Smarter Missions: Automatic Pause and Resume Feature
We’ve made a significant improvement to the inspection workflow with our new automatic mission pause and resume functionality. This feature represents a collaboration between António Alves and Luís Almeida, combining photo review capabilities with intelligent mission control.
Seamless Photo Verification Workflow
The new system works as follows:
- The drone reaches a photo waypoint and captures an image
- The mission automatically pauses
- The operator receives the image for immediate review
- Upon approval, the mission automatically resumes
- If rejected, a new photo is taken before continuing
This creates a perfect balance between automation and quality control, ensuring every inspection photo meets requirements without requiring manual restart of the mission.
Key Benefits
This seemingly simple feature delivers substantial benefits:
- Eliminates missed or poor-quality photos that would require repeat missions
- Reduces operator workload with automatic resumption of the mission
- Maintains mission integrity even with multiple photo verification points
- Creates a documented approval trail for quality assurance
- Speeds up overall mission completion while improving reliability
Technical Implementation
The system leverages a sophisticated state management approach that:
- Tracks mission progress even when paused
- Maintains safe drone positioning during review periods
- Seamlessly transitions between autonomous and manual control modes
- Preserves mission data for accurate resumption
Real-World Impact
During field testing, this feature reduced overall inspection times by approximately 30% compared to previous workflows that required manual restart after each photo review.
What’s Next
We’re continuing to refine this system with machine learning capabilities that will pre-screen photos and only request human verification when potential issues are detected.
This intelligent pause and resume functionality represents our commitment to creating drone inspection systems that combine the best of automation with human expertise and judgment.