DJI Announces On-Board Supercomputer for its Drones

DJI, the Chinese drone and aerial imaging technology company has announced the latest version of its Manifold on-board drone computer – an ultra-compact on-board supercomputer for DJI drones that enables the next-generation of autonomous aerial robotics solutions.

Manifold 2’s additional compute capability will allow users to process complex image data onboard the drone giving immediate results besides enabling programming the drones to fly autonomously while identifying objects and avoiding obstacles.

• Manifold 2 provides powerful intelligence for a variety of applications with two options-an Intel® Core™ i7-8550U CPU and the NVIDIA® Jetson™ TX2 supercomputer on a module for AI at the edge.
• Both versions are compatible and allow for open customization and seamless integration into the DJI ecosystem of software and hardware solution providers.
• Each Manifold 2 includes USB, UART, CAN ports and more, allowing developers to link multiple Manifold 2 processors and build on top of them to transform DJI drones into specialized aerial robots for specific applications and industries.

Jan Gasparic, DJI Director of Strategic Partnerships at DJI says, “Through partnerships with some of the industry’s leading computing companies and chip manufacturers, we are enabling DJI drones to become intelligent flying robots that can perform complex computing tasks and advanced image processing literally on the fly. Manifold 2 expands the use cases of drone technology exponentially by allowing businesses, developers and researchers to build the most advanced autonomous aerial robotics solutions for nearly any industry or task.”

DJI Manifold 2 is available for purchase through authorized DJI Enterprise resellers worldwide. For customers in North America, Manifold 2 is also available online through DJI’s store at store.dji.com. The CPU version is $1,379 and the GPU version is $1,099. Manifold 2 is compatible with the following DJI products: Matrice 210 Series, Matrice 600 Series, N3 Flight Controller, and A3 Flight Controller. Drone enthusiasts can log in to www.dji.com/manifold-2 for more information on all the new features and capabilities of Manifold 2.

Endorsing the Manifold 2 Ed Koch, Chief Technology Officer at Automodality, a leading company developing autonomous drone solutions said, “DJI Manifold 2 not only enables the advanced computer vision, perception and navigation featured in Automodality’s patented AMROS™ and Perceptive Navigation® platform suite, it also enables next-generation artificial intelligence out on the edge, a hallmark of Automodality’s software and service offering for industrial inspections,” adding, “by empowering the drone to perceive and analyze in real-time, Manifold 2 opens new areas and capabilities and allows Automodality-equipped DJI Matrice 210s to autonomously fly where no one else has flown before, in GPS and radio frequency-denied environments where the most valuable and actionable data resides.”

Manifold 2 is likely going to be an increasingly key category as more and more users look to these technologies for routine inspections and other dull or dangerous jobs that entail bird’s-eye view observation. And since not every company has the means or know-how to create custom drone solutions the DJI Manifold 2 might be the more accessible solution.