As the abilities of drones rapidly advance, so do their potential use cases. Use of specialized drones for public safety applications is now becoming more widely adopted; and one of the latest offering to this line is the LEMUR from BRINC DRONES. This exciting new craft features a host of capabilities that police and SWAT teams will be eager to deploy on their next mission.
DSLRPros recently conducted a video interview featuring Derrick Ward (EnterpriseUAS Director of Public Safety) and BRINC Drones’ VP of sales, Brett Kanda. This article will cover crucial points in their conversation, but if you want to learn more we recommend watching the full interview video here.
Designed With And For Police
[Our] engineering philosophy is to start with the customer and the problem and work backwards, as opposed to building something and having to change it to meet customers’ requirements. So every feature that we have built into the Lemur came from actual SWAT operators’ mouths and their ideas and their feedback. – Brett Kanda
Brinc worked closely with the Las Vegas Metro Police (one of the most active police forces in the US) to learn what they needed from a drone. With input from the very professionals who will be using the Lemur, Brinc has made a robust and easy to operate drone for tactical purposes. This craft can navigate indoors and out, transmit low latency HD footage even through walls, breach windows, and much more.
Tough, Lightweight Construction
Police and SWAT teams rely on equipment that is durable and dependable. Brinc knew this and built the Lemur out of tough and lightweight Nylon Reinforced Carbon Fiber, Steel, and the strongest plastics available. Made with the intent to fly inside dangerous environments, the Lemur is nimble and strong enough to survive impacts with walls. The lightweight construction of this craft makes it easy to carry to a mission location and can be deployed in under 60 seconds!
One of the most exciting aspects of the Lemur is that it was designed to crash and to come into contact with objects. With almost every other drone on the market, the idea is to avoid collisions, but with the Lemur, it’s the exact opposite. Because the Lemur is intended to operate in enclosed, low light spaces, the craft has been designed to bump into walls, break through glass, flip itself over after a crash, and continue to fly. In the tests that our team conducted with the Lemur, we found this tough craft could sustain an incredible amount of abuse and continue to do its job.
Controlled Flight Without Geo-Fencing Or GPS
When performing in high stress and dangerous operations, the last thing an operator wants is to be told is that his equipment cannot operate due to an external factor. To this end, the Lemur does not rely on a GPS signal to operate. By forgoing GPS for positioning needs, the Lemur does not require any kind of satellite signal to fly and can be quickly deployed anywhere.
Internal LiDAR sensors enable the craft to easily maintain altitude while indoors. Using lasers to measure the distance from the ground and maintain it enables operators to fly confidently even while going up stairs or steep inclines. This ability has proven to be very useful for clearing multiple rooms in a structure.
Deploy Payloads, Breach Windows, And Establish Communication
The Lemur is designed to perform mission critical operations during intense and dangerous scenarios. First and foremost, the Lemur is a tactical drone with incredible imaging capabilities which include being able to see in complete darkness. Public safety departments are excited by the ability to send a drone into a space and receive accurate visual data about a location. Sending in a drone instead of a person to clear the room helps keep both suspects and law enforcement safe.
Additional capabilities of the Lemur include performing window breaches, dropping supplies, and establishing two way communication. The Glass Breaker attachment has been designed to shatter windows on contact and is effective against reinforced and automotive glass. Despite its low weight and small size, the Lemur is capable of carrying and dropping an item weighing as much as 1 pound. The ability to fly an item and drop it into a dangerous setting is invaluable for SWAT teams. With this capability, officers can transport supplies to team members, food or water to victims, and much more.
Both teams at DSLRPros and at BRINC are very excited about the potential behind the Lemur’s ability to navigate into a space and then listen and respond to the people in the room. The speakers are loud enough to be heard over the motors and the microphone is sensitive enough to hear conversations and footsteps from up to 100 feet away.
The New Standard For Modern Policing
BRINC is confident that the Lemur will change the way barricade, hostage, and SWAT operations are conducted in the coming years and after seeing it and training with it, we at DSLRPros would not be surprised if they were right. Their team is constantly proving their product and as Kanda said, “We are a company that listens… we are always happy to listen to negative feedback, positive feedback, [and] get good ideas from people that are out there operating.”
With their strong connection to the public safety sector and a dedication to innovation, it isn’t hard to imagine every police force in the US having a Brinc Lemur in their tool kit.
Watch Derrick Ward’s entire interview with Brett Kanda here.
To see even more of the Lemur in action, be sure to watch the latest episode of DSLRPros Release Notes, featuring the BRINC Lemur.
Contact DSLRPros today to find out more about this incredible craft!
