GREENSIGHT INC. SBIR Phase I Award, July 2023

Rapid and efficient ship maintenance and construction is a critical capability for American defense, and that enterprise demands the ability to quickly inspect dark, cramped, and dirty spaces within vessels. In recent years, robots have begun to undertake this task, but have not been fully successful due to being severely limited in endurance, maneuverability, and communications capability. GreenSight, a leading manufacturer of aerial and marine robots, is excited to introduce CASSEE, a Compact Aerial System for Shipboard Enclosed Environments. It is a uniquely-featured long endurance (~1hr) confined space inspection drone system for ships, designed to fit into, through, and around the interior confined spaces of ships, yet be robust and powerful enough to be used to inspect exterior structures as well. CASSEE's main advantage over competitors is its long flight time, enabled by its optimized bicopter propulsion concept: dual, wide-diameter rotors fill the available rectangular 14x24" space and allow for minimal disc loading and maximum efficiency.  The fully enclosed composite monocoque body provides a robust structure capable of surviving the inevitable bumps and scrapes when flying in confined spaces, while also serving as a propeller guard and a waterproof and dustproof enclosure for electronics components. CASSEE's chassis surround will be covered with widefield cameras, illuminated by powerful LEDs.  CASSEE's user interface will leverage these cameras to provide operator  awareness in a complete 360 degree sphere regardless of the orientation of the drone. For detailed inspection requiring high magnification, CASSEE will have a removable three-axis optical zoom camera gimbal that can be attached either on the top or bottom of the drone, and swapped out with other cameras or environmental sensor systems to enable future inspections. In advanced iterations, onboard image processing will use the 360 degree cameras for autonomous navigation, obstacle avoidance, and mapping. CASSEE’s avionics are built around GreenSight's fully NDAA compliant UltraBlue robotic controller suite, and will feature a secure, encrypted mesh datalink. CASSEE will be a game changer for the Navy's ship inspection capabilities, and GreenSight is fully capable of making it a reality.