Playing tic-tac-toe with a drone?

Eindhoven, the Netherlands – Philips Lighting (Euronext Amsterdam ticker: LIGHT), a global leader in lighting, today announced the first application of an autonomous, indoor drone that usesVisible Light Communication (VLC technology) from Philips Lighting to navigate. The drone, developed by Blue Jay, was demonstrated at Maxima Medisch Centrum on 15 June 2017.

Blue Jay’s first autonomous, domestic drone goes beyond serving you a coffee and can play a game of tic-tac-toe with children who communicate with the drone through hand gestures. Additionally, the drone can pick up and deliver objects to a location to assist the less mobile.

The drone uses VLC technologyfrom Philips Lighting, enabling it to pinpoint its location and navigate and act autonomously. This technology enables ceiling lights to act like an indoor GPS and transmit their location through a modulation of the light which is imperceptible to the human eye, but detectable by smart devices such as drones. The wireless operation between the drone and its ground station is made possible by communication technology from NXP.

Notes to editors:

• Philips Lighting has visualized drones and droids serving customers in its 2030 Smart City Life virtual reality video
• The first autonomous drone has been developed by Blue Jay, which established the world’s first Drone Café. The temporary café had drones picking up and delivering items to tables, navigating by VLC. Partners of Blue Jay are TU/E, NXP, Philips Lighting and Fourtress.
• The camera on the drone does not record so no personal data is collected.
• Philips VLC is privacy protected and will not ask nor store any personal data. Each light fixture is using one-way transmission of a luminaire ID or code to the drone using VLC.