers, including a couple of nationally known and respected industry professionals.

Question: What looks like a bird, flies like a helicopter and sounds like a swarm of bees? Answer: A drone!

North Dakota has been selected as one of 10 participants in a pilot program to integrate unmanned aerial systems into the national airspace.

Cyberhawk has been awarded a three-year contract by a major oil and gas company to provide digital asset management during the construction of a new world-scale petrochemical complex in the U.S.

It's hard to say what the Osage Nation's Skyway36 airpark north of downtown will look like 10 years from now. And that's the point. As Assistant Principal Chief Raymond Red Corn likes to say, it's a blank canvas. But this much is certain — the possibilities are endless. "We are rebranding and repurposing the airpark to take advantage of emerging technologies in unmanned aerial systems," Red Corn said.

Some five years ago, the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International ranked Kansas seventh out of the top 10 states with major opportunity in unmanned aerial systems.
The AUVSI predicted that by 2025, the UAS industry would provide Kansas more than $2.9 billion in economic impact, $29 million in tax revenue and 3,716 jobs. For now, however, the industry is in a fledgling stage.

On a clear October day, in a field outside of Reno, a drone lifts from a blaze orange launch pad, quickly becoming a black dot flying through the blue sky. The drone, a DJI M600, is equipped with a unique collision avoidance system. The technology is a development of Iris Automation, a San Francisco-based startup — which expanded to Reno last year — with a team from NASA, Boeing and Airbus, among others.

Driving the growth of the unmanned aerial systems industry is new and expanding application areas. Aerial technology is transforming industries of all types by optimizing processes, cutting costs, and reaching both figurative and literal places that were once unattainable. Here are five industries that are being disrupted by this new, lifesaving technology.

This new paradigm of Drone-based inspections is helping industries improve efficiency and quality of data acquisition while increasing safety and speed of delivery. Although a new and emerging technology, (which is still evolving), in early 2018, most companies are not aware of the possible benefits they can achieve using small unmanned aerial vehicles to inspect their assets.

Over 2,800 commercial drone firms have applied to be "interested parties" – partnering with state, local and tribal governments on the UAS Integration Pilot Program.

Aeronyde, the aerial systems company enabling safe autonomous urban flight, today announced $4.7 million in seed financing to develop its end-to-end infrastructure for self-flying vehicles.

Industrial drone platform provider Kespry has raised $33 million in a series C round of funding led by G2VP, with participation from Cisco Investments, Shell Technology Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, DCM Ventures, Spectrum 28, ABB Ventures, and H. Barton Asset Management.

House Bill 1643, which went into effect Sept. 1, makes it a crime to operate a drone over "concentrated animal feeding operations," as well as telecommunication facilities and certain oil and gas facilities. It also bars Texas cities and towns from making their own rules regulating drone usage — a measure that has become controversial in its own right.

According to a new report the market for civil, commercial and consumer drones will expand from $2.8 billion in 2017 to an annual level of more than $11.8 billion by 2026—a compound growth rate of 15.5 percent.

Airobotics, a global leader in fully automated industrial drones, is announcing today the completion of a $32.5 million funding round, led by BlueRun Ventures China, as well as Microsoft Ventures, OurCrowd.com and another strategic investor.

A study released Monday by the Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission estimates the aviation and aerospace industry is now the second-largest sector of Oklahoma's economy, generating an annual economic impact of about $43.8 billion.