Dominion Energy: Asset Inspection, From An Office Chair

With Skydio Dock and Remote Ops, Dominion Energy is able to inspect any asset at any time, from a computer anywhere in the world — and it’s changing their operations.

Aging infrastructure, limited resources, natural disasters, and budget constraints complicate asset inspection. With Skydio's dock-based drone technology, Dominion Energy has found an easier way to understand the condition of assets. They remotely launch a self-flying drone from a computer, get near-instant visibility, and make informed decisions in minutes — without leaving their desks.

Watch our live demo + Q&A session to see a real-time remote substation inspection, and hear T.F. Butler, Dominion Energy’s Unmanned Systems Group Manager, explain how and why his program relies on remote asset inspection:

✅ Near Real-Time Data. Anytime. Anywhere. ✅ Reduce O&M expense: Conduct routine or event-based inspections from a computer, make informed decisions in minutes. ✅ Better Resource Allocation: No more unnecessary truck rolls — allocate crews more effectively. ✅ Increase Worker Safety: Keep your workers out of harm's way — send intelligent, self-flying drones.

Hi, everyone, and welcome to the webinar on asset inspection from an office chair. Today, we're going to look at remote operations and really dive into some live demos, both in a substation environment and outside with our Skydio x ten. I'm very excited to welcome Dominion Energy to our webinar. My name is Christina Park. I'm the senior director of energy strategy, and I'd like to hand it over to TF.

Hey. Good afternoon. I'm TF Butler. I am the manager of the Unmanned Systems Group here at Dominion Energy, providing service to about four point five million customers in thirteen different states.

Awesome. Welcome, TF. We also have Corey.

Hey. I'm Corey Hitchcock. I'm the utility solution specialist at Skydio.

I was a lineman in transmission distribution, helped develop drone use at Southern Company, for line inspection and, and other, patrols and nuclear work as well.

Yeah. Corey and I are really excited. We're here at Skydio. Both of us have experience from the utility industry, and also working with TF. So we're really excited to share, some of these road, app remote operation applications today.

So let's move forward here.

Alright. Hey, TF. This is, it's gonna be pretty conversational. I got gonna talk a little bit about, when you started working with Skydio back in twenty seventeen and why you started working with Skydio. Skydio? Why'd you pick us?

Yeah. So, I mean, for us, just building practical use cases, both old and new, you know, comparing the two together, you know, is it an application where, you know, utilizing a drone was gonna fit something the way we previously did something. Right? So it's that comparison time frame that you kinda go through that period of learning and doing the comparison part of it. So one of the things we really look you know, obviously, safety is a very core value of most utilities, including ours. You know, how can we keep our employees safer, while we're doing a job that that does have some risk. Right?

And then trying to find the tool that did these things at a, you know, a reasonable cost, you know, to the business and also, you know, that gets obviously extended out to our customers.

And then the other big factor for us was moving away from, you know, products that were non friendly to the US. So we made a decision early on in our progression, approximately five years ago where we only fly US manufactured or friendly foreign country aircraft on our infrastructure.

You know, we we kinda did that, from a couple different prong approach there. Obviously, cyber concerns, were important, as well as, you know, making making our, our service to our customers, you know, reliable, and and know that that the data was gonna be secured. So there there were a couple of some of the earlier things that we really kind of targeted when we were looking, to to partner with Skydio.

Cool. So the the hardware progression, how how do you think the hardware has progressed over the years, and and how are you involved with Skydio in that progression?

And then, like, what new capabilities has your work, like, your close work with Skydio, like, unlocked?

Yeah. I mean, you know, obviously, the earlier sensor, you know, one aircraft, especially US, you know, manufactured aircraft, you know, they were most likely built for another purpose. And, you know, we found that, you know, operating the s two, you know, that that actually came to the s two plus. And then, obviously, the x two, was our earlier fleet of Skydews.

And, really, those aircraft weren't really built initially for the utility inspection business.

You know, they were built more in in a military application.

So some of those sensors since that time working with SkyView, we've really developed that relationship on what our needs are in the utility sector versus other other businesses that may use a drone for for their work. Right? So I think really going down that, it's really provided us and provided Skye with some insight on what the need is for our business. And that relationship has really developed some really great products, especially with the x ten coming out, you know, with the dual sensor payloads, you know, with the x series and l series payloads on those aircraft and then really having the true radiometric capability that we really didn't have with with the x two. Obviously, s two, you know, didn't didn't necessarily have that for us, but the x two, you know, you compare those side side by side today, you know, that anyone who's flown either one of those platforms, it's a night and day difference. Right? And it it's really hasn't taken us lot that long to get to this point.

So I think really for us is just that, you know, the business schedule understanding what our needs are and then really trying to come up with a solution to help us solve our problems.

Has has the, radiometric sensor that boson plus been a hit with your thermographers?

It it has. And I and I and I tell you one thing that I'll, you know, hopefully, get to touch on here today is really, you know, our solar side of our house, right, our renewables.

And and really what that is is really become a game changer and and and being able to, you know, inspect our our solar assets that we have here at Dominion.

Cool. So let's talk a little bit about regulatory.

