Guidance / Assistance Requested: Autonomous Flights inside a Warehouse

General Discussion
1

Hello everyone,

We are exploring a proof-of-concept and would appreciate guidance on suitable drone platforms.

The use case involves a swarm of small drones operating inside a warehouse environment (approximately 10,000–25,000 sq ft). The drones would be triggered by specific events—for example, when a motion sensor or fixed camera detects a person entering a designated bay.

Upon activation, a drone would autonomously:

  1. Launch from its dock.

  2. Navigate to the detected individual.

  3. Initiate and hold a short voice interaction.

  4. Return to its docking station and recharge.

For this PoC, we are looking for a compact drone platform capable of carrying a small payload consisting of:

  • Camera (for visual awareness and navigation)

  • Speaker (for communicating with the person)

  • Microphone (for two-way interaction)

Ideally, the platform should also support programmable autonomous flight, docking/charging capability, and the ability to operate as part of a multi-drone system.

Any recommendations on platforms, SDKs, or development kits suitable for this type of indoor autonomous operation would be greatly appreciated.

2

This biggest issue I can think of is that inside a warehouse, you may not have GPS reception. DJI drones require GPS for positioning. Newer models may also use a downward visual positioning system for holding position or LIDAR for obstacle detection.

3

I’m not a techie, but curious, could we 3d map the warehouse and feed it to the drone’s IQ so that it is aware of it’s position? Pl ignore if it’s a stupid idea.

4

There is no such thing. DJI drones use GPS for positioning. Without that, it would fly using what is called ATTI mode where you don’t have any brakes and continuously have to compensate for momentum.