Chinese engineers make sci-fi drone mapping reality

The drone features a spherical shell with a reinforced cage-like frame, allowing it to operate in high-risk environments such as municipal culverts and bridge-supported pipelines, the center said.

Equipped with the 3DAware? flight control system, the drone utilizes simultaneous localization and mapping technology to generate real-time 3D models of its surroundings, the center said. The Dimension I also carries a specially designed 4D-Aware software for video replay and 3D model inspection.