Worlds best (2023) Drone LiDAR works in a Cave

Welcome back, Indiana Droners! In this video, we're taking you on an extraordinary journey to one of Northern California's hidden gems - SharkFin Cove. Brace yourselves as we dive deep into a mysterious cave and soar above the majestic coastline, all in stunning 3D!

Our guide on this adventure? The state-of-the-art ROCK R3 Pro LiDAR camera, in SLAM mode! We're pushing the boundaries of drone technology and giving you an unparalleled look at this incredible location. Check out the ROCK R3 Pro here:

We start off by navigating the intriguing labyrinth of the cave at SharkFin Cove, creating a detailed 3D model with the ROCK R3 Pro. The LiDAR camera, with its superior SLAM technology, captures every crevice and formation in the cave, providing a unique perspective of this natural wonder.

Then, we take to the skies with the DJI M300 drone, fitted with the same ROCK R3 Pro LiDAR camera. As we glide over the majestic coastline, the drone captures a stunning bird's eye view, mapping the entire area with remarkable precision.

But we don't stop there! We bring together these two datasets to create an immersive 3D world of SharkFin Cove. The result is a seamless blend of the underground and the aerial, a comprehensive representation of this breathtaking location like you've never seen before!

Want to explore this 3D world for yourself? Head over to our dataset at:

Don't forget to hit that Like button if you enjoyed this video and subscribe to our channel for more exciting drone adventures! Let us know in the comments where you want us to fly next!

Stay tuned and keep flying, Indiana Droners!

#IndianaDrones #RockR3Pro #LiDAR #SLAM #3Dmapping #DJI #M300 #DroneMapping #SharkFinCove

[Erdal_Gumus]

As someone who has spent a significant portion of my academic life exploring karstic and volcanic caves, this will be the unicorn wand of scientific cave mapping and modeling.

[jeffersondefaria]

Could you talk more about collecting data in caves?

1) For large extensions of caves, is it necessary to return to the same exit location? Some scanner models, when used in SLAM, need to do a looping, limiting the execution time and generating several files that you need to join later, causing an error. This is the case with GeoSlam.

2) How is the cloud merging done since in the cave you don't use gnss?

[danieljwindham]

This is so awesome! Going from INSIDE A CAVE to in the air! Seamless!

[VRStudio]

hello from Europe (Bulgaria) my name is Boyan and I am planning to start a drone business but when I was watching you I realize that you are at a much higher level than me so I will continue to watch you and try to learn from your professional great work, thank you for all this valuable information

[Anonymous_Whisper]

Very cool. This is a video I wanted for some time. Good job. 😁😁😁😁😁

[KillaKiwie]

I would be interested to know how well you achieved "level" throughout the cave, without closing out to the other side of cave/stormwater pipe to confirm orientation and level was achieved.

Have you run any tests on the handheld SLAM setup for how well it maintains an accurate understanding of level while not looping back on itself and "closing"?

Do you have any ability to have influence on the handheld SLAM point cloud when no control points are acquired? Or is it a simple upload to the cloud, press process, and you receive a finalised pointcloud to download?

Loved the video mate.

[LearnREPhotography]

This is rad! More spelunking lidar please!

[alexsafonov]

Once again, more cool stuff from Rock Robotic 😎👍🏽
thanks for sharing this!

[voxsideres]

It would be crazy to be able to see Mammoth Caves like this

[outbackyonder]

I have a cave here in Australia I'd like to map; well done

[dangilbert]

Incredible! I work for a water utility and the ability to capture inside assets is awesome!

[youtubegoogleb]

This is absolutely incredible, surveying with this new tech will be revolutionary, love the Leica rtc 360 but this is next level

[tristin]

It would have been interesting to see if the culvert opening that daylighted at the back of the cave lined up with the drone flight. I did a lidar scan of a 3/4 mile tunnel, after stitching all the scans together it was off by 10ft, just from micro shifts each scan.

[alexknoll]

Such a cool use case to put this all together!

[Anonymous_Whisper]

Did nit expect the graffiti to get picked up 😮 impressive

[TechWizeGuy]

Here's a really easy idea that nobody thought of.. Fly some moderately sized bit of interesting heavy canopied terrain, then go walk all over the place under the canopy. I'd sign up to watch that!

[lisahughes]

That's awesome!! Documenting your travels would be great to see, so many cool places in the world. Didn't you fly a jungle with ruins beneath? Can you share those or are they proprietary? Keep posting, great to see, I'm moving in that direction with your Lidar products for mapping, not sure which trajectory I'm taking yet... 😀

[chaseg.]

You should fly a site and then have a stick that you could lower the unit into manholes to get inverts and pipe systems. Maybe not “cool” and “flashy” but very typical of what a surveyor would need to accomplish. Then link it together so you could supply an engineer with a complete view of a site for design

[kaycred]

I love LIDAR snd 3d mapping and the 360 degree videos now we could do.
If wasn’t for scanning technology, we would never of seen the writing on that greek antikythera device

[MitchKelly]

I’ve always been so curious about where this cave went! Great video!