{"id":7886,"date":"2021-09-30T01:20:01","date_gmt":"2021-09-29T23:20:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webllena.com\/?p=7886"},"modified":"2025-09-02T05:00:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T03:00:15","slug":"acsl-japanese-drone-maker-has-developed-its-own-autonomous-flight-control-and-slam-technologies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webllena.com\/acsl-japanese-drone-maker-has-developed-its-own-autonomous-flight-control-and-slam-technologies\/","title":{"rendered":"ACSL – Japanese drone maker has developed its own autonomous flight control and SLAM technologies"},"content":{"rendered":"

The fast-growing Japanese drone maker has developed its own autonomous flight control and SLAM technologies that allow its drones to be used in places beyond the reaches of GPS\/GNSS-based competitors.<\/p>\n

Japan\u2019s reputation for inovation, technology and high-quality has long been underpinned by corporate behemoths like Sony, Toyota, Mitsubishi Electric, tech giant Softbank and robotics manufacturer FANUC.<\/p>\n

While innovation in the U.S is synonymous with the fertile landscape of Silicon Valley and the start-ups that have gone on to become major tech players, Japan does not have a global image as a teeming start-up hub. However, with many new companies involved in deep technology and engineering innovation, the nation\u2019s once-neglected start-up scene has begun to garner greater attention from venture capitalists and investors both at home and abroad.<\/p>\n

Take, for example, drone manufacturer ACSL (Autonomous Control Systems Laboratory Ltd.), one of the few university-born startups that have managed to go public in Japan. Established in 2013 by a Chiba University professor with more than 20 years of experience in R&D of autonomous flying objects, ACSL manufactures autonomous drones based on the latest control system technologies.<\/p>\n

ACSL<\/a> pursues robotics technology, including autonomous control technology, and is always at the forefront of technology development. Through the social implementation of these technologies, we will increase the productivity of human economic activities in the social infrastructure that is the foundation of human activities, replace as many low value-added and dangerous operations as possible, and promote the evolution of society for the next generation.<\/mark><\/p>\n

Having secured multi-million-dollar investments from high profile sponsors, such as e-commerce giant Rakuten and The University of Tokyo Edge Capital, this exciting new company went public in December, 2018. \u201cThat made us the only publically listed specialized drone manufacturer in the world back then,\u201d recalls Representative director, President and COO, Satoshi Washiya.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"drone
Photo: ACSL<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Firstly, the projected growth of the global drone market, which is expected to surge to $43.1bn in 2024 (up from $14.4 in 2016) on the back of increasing demand from both business and hobbyist consumers. Growth of the market will also be supported by the rollout of 5G, which will significantly enhance the capabilities of drones and their utilization in industries across the board, from farming and construction to security and online shopping deliveries. Second is ACSL\u2019s competitive advantage over many other drone makers, namely its propriety control technologies and SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) technology, which eliminates a dependence on GPS, thus, increasing the drone\u2019s autonomy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a limited amount of companies that have their own control technology and can tailor to individual customer needs,\u201d says Mr. Washiya. \u201cWhat we did at ACSL is build high-end-level autonomous drones without relying on external communication through SLAM technologies. We developed this proprietary visual SLAM system using cutting-edge machine-vision technology. With this system, ACSL\u2019s PF2-Vision drone, for example, can operate autonomously in a variety of settings that are not feasible using traditional GPS-based position sensing.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Hence, with SLAM builtin technology, ACSL\u2019s new PF2-Vision drone, which can fly at speeds of up to 70m\/h and up to 50 minutes on auto-pilot, and the ACSL-Mini can navigate autonomously even in environments without any GPS\/ GNSS signals.<\/p>\n

With the ACSL-Mini, SLAM provides precise measurements of the drone\u2019s position relative to recognizable features that it discovers in the environment, while its on-board 20MP, 30x optical zoom, gimbal-stabilized camera allows for the collection of high-quality images from hard-to-reach places.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve collaborated with Tohoku Electric Power and Nihon Unisys to do automated patrol inside a power generation facility. The reason we could do so is thanks to our SLAM technologies,\u201d says Mr. Washiya, adding that ACSL sees ample potential for its drones in three main areas: infrastructure inspection, deliveries and disaster reconnaissance.<\/p>\n

Capital investment in ACSL has, in turn, empowered the company to invest in other devel- opers of the latest autonomous flight control technologies. The Chiba-based company has already injected $3 million in U.S. firm, AutoModality, which has developed autonomous flight control software called \u2018Perceptive Navigation\u2019 that has gained global recognition.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe integration of AutoModality\u2019s \u2018Perceptive Navigation\u2019 technology into ACSL\u2019s integrated drone controls will enable autonomous flight in more complex and technically difficult GPS-denied environments. This integration will empower ACSL to capture further projects in such environments,\u201d explains Mr. Washiya<\/em>, who also sees other potential investments in the pipeline, both in Japan and overseas, that would enable enhancement of the quality and reliability o f ACSL\u2019s drones.<\/p>\n

Further M&A opportunities will form a vital part of ASCL\u2019s international growth strategy moving forward \u2013 as will a familiarization of the respective regulatory environments in target markets and finding other successful partnerships to boost its network.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are very open to strategic investment opportunities in any countries as long as it is beneficial,\u201d adds Mr. Washiya. \u201cTen years from now, I would like to tell you that ACSL drones have contributed to enhancing the quality of life for future generations.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The fast-growing Japanese drone maker has developed its own autonomous flight control and SLAM technologies that allow its drones to be used in places beyond the reaches of GPS\/GNSS-based competitors. Japan\u2019s reputation for inovation, technology and high-quality has long been underpinned by corporate behemoths like Sony, Toyota, Mitsubishi Electric, tech giant Softbank and robotics manufacturer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[3601,3604,3603,3602,3600],"class_list":["post-7886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-it-info","tag-acsl","tag-drone-maker","tag-japan","tag-pf2-vision-drone","tag-robotics-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webllena.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webllena.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webllena.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webllena.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webllena.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/webllena.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webllena.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webllena.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webllena.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webllena.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}