Tell us about your work with the Skydio regulatory team.

How did that begin, and, like, what's the experience been?

Would you recommend working with our regulatory team to others and and why?

Yeah. So I think really for us is it you know, I think a lot of utilities really struggle with this in the beginning, you know, early two thousand seventeen where we're really looking for for an aircraft that, you know, BB lost beyond visual line of sight was everybody's goal to fly on utilities. Right? Long linear infrastructure. If I could start here and in there, You know, obviously, with the FAA, there was there's there's definitely hurdles that that need to be overcome in order to have those type of operations.

Working with the Skydio team, we were able to early on, really the first of its kind, really secure the forty two sites that we have, a waiver with the FAA, working with your legal team, you know, and really coming up with a solution. We are also part of the Beyond program, which was initially the IPP and then became the Beyond program with MAP, and Virginia Tech and really working with your regulatory team and working with that part of it with the FAA showing that we could do these flights and do them safely, you know, really checked a lot of boxes for us to show what that future could be for Beyond Visual Line of Sight.

You know, early on, we we put a lot of time and a lot of effort into it, And, really, the regulatory atmosphere just wasn't supportive of that type of operation.

But, again, by working with your team, working with MAP, working, you know, with the Beyond program, we've really have overcome you know, we've got four pending waivers right now, with the FAA, you know, for other Beyond Visual Line of Sight operations and remote, you know, dock operations as well. So, you know, it only continues, and just showing how the aircraft drones can be used in the airspace and used safely.

Awesome.

So now I I kinda wanna talk about so everybody wants to use drones to capture data, and people a lot of times, people don't don't think about the downstream implications of of what to do with that data when you capture it. So, I guess, kinda talk a little bit if you if you can about the importance of downstream data workflows and and how that works with, with Dominion's, like, data management.

Yeah. I mean, it's really important to rapidly go from flight to insight. Right? You wanna you wanna be able to use the information you're collecting from, you know, the aircraft and be able to do something meaningfully with that that data that you've collected.

You know, we really looked and and kinda built our our basic platform of our program realizing that data was gonna be a big part of what we did, you know, starting with the s two and then going with the x x two. Right? Now we're with the x ten. You know, better sensors create more data.

Right? And it's really too, it's not only about that. It's also about the metadata. It's embedded in those images.

Right? That's really super important to us too. So being able to have a location where those all can come together and be shared across multiple business units is really important as well. So one of the things that we've looked at, in the partnerships with Skydio and with their other partners is being able to work with companies like, you know, Esri, for example.

Right? Being able to put all that information in one bucket, but it being able to be used across, you know, a a a bunch of our different business units like transmission, distribution, right, power generation. If you're collecting the data, the, you know, the big buzzword for the century, AI.

Everybody wants AI. Right? But if you don't have the images to put into the model, it can't learn. So you really need to have a place already thought out prior to collecting a bunch of data so it's meaningful data to really get that insight on your infrastructure or the problem you're trying to solve.

So really without having that data in a place that makes sense, it is really critical in training these models and these other programs, that can use Skydio data in order to, you know, to make these models and then be able to give us some actual results, is super important. I think that's probably the number one key when people are building drone programs and and, you know, getting kicked off the ground. It's not about buying your first drone. It's about getting your policies, procedures, you know, the background and and the ability to operate in those spaces and then being able to put the data somewhere.

And then you really can really move on past that, to really do something with the with the data.

Have have you guys found that one drone flight can affect several different lines of business inside the utility? Like, veg management, you do a line patrol for an inspection, but veg management can also have access to that and and other people. So you're getting, extra value out of one capture of the data.

Yeah. Absolutely. And I think another one is really to mention too, Corey, is is environmental.

You know? We're we're big environmental stewards. Right? So having a a flight, you know, that that may have been for one purpose, but then the design team can use that same data again.

And then you really can do alignment with that data on your your infrastructure where it is actually, you know, on that piece of land, and then being able to use that to do environmental studies. And then, you know, it it could be a security, you know, function as well too. Right? So you're really covering a lot of ground with one simple flight.

Every AI program potentially can use that data in different ways. So, you know, really, the set here what Skydio brings the table for us is being able to collect that information. And, again, I really stress this is the metadata, you know, the API out that's able to be utilized by these other programs is super important because you don't have the right metadata embedded in the imagery, then it's really hard for those other exterior programs to do something with it meaningfully to you.

Cool. Hey, TF.

I fully Can I ask you oh, sorry, Christine?

Go ahead.

Go ahead.

Yeah. TF, this is this is really awesome. And I think when I think back of my experience in utility, I think the nature of the business is that, these departments, right, if you're in generation, you don't spend a whole lot of time with people in transmission. Like, everybody's kinda got their function. A lot of these, business units are very siloed. But I think it's really interesting what you're saying about the data and being able to, share that across business units and and across different use cases. So can you share a little bit about how your department really kind of touches all these different business units and and how you support them with this data?

Yeah. So really really for us in our in our build out of our program here at Dominion is we're under the services umbrella. So we we actually supply and provide service to all of our business units.

Some utilities aren't aren't, you know, structured that way, but the unique part of our group is is we're actually able to do work for every one of our businesses.

