K
Kathleen Martin
Guest
Chad Sweet is the Co-Founder and CEO of ModalAI, a San Diego based provider of AI-powered computing platforms for autonomous drones and robots that communicate via 4G and 5G cellular networks. ModalAI was spun out of wireless technology provider Qualcomm in 2018. Prior to founding ModalAI, Sweet was Senior Director of Engineering in Qualcomm’s Robotics R&D Group. He also held various engineering positions during his 20 years at Qualcomm, with 15 patents granted during that time. In February, Sweet was elected to the Board of Directors of The Dronecode Foundation, a vendor-neutral foundation for open source drone projects.
In April 2020, ModalAI released VOXL Flight, a development platform for GPS-denied autonomous drone localization and navigation, along with computer vision for AI-powered object recognition, depth sensing and obstacle avoidance. The SWaP-C (size, weight, power consumption, and cost) optimized VOXL Flight incorporates a Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC and PX4 flight controller on a single board, and can support up to four image sensors for simultaneous 4k video capture, streaming and machine vision processing. An LTE Add-on is available that plugs in to the VOXL’s board to board connector enabling command and control for operations beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS). ModalAI’s VOXL Flight was a 2021 RBR50 Robotics Innovation Award honoree.
Chad Sweet was recently interviewed by Oliver McClintock for My Dear Drone. That interview is reprinted below, with minor modifications. The original interview can be found HERE.
Oliver McClintock – Welcome Chad Sweet, tell us on yourself and your backstory?
Chad Sweet – After a long career in R&D engineering at Qualcomm in San Diego, in June 2018, Donald Hutson and I spun out the robotics R&D project into a separate company, ModalAI. I’m passionate about pushing the boundaries of the latest technologies, specifically autonomous vehicles. Robots excite me as the advances are so tangible. You make a change, and the results are immediately visible.
After receiving my Bachelor of Engineering in computer engineering at Vanderbilt University in 1998, I started at Qualcomm Inc. There I ultimately led global robotics R&D at Qualcomm Research working on multiple autonomous robotics product launches, including Sony Aibo, Hover Camera, Snapdragon Flight, and Ecovacs DJ35. Previously to that, I led efforts in computer vision and wireless communications. In total, I’m named on 15 patents.
Oliver McClintock – How did you get going in the robotic and drone markets?
Chad Sweet – At Qualcomm, I was an early leader in the computer vision efforts, some of which evolved into Vuforia and FastCV. I had the opportunity to work on a novel, neuromorphic approach to robotics, and I jumped on it. Autonomous robotics can be considered computer vision, so it was exciting to approach some older problems in a new environment.
That neuromorphic project transitioned to bringing Snapdragon to the robotics market. We quickly saw consumer drones as a growing market and addressed the market with Snapdragon Flight, the smallest high-performance computing platform for drones at the time.
Oliver McClintock – Tell us about your ModalAI company, what is it, and what motivated you to launch it?
Chad Sweet – ModalAI builds on the R&D we were doing at Qualcomm. We are making the smallest, most advanced flight control and communication systems for drones. ModalAI continues to advance the technology we developed at Qualcomm by commercializing more AI software and hardware. We have heavily invested in the open-source communities Dronecode and ROS. ModalAI’s goal is to make our platform as open as possible so that developers can integrate their novel applications on the platform as efficiently as possible.
Continue reading: https://www.roboticsbusinessreview.com/interview/flight-control-and-communication-for-autonomous-drone-navigation-an-interview-with-modalai-ceo-chad-sweet/
In April 2020, ModalAI released VOXL Flight, a development platform for GPS-denied autonomous drone localization and navigation, along with computer vision for AI-powered object recognition, depth sensing and obstacle avoidance. The SWaP-C (size, weight, power consumption, and cost) optimized VOXL Flight incorporates a Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC and PX4 flight controller on a single board, and can support up to four image sensors for simultaneous 4k video capture, streaming and machine vision processing. An LTE Add-on is available that plugs in to the VOXL’s board to board connector enabling command and control for operations beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS). ModalAI’s VOXL Flight was a 2021 RBR50 Robotics Innovation Award honoree.
Chad Sweet was recently interviewed by Oliver McClintock for My Dear Drone. That interview is reprinted below, with minor modifications. The original interview can be found HERE.
Oliver McClintock – Welcome Chad Sweet, tell us on yourself and your backstory?
Chad Sweet – After a long career in R&D engineering at Qualcomm in San Diego, in June 2018, Donald Hutson and I spun out the robotics R&D project into a separate company, ModalAI. I’m passionate about pushing the boundaries of the latest technologies, specifically autonomous vehicles. Robots excite me as the advances are so tangible. You make a change, and the results are immediately visible.
After receiving my Bachelor of Engineering in computer engineering at Vanderbilt University in 1998, I started at Qualcomm Inc. There I ultimately led global robotics R&D at Qualcomm Research working on multiple autonomous robotics product launches, including Sony Aibo, Hover Camera, Snapdragon Flight, and Ecovacs DJ35. Previously to that, I led efforts in computer vision and wireless communications. In total, I’m named on 15 patents.
Oliver McClintock – How did you get going in the robotic and drone markets?
Chad Sweet – At Qualcomm, I was an early leader in the computer vision efforts, some of which evolved into Vuforia and FastCV. I had the opportunity to work on a novel, neuromorphic approach to robotics, and I jumped on it. Autonomous robotics can be considered computer vision, so it was exciting to approach some older problems in a new environment.
That neuromorphic project transitioned to bringing Snapdragon to the robotics market. We quickly saw consumer drones as a growing market and addressed the market with Snapdragon Flight, the smallest high-performance computing platform for drones at the time.
Oliver McClintock – Tell us about your ModalAI company, what is it, and what motivated you to launch it?
Chad Sweet – ModalAI builds on the R&D we were doing at Qualcomm. We are making the smallest, most advanced flight control and communication systems for drones. ModalAI continues to advance the technology we developed at Qualcomm by commercializing more AI software and hardware. We have heavily invested in the open-source communities Dronecode and ROS. ModalAI’s goal is to make our platform as open as possible so that developers can integrate their novel applications on the platform as efficiently as possible.
Continue reading: https://www.roboticsbusinessreview.com/interview/flight-control-and-communication-for-autonomous-drone-navigation-an-interview-with-modalai-ceo-chad-sweet/
