HoverStat Continues Looking to Improve Its Unmanned Aircraft Vehicles (Drone) Program

By Oliver VanDervoort
Contributing Writer

When it comes to the expanding use of drones in the business world, there are almost no markets that aren’t looking at using Unmanned Aircraft Vehicles (UAVs), better known as drones, in the very near future. This is a big reason why a Texas company is visiting a national drone test site in Syracuse, New York this summer. That company, HoverStat is working on tech in order to use small UAVs in order to measure roofs for solar panel installations.

While the drones are being tasked with measuring those roofs, the company is also looking to use the drone technology in order to work in the insurance industry for damage claims as well as inspections. HoverStat is participating in the StartFast Venture Accelerator at Le Moyne College, a program that brings a number of companies to Syracuse every year. HoverStat had been looking at a number of different accelerator programs but eventually landed on the Syracuse site because of its expertise in drone technology.

HoverStat has been using off the shelf UAVs in order to take roof measurements for their solar panels. The software in these drones puts together the data in a way that is easy to access and read for installers. Eventually, the company wants to be able to put this data together faster and deliver that data to a mobile application in a total of 10 minutes. While the company is still working on this technology, this is also where the insurance business would come in as well.

Ideally these drones would be able to do flybys in order to check out damage and claims, alleviating the need for actual agents to do this kind of visit. If the technology can be put together with the envisioned application, it would mean a revolutionary approach to the insurance technology market.

At the moment, HoverStat is sticking with the solar panel roofing business, because insurance companies don’t need the same kind of precise readings and measurements. At the same time, it’s a safe bet that there will be insurance companies that rely on this kind of data. This is further proof that the UAV industry in general is booming and that insurance is a market with great potential.