So it really gives us the ability to collect the data and then basically share that data, you know, across our businesses.

You know, in some situations where, say, for example, at some company, maybe maybe your electric transmission couldn't share with distribution. Right? But if our group services is collecting that information, we can share that amongst other groups in our business. Right?

So you're not crossing lines of of budgetary and other things. Right? So it really streamlines this this process of getting the data where it needs to get funneled to. You know, I mentioned Esri, you know, as a platform that we use here at Dominion.

But if we were able to put all that data and all those flights in one location, depending on who had the ability to look at that data, you know, had authorization to look at that data, then it it it could already have been collected for you without having to do repeated flights in order to get the same information.

So that that's a really, you know, cost saving across the whole entire enterprise for us is being able to do that.

That's awesome. And if we think about the utility workflow with all the inspections that need to happen and the information that you're trying to collect, could you talk a little bit you you said that Esri a lot of utilities use Esri, I think it's pretty safe to say.

And I think there are platforms that are just common in the utility space as well as post processing AI that tends to happen.

Could you talk a little bit about the business value of being able to integrate easily to get your data from one platform to another, so that at the end of the day, you can get from flight to insight.

Yeah. I mean, for for us is working with with vendors. Right?

You know, we we talk to vendors and then, you know, that connection could could be made with Skydio. Right? And then you all have the ability to reach out to some of these same same vendors, these same companies. Right? And the relationship there is so important because of the data that's needed. Again, like, I talk about metadata, and and I don't wanna minimize that, but it's so important that all of those pieces and parts work together correctly. Right?

And the interpretation there is so important for us having that relationship with our vendors that are currently could be a vendor, you know, for the company.

But then being able to bring in what SkyView is able to provide on the API out, that that's a key factor in bringing all of this data together.

You know, there's not one platform that does everything. There's not one program that does everything, and we all realize that in the utility industry.

You know, there's not a one stop, you know, shop, you know, item that we can pull out of our pocket, launch it, and get everything back. Right? So there's a lot of pieces and parts that need to come together, that that are so critical and important to our business.

Awesome. Thanks.

So, TF, Dominion's mission, is to provide the reliable, affordable, and increasingly clean energy that powers your customers every day. How does, the use of of drones for inspection, help you deliver that safe, reliable, and affordable electricity to the community.

I mean, if you if you look at some of the traditional ways and and not only actually, I'm gonna I'm gonna stand up real quick to darkroom. Sorry about that.

You know, one of the things for us is is reliability. Right? You know, reliability of our grid, Being able to go out and provide that reliability means that certain things have to be inspected continuously. Right? And to be able to do that affordably, you know, not only in in electric transmission or distribution, for example, but in power generation, for example.

In order to do certain inspections, it could mean erecting a lot of scaffolding to to reach a certain location. Right? If we're able to do that with a drone and we have, you know, our pilot standing on the ground, we're we're able to do that very affordably. We're able to do that reliably and repeatedly using the aircraft that we're using. Right? And then it's increasingly clean. I don't have to potentially have a bunch of man hours where people are bringing trucks in and equipment in order to wreck the scaffolding.

Maybe it's a helicopter operation. You know?

Drones, we're not gonna, you know, go one for one for for a helicopter, but a lot of inspections are done by helicopter because there's no other means of doing it. If we could do that with a drone and save that that cost of of that inspection from that, it's also you know, there's another inherent risk there. Right? You have, you know, two two pilots and then, you know, an aircraft that's flying, you know, over assets. You know, flying in the online environment is is dangerous work.

But if we don't have to do that, then then we're we're really increasing our efficiency. We're increasing the lab reliability of our grid. It's it's definitely affordable and, you know, they increasingly clean. I think that goes without saying, you know, when you're using a drone to do that work, you know, that's that's that's sating and and working towards our, you know, zero emission to twenty fifty, for the company. So I think, you know, that's what we wanna do with our customers every day.

You know, I think drones are are really a good, price point when you look at what they're able to provide.

And I I think, you know, there's a there's definitely a cost saving there. I mean, obviously, for us doing it internally, there's a cost saving because, you know, we're not having to bring a third party example, you know, into our system too.

There's no change orders, things like that. So there is definitely, you know, with the with the ten man group that I have, you know, here at here at Dominion, you know, we're able to to save a lot of costs in that aspect as well.

Cool.

Let's talk a little bit about starting a drone program. It seems to be a popular topic, in the industry.

In the beginning, what was the the goal of the drone program?

So for us, it was really in the beginning of our program was is trying to put the guardrails in place. You know, we had we had you know, drones were becoming a thing.

You know, we were having, you know, individuals bring their personal drone from home and flying in on our infrastructure. And, you know, our executive leadership said, yeah. We really need to put some some guide you know, guidelines around how we're utilizing unmanned systems and realizing that this is probably the future of a lot of inspection, you know, here at Dominion. And it's really trying to get that base basic foundation down.

