BBBS receives a $5 million grant from Israel's Foresight to create and market resilient autonomous drones for use in perilous industrial settings.
Big Bang Boom Solutions (BBBS), one of India's leading DeepTech startups, has joined forces with Foresight Autonomous Holdings to develop rugged autonomous drones for GPS-denied, hazardous industrial environments. The joint project, funded under the India-Israel Industrial R&D and Technological Innovation Fund (I4F), is set to revolutionise industrial inspection by creating next-generation drones capable of navigating complex, cluttered, and dangerous industrial spaces without human pilots or GPS support.
The collaboration aims to address limitations of traditional GPS-dependent drones in industrial spaces such as tunnels, power plants, and chemical refineries. The new drones will leverage BBBS's strengths in autonomous UAV platforms and Foresight's advanced 3D perception and multi-spectral vision systems.
Key advancements include the integration of Foresight's cutting-edge 3D perception and multi-spectral (visible-light and thermal) sensor systems with Big Bang's autonomous UAV platforms. This integration will enable real-time situational awareness and robust sensor fusion, allowing the drones to navigate complex, cluttered, and GPS-denied industrial settings where traditional GPS-dependent drones fail due to signal loss, heat, dust, electromagnetic interference, and corrosive conditions.
Moreover, the drones will feature advanced AI algorithms for autonomous navigation and obstacle avoidance. The AI algorithms will be designed to work in complex, cluttered, and GPS-denied industrial settings, making the drones ideal for operation in harsh, thermally unstable, and confined industrial environments.
The project also focuses on creating mass production drone solutions that enhance safety by reducing human exposure to dangerous inspection sites, improve operational efficiency, and reduce costs in high-value industrial applications. The global drone inspection market is projected to reach about $21.3 billion by 2027, underlining significant opportunity for such technologies. Big Bang projects that commercialization could generate up to $32 million in revenue by 2031 from this technology.
The joint project is a $5 million endeavor, funded 50% by the India-Israel Industrial R&D and Technological Innovation Fund (I4F) and 50% jointly by the partners. It will run for 24 months starting September 2025.
Foresight has unmatched capabilities in multi-spectral 3D vision, stereo imaging, depth perception, and real-time scene reconstruction. BBBS, on the other hand, continues to expand its technological footprint globally through collaborations with international OEMs, research institutions, and public-private R&D partnerships. The company has been recognised for its innovation by multiple government and defence bodies, including iDEX, DRDO, and Make in India.
Praveen Dwarakanath, Director & CEO of BBBS, emphasised that the partnership is about redefining what's possible in industrial inspection. Dr. Shivaraman Ramaswamy, Director & CTO of BBBS, stated that the collaboration is a leap forward for autonomous industrial inspection.
This collaboration innovates on autonomous drone inspection technology by overcoming GPS dependency and environmental challenges through AI-based advanced navigation, multispectral sensing, and rugged hardware. The goal is to achieve mass production of reliable drones that improve safety and efficiency in hazardous industrial inspections while tapping into a large and growing economic market.
- Big Bang Boom Solutions (BBBS) and Foresight Autonomous Holdings are working together to develop rugged autonomous drones for hazardous industrial environments, a collaboration funded under the India-Israel Industrial R&D and Technological Innovation Fund (I4F).
- The new drones, set to revolutionize industrial inspection, will leverage BBBS's expertise in autonomous UAV platforms and Foresight's advanced 3D perception and multi-spectral vision systems.
- The project focuses on creating mass production drone solutions that reduce human exposure to dangerous inspection sites, improve operational efficiency, and reduce costs in high-value industrial applications.
- The joint project is a significant venture, with a $5 million budget, and it will run for 24 months starting September 2025.
- BBBS, known for its innovation, continues to expand its technological footprint globally through collaborations with international partners, and has been recognized by multiple government and defense bodies in India.
