The ability of drones to do the work of humans is already a reality. On Monday, Dominion Virginia Power showed off how the technology can do the job more quickly and efficiently on a power line.
The power company has been using drones equipped with cameras to inspect some of the 6,500 miles of transmission lines in Hampton Roads and look for storm damage since August 2015. It started testing the technology in 2013.
In a year, the drones discovered six critical issues that the company was able to catch before they became a problem, said Steven Eisenrauch, manager of Dominion’s electric transmission forestry and line services.
A job that would normally require a worker to climb a transmission line or hover in a helicopter can now be done in minutes by a whirring, eight-rotor aerial drone.