Right? Building the program, making policy, making, you know, procedure manuals, and following what, you know, the FAA, you know, ultimately has control of when it comes to operating, you know, in that environment as a commercial operator. So that was really the the things that really came came about, you know, is the worth is the risk worth, you know, having an employee bring their own personal drone to work and, you know, there was really not an appetite for the risk. So really standing up the program really started there.

The realization early on, you know, it even went, you know, before the the two thousand seventeen time frame for us at Dominion is really how do we do this the right way, get off on the right foot, and then really progress our program past that.

So, you know, I think that was that that was really how we started. You know, leadership buy in, you know, we just we started the program, in the process, like I said, in the beginning where we were comparing apples to apples. We're like, okay. We're gonna do a a volumetric study at one of our our coal, you know, fire power plants.

You know, it's a three day process roughly. You know, we have a lot of downtime there where we're not able to push the pile, where we would able to be bringing a drone in and collecting thousands more points and really getting that more accurate. Right? So we were able to show, you know, the traditional way.

We're not taking that off the table yet, but we're actually gonna show how we can do this with the unmanned systems and a drone. Right? So we brought the sky to you, and we did a fifteen minute flight, and we were more accurate than a three day study because of the amount of data we were collecting. So I think that really leadership was looking at, you know, cost, you know, dollar to dollar, and it really made sense to like, maybe we should get into this a little bit more than what we are, which then led to, like, the budget.

You know, how do you get the money to stand up a program? And and from our from our standpoint, we didn't go out and buy twenty drones. Right? We bought a couple of drones to be able to prove the value of what they would bring to the table.

Again, you know, the safety part of it, how do you put a number on safety?

You know, that's that's a real important key factor here too where, you know, I I think when you compare a life to a drone, there's really no comparison. Right? We'll we'll all agree there. But if I can show that I could do this for half the price that I could do it before, or or maybe I don't have to wreck scaffolding in an area, I may have to because I may need to do a repair that identified with a drone.

So you really, you know, can't take that off the table, but really you started showing this really big cost efficiency of using unmanned systems. You know, our our program also does, you know, we're air, land, and sea. We we do have submersibles as well. Then we do, you know, a lot of confined space as well too with our with our drones too.

But, you know, that's just how the the programs evolve from, you know, early workflows, how we were using the technology, doing things that had never been done before. You know, we we we had a, a gravel pile at a dam, and we really never knew what the volumetric calculation was of who was actually sitting there. You know, these are things that we were able to do really quickly.

It provided value. And and really for us, it's the value to the business that we're supporting here at Dominion. You know, for us, we really have to show what that value is, and then, you know, maybe it is, you know, twelve drone in a boxes. Maybe it's one initially and maybe then we we branch out from there. Right? So I think all of this is scalable.

You know, co ops, other utilities that are that are trying to get into this, really, the the biggest thing, you know, reach out to me. But the the the basic foundation is so important, as you really go on this journey.

Again, I I would say second is data storage, is another one.

But, you know, that's really kinda how our program really kinda evolved, to where we are today, you know, remote operations, driven in the box, you know, which was kind of a a dream back in two thousand seventeen.

Really wasn't a lot, you know, lot of lot of talk and, you know, look look where we are today.

Cool.

Thanks for that. Let's talk about, let's talk about the program strategy, and your rollout strategy. Like, how, or I guess, have you realized new problems that you can solve that didn't occur initially or things that weren't, that you didn't think about? And then how has the use of drones evolved over time? Like, has it become initially, it was, like, a good thing to have in in my world or, like, when I was at the Southern, it was, like, a good thing to have, but then it became part of the workflow. Is that kind of the same experience you've had at Dominion?

Yeah. I think, you know, once you get the drone in your hand and then you realize what are the things you can do with that platform that you didn't really you really didn't realize the use case initially.

I think we found that on, you know, I I talked about environmental a little while ago. You know, we're trying to do our environmental audits. You know, really didn't realize that there really is a big application there.

You know, we're flying over, you know, you know, projects were under construction, for example, and then wow. Well, we could really use that data to really base our environmental audit inspections on. Right? And so we're really, again, using that same data over for another group that really has an interest in looking at that from a different vantage point.

You know? I think, traditionally, we started off, you know, using cell phones to take pictures of of issues, you know, potentially on an electric transmission or a distribution line. Well, you really weren't at the level of the problem. You were on the ground taking a picture up.

Right? And now to be able to be there by that asset that has the issue and being able to document that, you know, it it really changes your perspective on what you're really looking at. I say there's a lot of poles probably in the utility space that were really good inspected about probably ten or eleven feet off the ground because somebody was just standing there looking at it. Right?

But really, what was really going on above that part of it. Right? So I think we really, really changed a lot of of mindsets when you really are able to look at that from the top down or at the actual level of the, you know, the conductors of the components on that pole. You know, we're looking at that woodpecker hole.

You know, how deep is it? You know, when you're able to get that close and actually look at those stuff, you know, really helps with your o and l process. You know, does that pole need to be replaced today? Can it wait till tomorrow?

You know, same thing in in our power gen facilities as well.

You know, we're able to do inspections without taking it out of service or reducing the amount of current that's flowing through things. By utilizing this technology, really, you know, allows that to continue to operate as it it needs to, unless we see something that that that that says else, you know, that we need to to do something to that asset. So I think really keeping everything up and running, versus having to shut things down, you know, that really makes sense, you know, when you're looking at, you know, the customers that we serve.

