The FIRST iZ team traveled to Las Vegas, NV to exhibit in and attend the Commercial UAV Expo Americas conference the last week of October.
Commercial UAV Expo Americas, is North America’s leading trade show and conference focused on commercial drone integration and operation in a number of industries, including Public Safety & Emergency Services. In the conference program, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) industry experts share key insights into the issues asset owners face with implementing unmanned aerial systems, including systems selection and integration; developing enterprise workflows, guidelines and polities, data management and integration; and legal, safety and regulatory considerations. Commercial UAV Expo Americas has more exhibitors than any other commercial drone show.
FIRST iZ featured two products in the expo, the FIRST iZ drone and FIRST Port. Both were recognized this week as “cutting edge drone technology” in CNET.
This year’s expo featured a new addition, the DRONERESPONDERS Public Safety UAS Summit. DRONERESPONDERS is a non-profit organization whose mission is to “facilitate preparedness, response and resilience using unmanned aircraft systems and related technologies operated by public safety, emergency management and non-governmental volunteer organizations around the world.” The Summit united drone operators and program managers across law enforcement, fire rescue and other emergency services for strategic discussions and workshops surrounding the evolving use of unmanned aircraft systems.
Topics included program development and management, training standards and certification, mutual assistance and more.
“Commercial UAV Expo was a great way for FIRST iZ to be in front of industry insiders, the government, and first responders, to see what it is that they’re doing, where they think the industry is going, and how we as a solution fit into that progress,” remarked FIRST iZ Operations Strategist Scott Shtofman, “We are excited about building on the conversations we had and bringing aerial intelligence to our customers.“
Walker Jeske, Flight Pilot and Project Leader added, “FIRST iZ made great connections at the Commercial UAV Expo and saw innovative technologies that excite us as we seek to use drones to change the world.”
The Public Safety UAS Summit included discussions about the recently proposed legislation to ban drones from countries deemed “non-cooperative” from U.S. government agency purchase. Since the expo, the Department of the Interior has announced a decision to ground its existing fleet of DJI (Chinese-made) drones pending further investigation.
“Our team stays keenly tuned into all drone legislation,” responded FIRST iZ co-founder Phil Burks, “and we appreciate our legislators for their thoughtful exploration into this issue.”
FIRST iZ is a patent-pending unmanned aerial system to allow drones to be dispatched autonomously by 911 operators. FIRST iZ is co-founded and managed by Phil Burks, the CEO and founder of The Genesis Group and Phirst Technologies, LLC.
