Fly out of the Trough of Disillusionment and up the Slope of Enlightenment

Drone’s use in architecture, engineering, and construction was incredibly hyped. One could argue that drones in all industries have been an incredibly hyped tool over the past 5 years. But as the hype curve shows us, the trough of disillusionment awaits for these hyped technologies. Next-level hardware, sensors, software, and workflows sometimes failed to meet some expectations and requirements in the end. However, through the experimentation, research, and development, there were some successes. Focusing on these successes and scaling them leads us to the next stage of the curve, the slope of enlightenment. In this talk, I will go over some of the misconceptions that lead to the trough. But, more importantly, highlight the successes users have had over the years with this technology and additionally propose paths forward to grow and scale the workflows. This will allow us to take this powerful tool and, in a realistic manner, lead us to widespread adoption of the tool.