Awesome. So what, what problems and applications are you solving today with drones?

So I think really, you know, being a regular you know, regulated, industry, you know, here at Dominion, being able to meet the the inspection requirements. Right? They're set up by the regulators. I think that's a really a a big one, and it's a key important one too.

Being able to get that done and potentially get more done than what has been asked of us as well. Right? So you're able to cover more, you know, for for a utility, a large utility to go out and inspect every every line that you have, every poll that you have on your infrastructure, you know, in a year or month is that that's just not gonna happen. But to be able to do that in a more, you know, side by side comparison.

Right? We talk about AI, and we're able to put those same images.

You know, the orientation is the same. Right? So if we're looking at the same stretch of line today and then we look back at it in a year, you know, that's where change detection and AI really comes to really starting to bear a lot of fruits for us. Right?

So I think that really a really big key thing for us, not only in the distribution transmission side, but also, you know, in our our power generation facilities as well. So I think, you know, places that we weren't able to see normally, in very complex environments, you know, with the obstacle avoidance that we're able to use with Skydio and actually get into those areas.

You know, the the inspection process itself is more thorough.

You know, you can only see so much from the ground.

You know, as I indicated before, and being able to actually get really close to that asset and really inspect it very closely is super important and super helpful.

Cool.

So you guys have been flying Skydio drones for seven plus years. And, with the sensors that the the x ten offers and remote inspection via dock, what are you guys able to do now with these new capabilities?

Well, I think, you know, one of the exciting parts of of what we're looking at, you know, is is the potential use, you know, when when the x ten, you know, is actually out and in a dock. Right? We're able to see some of those applications now, you know, with with the two, you know, lens packages that are on the the aircraft currently. I think that's really the exciting part for us, to be able to see where this is going to be able to give us, you know, being able to look at things from further distance or be able to look at things, you know, from a, dual sensor payload package. Right? So we're looking at with a true radiometric and being able to look at it, you know, getting kind of the same field of view, you know, the l series lens.

I think that's really gonna be a benefit for us, not only in the inspection, but in the security aspect as well. So, you know, having a a drone in a box live at a secure facility where we need to do routine, you know, flights to to make sure that that security perimeter is intact.

Being able to have that type of technology live there at a site, whether it's a substation, you know, or a facility and be able to do repeated flights, you know, looking at key components every single time is that apples to apples comparison.

Really, really comes down to change. You know? Is that gate open or is that gate closed?

You know, the same thing goes for, you know, our our solar, you know, renewable fleet too.

You know, do we have ring outage? Do we have, you know, combiner box issues? Whatever it may be, we're able to look at that, with that data, you know, with with a platform living there on-site and repeatedly be able to do, you know, launch that drone and be able to look at that, time or being able to look at it, process through AI data, and then being able to look at that from that aspect as well from from the change aspect.

Cool. Well, I I think we're gonna go ahead and switch over to a demo here. We've got, we're gonna do a couple demos.

And, what we're gonna do is involve a little bit of audience participation here. So, if you take your mobile device and you scan that QR code that's there on the, on the screen, that's gonna be a ready link. And what that ready link is gonna do is allow you to see a high quality stream from the inspection that I'm gonna do on the, like, on the the web app that we're kind of presenting through.

So I'm gonna go ahead and switch over to to our cloud interface.

Alright.

So, what you see here is, an example of what you would see if you had a fleet of, of drones. So you'd see, like, your dock drones in the the left side of the screen.

This facility is actually in Hayward, California, at our dock testing facility, and it's indoors. So it's a GPS denied environment, and we're gonna operate this Midway one one nine.

Actually, we're gonna go ahead and switch over to, our outdoor drone. I didn't realize we had that going first. So we're gonna go ahead and switch to that. So we've got, a different link.

So what you see here is, we've got Rodney, out flying a transmission structure in Hayward or, correction, in San Mateo. And, and, Rodney, go ahead and stop flying right there. I just wanna show everybody that this is, in real time.

Oh, wait. Hold on.

I'm sharing the wrong tab.

There we go. Alright. Rodney, go ahead and and let's look at the, top of that poll and see what the top of that poll condition looks like.

There you go. If you could move in, zoom in a little bit on it if you can.

Alright. Cool. So we can see we've got a little bit of growth there at the top, like fungus growth at the top of the pole. Might need a pole cap installed there.

The payload that we're flying with here is our, our l gimbal, the v t three hundred l gimbal.

It has a one inch, fifty megapixel, wide sensor. That's what we're looking through here.

Rodney, if you could back out and see if we can see any insulator ratings on any of the, those insulators that are there at the top.

Alright.

TF, what do you see there? What do you think we should look at?

How about the, identification there on the poll, I think, right there to the left there, Corey?

Yeah. Can we look at that, ID on the left on the poll there? Do you have, like, an ID tag that you can see, Rodney?

Alright.

Rodney, can you just send and see if we can see, like, the, the switch number there?

