For as long as aerial drones have been a thing, we’ve seen people try to use them around water. Typically, it’s either landing on water or taking off from water with “floating landing gear“. We’ve even seen drones that can both fly and sort of swim (more bobbing up and down, really) underwater, as well as drones that don’t fly but are dedicated to underwater use.

Well, now, a new drone developed as a collaboration between Japanese telecommunications company KDDI, commercial drone manufacturer PRODRONE and underwater robotics company QYSEA which takes the best of both worlds and marries them together. It’s called the “Sea-Air Integrated Drone” that can both fly in the air and unleash an underwater drone payload once it’s landed on a body of water.

[Read More…]