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Autonomous Drone Inspection Service
Unlimited Range Enabled by Recharging Off Power Lines
Our Story
While at the University of Washington, we won the largest student entrepreneurship competition in the PNW, the Dempsey Startup Competition, while competing with 174 teams from 23 universities. Before that, we won the UW's Environmental Innovation Challenge.
With experience working for Seattle City Light, Boeing, Palantir, SpaceX, and building drones for the U.S. Air Force and DARPA, we plan to become the premier inspection contractor to assist utilities in managing and preventing faults on their vast networks.
The Problem
The 2018 Camp Fire destroyed nearly 19,000 buildings. The 2023 Eaton Fire burned over 14,000 acres. 102 people died in the 2023 Maui wildfires. All were sparked by utility equipment.
In fact, 1 in 5 wildfires in the U.S. are caused by power lines—leading to over $10B in annual liability.
These disasters aren't outliers. They're symptoms of a much more systemic problem.
Utilities inspect their power lines about every 5 to 15 years.
70% of transmission lines are over 25 years old.
Over half of lineworkers are approaching retirement.
Not just utilities, but all of America's critical infrastructure is in an observability crisis.
Our Solution
Finding fire hazards before they spark disasters
A complete inspection service, not just drones
We're building a comprehensive inspection service. Our drones will traverse thousands of miles unaided—periodically recharging on the line—as they follow power lines from above, delivering actionable maintenance data directly to your team.
No Hardware to Buy
We deploy the drones with our field services. You get the insights.
Continuous Inspections
Recharging off the line enables 24/7 operations
Sensor Fusion
Integrated visual, thermal, and ultrasonic sensing—high quality data collected at close range
American Made
Our drones will be all American made, with blue UAS designation in progress
Our Software Platform
Our autonomous hardware will generate time-rich data on the power grid. This data will enable monthly maintenance updates with precise geolocation.
3D Mesh Inventory of All Assets
Navicable point clouds for reliable digital twin
Precise Geolocation
Exact location tracking for all maintenance issues
Predictive Analytics
Time-rich data enables predictive ML models
Actionable Reports
Autogenerated maintenance tickets integrated with your systems
Our Platform
We've built a drone capable of flying continuously for thousands of miles by inductively charging directly off power lines, enabling persistent and precise inspections.
It's designed to carry visual, thermal, and ultrasonic sensors to inspect a variety of maintenance concerns and identify risks to grid infrastructure.
Capabilities We're Building
AI/ML Inspections
We know that your team needs a prioritized list of exceptions and risk assessment, not massive volumes of raw visuals. We have built a preliminary software stack using 3D point clouds of vegetation to identify trees or foliage encroaching on lines. We are building capacity to incorporate more sensor types and utilize machine learning to identify faults and risk automatically.
Delivery
We currently deliver inspection results (.csv) via email. These files contain a list of maintenance action items, including date and time, allowing utilities to streamline their inspection recordkeeping. Photos and 3D models of each concern will be hyperlinked and visible on a browser.
Recharging
Our patent-pending recharging IP enables a drone inspection service that, when fully developed, would allow our system to recharge off an AC powerline of any voltage using inductive charging.
Autonomy
We can currently leverage GPS waypoints for semi-autonomous flight. We're implementing more autonomy over time for obstacle avoidance and safe recharging.
Mission
At Voltair, our mission is to keep America's lights on. We aim to support utility operations through faster, more frequent overhead line inspections—enabling better decision-making and resilience. We strive to build reliability and antifragility into America's critical infrastructure.
Founding Team
Advisors
Entrepreneurship Strategy Advisor
Christy Johnson is the founder of her fourth start-up, Artemis Connection, and teaches at both Stanford Graduate School of Business and the University of Washington. She holds an MBA and a Master's in Education from Stanford. Earlier in her career, Christy spent 3 ½ years at McKinsey & Co. and later was Vice President at Flextronics, where she incubated a SaaS supply chain analytics company that was later divested.
Aerospace Executive Advisor
Former CEO of magniX and Executive Chairman of Eviation, led the world's first electric commercial aircraft flights and secured a $75M NASA contract. Former Boeing executive; Chief Customer Officer for Boeing Flight Services, oversaw global revenue and customer engagement. Now CEO of Alitheon®. Career spans aerospace, SaaS, investment banking, and military service.
UAS Regulatory & Legal Advisor
Director of the Oregon Department of Aviation and member of FAA's Advanced Aviation Advisory Committee, including the Remote ID and BVLOS ARCs. Served as the CEO for the Drone Service Providers Alliance, a 501(c)6 that represents over 35,000 small and medium sized drone businesses throughout the United States. Served as Chief Pilot for A-Cam Aerials, a media company.
Wildfire Insurance Advisor
Director of Business Development and Member Relations at EIM, where he focuses on enhancing engagement and aligning the company's vision with its membership. With a career spanning the insurance industry, including roles at Marsh and FirstEnergy, Pete brings extensive expertise in risk management and organizational transformations.
Join Our Team
Interested in joining our team? Email us at: info@voltairlabs.com