Got some fault indicators there that we can see, and we've got our switch number there on the, on the handle.

TF, how would you use this this capability here where you have a person in the field and you're streaming the data back? Like, how would you use that?

Yes. I think, you know, really the thing that comes to mind, you know, is like the storm that we're that we're in right now, you know, Debbie that came up the coast, is being able to actually get that in, to our command center, right, our central command center to be able to see real live what's going on out in the field. Right?

You know, a situation like this, there was a, you know, you know, for example, if we had, you know, some insulators there that maybe a crack or the line had operated at some point during the night. Right? Being able to go up there and look at those insulators, be able to tell actually how that that line operated or why it officially operated, you know, in a bird, whatever, lightning strike. Right?

Being able to to show that, I think, you know, really comes in the state assistance too when you're actually really trying to show, some switching and some issues that potentially could be there. Having an engineer that's on the ground at somewhere else other than the location you're at, you can actually give them some real flavor of what is happening real time.

You know, it'll it'll saying that a picture worth a thousand words really applies here too, for them to actually be able to see that in real time and and make a actual decision, eventually on a replacement.

It really comes into play too when you're looking at to, you know, that are pull pull mounted.

You know, if there's an issue with them, we're just looking at the health of those as well. You know, with the Scadio being able to look up the bottom, you know, not only, you know, straight ahead, we're looking up, but being able to get underneath of that and actually look up, as we prepare for there too.

You know, looking at Carter Keys, see if they've backed out or not. You know, we're looking at, some several of them there on that bill.

You know, being able to actually really look close, you know, versus, you know, if this environment was marshy underneath there, bringing mats in to bring actually a vehicle in there or have somebody climb the structure, it really wouldn't make sense.

To being able to use the drone to be able to get in this this position, to be able to see these, Carter keys in this example, You know, super super important to the inspection process.

Cool. Alright. Well, I'm gonna go ahead and stop this stream.

I appreciate that, Rodney.

So now I've got the our cloud or the dock warehouse back up. I'm gonna go back and share that.

And this is gonna work with that QR code that, that we shared earlier, so you'll be able to see this, this feed.

Alright. So we're loading our remote flight deck. We've already shown the fleet that you would see.

We are opening our dock, and, and you can see from the, bottom right, we've got, our dock cameras. This is the view that the the that you would use to inspect or see what's going on out in front of your dock.

We've got the aircraft set up, and it's running through its built in self checks.

And we're ready for flight. So I'm gonna tap the launch button and then switch back to the, the the dock view, and we'll be able to see the drone launch. So tap and launch, and you'll see the drone take off here.

And once the drone takes off, it's gonna do a three sixty rotation.

And, and what that's doing is syncing up the vision collision avoidance with the, IMU onboard, so the flight computer onboard.

And what we have here, we've we've gotten a call to this substation that there's a high temp alarm, and we need to check and see, like, is the high temp alarm real? Is it, since like, a sensing issue? Or and do we need a, like, a regular, test engineer, or do we need a full substation crew to deal with this problem? So what we're gonna do is we're gonna start, and we're gonna see that there's a big gaping hole in the fence. So we probably should, should look at that, but we're gonna fly, over to the backside of the station using our point to click feature. So this point to click feature is pretty neat.

You can click in space, and you'll see the, AR or augmented reality kind of a ring show up, and the drone will fly to that ring. And it's simp I'm not using really any controls, other than, looking with my mouse and then pointing to click. So I'm gonna click towards the, the backside of this power transformer here, and I see the fans aren't running.

Maybe they should be with a high temple arm you would expect them to be.

We can move around to the front side of the tank.

Alright. So I popped around to the front side, and I know I've got some gauges here on the left. We've got an oil level gauge and a, windings temperature gauge that we're gonna try to look at.

Alright. So we've got our windings temperature gauge there on the bottom right, and we can see at that windings temperature gauge that it's at the upper limit of the contacts. So the fan should be running, and we can see the fans aren't running.

So then we're gonna go over here and check our, con the expansion tank, and we see that our expansion tank's low.

We've got a per we've got a low oil level here. So, we know that it's not a relaying or sensor issue, so we're gonna need a a whole substation crew. So rather than waste the time of a test engineer going out there, we can go ahead and say, yeah. We're gonna need a crew to make some, some repairs to this transformer and potentially start coming up with, with alternate, switch switching options, in case this transformer was to fail or that we might need to get some load off of it. And as we continue to do our inspection here, we see that there's a we've got kind of a damaged our middle, low side bushings, a little damage there.

And we found our friendly wildlife that, that likes to cause damage to power systems.

Now something else that's pretty cool about, dock operation when we're doing these inspections is the ability for the drone to kind of analyze and determine its best way home.

I'm gonna take the drone back here into, our warehouse, and I'm gonna kinda get the drone in in what I like to call, an impossible kind of return to home situation. So we're gonna move through this door, and we're gonna fly back here to the back of this warehouse.

Now I I really think there's some, you know, these these interior use cases exist inside the utilities, like, whether it's generation or whether it's, Link loss.

Link loss.

Alright.

So we had a little Link loss.

Issue, I'm gonna go ahead and hit return to home.

But we were back in that warehouse, and, and the drone now is determining its best way home. So it knew the safe way that it needed to fly or or the the safeway that it flew to do the inspection, and it's kind of backtracking, but it's not an exact backtrack. The drone's, kinda extrapolating its best route.

Once it locates the dock, it's going to use that large logo on the top of the dock to, do gross positioning. It's going to identify the dock address. So that zero one there is the the dock address. You could have multiple docks in one location.

So it's identified zero one as its home.

And now it's, it's going to descend and then use the April tag that's on the arm, which the drone has identified for, fine positioning.

And you can see the drone, is now over the, the landing cup, and it's gonna land in there.

Now once the drone lands, it's going to, be returned to the inside of the dock. It's going to begin to charge and, upload that data, to the Skydio cloud where the integrations with our partners, can be used to push that data wherever you need it.

And so we'll see the drone return.

And once it returns, there it goes. So that, that that behavior you saw was the, the drone kind of making sure that the battery was aligned with the charging pins and the, for the data upload and the charging to happen.

Alright. So that mission's happened.

With that, that ready link that we shared, you you could share that across your organization and, and and be able you can also, expire that link. So if the link is, you know, the wrong, the link's been compromised or or shared with someone, maybe it shouldn't have been, you can disable that link and reshare it with, you know, the exact people that you wanna share it with. You can also set an expiration on there so that, once the link, is shared, it it's only good for a certain amount of time, and then it expires and it's no good anymore.

So once you, once you complete the flight, that data goes into the Skydio cloud. So you can see here, historic flights that we've done.

You can replay that data and analyze it.

Another cool thing with doc that you can do is, plan missions.

So those missions can be autonomous, for different protection areas inside the station or different protection schemes, whether it's a a bus differential scheme, you could plan an inspection mission for that.

High side protection, you can plan a mission for that or or the actual bank differential, you can plan a whole mission for that. So, as you would get the alerts that something has happened, you can identify that, flight plan that you have and then operate it or execute it, and then it would go and capture the data for all the, previously defined, inspection points and then return that data to you for analysis.

Something else the Skydio cloud allows program managers to do is to, kind of, manage their fleet, see how many flights they've had. So this is from July the seventh to August the seventh. In one month, we've had, twenty four flights, about two point three hours of flight time on this aircraft.

And then you can see that activity by aircraft. You could see that activity by pilot.

So you can see how many people have flown, you know, which aircraft on your system.

You can also get alerts. If you had something happen to the vehicle or the vehicle health was starting to degrade, you would get an alert there.

And then you can see the number of flights, and then you can view the flights.

So we'll see. We got the flight that just happened. This is a three d, kind of example of where the drone moved around in space, and this is all done, GPS denied with, the vision collision or the vision collision avoidance system, kind of tracking its three d environment.

Alright. I'm gonna go ahead and stop sharing there, and we've got a couple more questions if we could get back to the, to the presentation.

Yeah. Corey, TF, really appreciate, you showing this live demo. So, if anyone else has any questions, if you could please put them in the chat, and we'll go through as many as we can.

So I'm gonna look through these. So, we have a question here. What functions or inspections were your lowest hanging fruit, and how did you determine that? TF, I think this one's for you.

Yeah. A lot a lot of those too. You know? It's not only inspections. It's like a lot of a lot of facilities, for example, really didn't have, they just want an updated photos of their facilities, for planning purposes, you know, for outage, you know, where they were gonna park equipment, during an outage or, hey. We just wanted an updated map because we haven't had one in fifteen years.

So I think, you know, it's not only inspection. It's just there's other things too that you could do with a drone that are just so, you know, eye opening to, you know, the personnel at that station too and and administration too. Right? We're we're trying to we're trying to plan, to do modifications to a facility and being able to do that.

Right? So, really, it doesn't necessarily have to be an inspection. But for inspections for us, it really for for the biggest part for us is is actually doing, you know, the inspection on on on lines. You know, I mentioned, you know, a line operating before too.

Right? Being able to go out there firsthand and being able to determine what happened, why it did, right, why it operated.

You know, we we have teams that that climb routinely to climb on structures, to inspect those.

You know, when you can do some of that inspection, with a drone versus having someone actually climb on that structure, we talked about this before, is the safety part of it.

But I really think, you know, a lot of it too is is even we do a lot of two d mapping.

You know, our our group route right now currently, if you know any any surveyors out there in the world that are also drone pilots, we will be hiring here shortly, because there was a need in our business unit to do that on our construction, especially on solar.

As many utilities, you know, you know, keep building out their their footprint on renewables, you know, obviously, solar, you know, you know, couple thousand acres of land.

You need to do orthomosaics of that property to build those maps. Right? The two d maps and being able to actually drill in and be able to give some good, you know, feedback to those construction groups too.

Helping our designers when it comes to realigning, you know, a stretch of of line, being able to determine what's currently out there hanging and then what needs to be or what can be reclaimed.

I think that's another one. And let's just talk about storm response. I mean, we're we're in the middle of of of that type of weather right now. You know, South Carolina is part of our service territory.

You know, when you really start looking at that, being able just to go out there and get eyes on, you know, areas, you know, that have been damaged by storms and being able to get those things, in the hands of the people that need to make the plans. Could be the overnight crew that's getting ready to make, you know, pack assignments for the next morning to get them out there, to get work done or tree trimming crews. You know, there there's another real valuable. So I I think once you really, you know, get a platform and you start doing the inspections, you really start realizing what the value is of of that and then how it really can fit and benefit the business need.

That's awesome. And along those lines, we have another question. You've you've identified some really amazing use cases. So when justifying your program cost to your management, how do you justify that cost? So were significant o and m savings identified, or was it mostly justified as a reliability or operation improvement, initiative?

I think it's I think yeah. I think that's two pronged, Christina. I think, you know, when we really look at you know, they do they go hand in hand. Right? So if we're able to go do something that we would have to bring in an external party to, you know, into our into our company to do work for us, If we're able to do that at a reasonable cost, you know, we we have full time pilots that are getting a full time salary. Right?

There's no upcharge. There's no change order. There's no, you know, we could be there same day service. Right?

When you're getting that return, you know you know, every every plant manager, you know, every line operator, you know, they're important. Right? And they they need to get the information they need in a timely fashion. So being able to do that, super important.

And I think really from the cost savings aspect, when you look at some of the equipment that we purchase, if you use it four times, basically, if you were having a contract company come and do that work, you've basically paid for it.

So why not own it and use it, you know, a hundred, two hundred, three hundred times or more, you know, over a period of of three or four years, you're really your return on investment is really there.

And and, again, you know, being able to respond to these businesses in a timely fashion is really important. I just had one of my pilots just come in the room, was out was out doing, you know, you know, something that just came up at one of our facilities. Being able to go out and do that, you know, real time, really shows a value and really shows that impact, you you know, where we're really supporting our business.

Yeah. Thanks for that. That gives a lot of color to that. And I know that getting funding is always difficult, and and we are in budget budget season.

There are a couple questions. I'm gonna consolidate them a little bit about the responsibilities between Dominion employees and Skydio in in order to actually implement. So did Dominion come up with your own autonomous routes, or was Skydio assisting with that along with partnerships like Esri?

Yeah. I think it's a combination of all three, honestly. I think, you know, when we're looking at, you know, the best angle to get a shot, I know we, you know, we're we're doing the, live demo there of of some infrastructure. Right? Like, how many pictures or how many images do you need of a poll in order to make good decisions?

You know, is it is it for, you know, all four sides and maybe a top down?

So I think that really kinda that depends on what you're trying to do with the information. But if you don't build the foundation to get that information, again, the AI program, once you teach it and model it, you know, if you keep doing those same repeated things, then the value and the accuracy of that model just becomes that more, you know, accurate. Right?

So I think, really, it's a combination of everything. I mean, we do a lot of things because of our cyber requirements on prem versus having it housed in the cloud.

That's a little bit different than some utilities, but, again, it can be done. You know, you know, Schedio is not, you know, holding the API where we can't get it to use it on programs internally to our business.

So we can bring that that data in and integrate it within our own in house programs or external partners, you know, that Skydio has worked with as well.

So it really kinda builds that that really you know, I talked about before there's really no total solution, but, you know, the more and more we work towards these these accomplishments with Esri and some of the other companies that we've worked with, and Skydio has worked with as well, I think we really get closer to that more, well rounded, platform, or potential.

Awesome.

We are kind of a little bit over time, but there's one more question I'd like to to ask. So, somebody asked, do your drone capture transmission inspections integrate into a common system with your traditional methods of inspection, such as helicopter or ground patrol?

Yes. That's where that Esri that Esri piece comes in.

Can't can't talk a lot lot about that, but, that is definitely something that we are currently working, you know, WISC ID and and Esri on, trying to align those models and that information and data.

You know, more to come on that. But, you know, I I know even previously this week, we or actually last week, we had, some conversation, you know, that we continue to work towards that. So, I I think, you know, every utility has a lot of the same, issues or problems they're trying to solve. You know, the unique part about the utilities is we're really not in competition with each other.

So it really you know, that that broader think tank, you know, UTC conference that we we hosted here, a couple weeks ago as well. You know, everybody coming together at the table, you'll find that a lot of the issues and a lot of the things that we're trying to solve problem wise are, you know, not not a Dominion, issue alone.

I think the other utilities are are facing the same thing. So, it's really, really the time now, in my opinion, to really come together and and really socialize these ideas. And, you know, at the end end of this this process, there's really some great ideas, and they all really come together and align, that it really benefits that really benefits everyone.

Great. Well, I think we're out of time. I think before we sign off, I just wanted to, make notice of a link that should be in the chat. So if you're interested, Skydio is having a user conference at the end of September, and you can register via the link.

So there will be a virtual livestream of our keynote, customer showcase, including, Kathy Hidalgo from Southern California Edison will be on stage with me, and we'll talk about some of the common problems utilities face and how she's expanding her drone program over at Southern California Edison, as well as, breakout sessions of some, really key topics, some of which TF touched on today. So we would love if you could join us. We're gonna talk about our latest products and developments and innovation, and there