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They say they only do lifesaving technology?? brincdrones.com/work-at-brinc/

They are lying their faces off about that. I’m very familiar with them.

You must know this project? forensic-architecture.org/about/agency

The only thing I know of in this category is NASA's Rangehawk program where they've gotten a couple RQ-4s from the Air Force and reworked them for scientific use.

There has been a vast amount of effort and work around using small drones for aid and science since 2013 (that used to be my career). Unfortunately there is now a serious lack of funding in that area.

Oh sorry I meant projects that I was personally familiar with as a lead to look into. I've done some work in the past with Rangehawks.

There’s always a delicate tension between being very direct about “I need help figuring out WTF I do next” with your network versus seeming desperate. (I’m not desperate in that I don’t have money concerns, but I am desperate in that I desperately miss having a career).

I’m also trying to sort out the prospect of starting my own NGO, which REALLY isn’t my first choice but if it appears necessary…

Sucks to have to go that far but lord knows you'd have quite the talent pool on tap if you could get it off the ground (heh) Like I'm sure @mephtrix.bsky.social would follow you down that path lol

Finally, I’m also (equally god help me) beginning to consider getting back into journalism jobs. I have a lot of highly technical OSINT and data journalism skills and investigative reporting experience, and some people with questionable taste seem to think I’m funny, hit me up….?

You could call it Andy NGO, which would be wildly confusing to potential donors.

You're probably aware of the stealth mode startup just outside the Boston area that I was trying to get right before I got my current job but just in case, theres a stealth mode startup just outside the Boston area that's not strictly a weapon or delivery

Maybe they'll let us both have it lol

I really want to get out of Boston, but if they’ve got remote…

For example, you can control drones to record weddings. My BIL did that.

Good for you. Definitely a privileged position in a sense but that doesn’t mean it’s not a morally right & principled one. Can’t begin to tell you how many jobs and money I’ve missed out on because I have high standards for myself and others, in every sense of the word

Yep, I fully acknowledge it’s a privileged position to be in, which I think makes it all the more important I don’t compromise.

100% agreed. In a lot of ways, although our financial situations may be completely opposite, the essential question remains the same. I could easily justify working for things I don’t respect and probably no one would openly judge me for it, but at the end of the day you still have to face yourself

I don't think they have any positions they are hiring for, but drones and robotics have been a key focus of our director this year. Let me know if there is any interest in more info: citris-uc.org/research/avi...

I’d be happy to learn more. I’m not a mechanical or aviation engineer, but I do have a lot of experience on the policy, implementation, and drone data analysis and management side.

CITRIS does a lot of implementation research (supporting the launch of promising research ideas into the real world pilots, awarding SEED grants, etc.), so policy expertise is welcomed! Let me poke around a little bit and see what I can find out for you.

If it helps, drone flying and GIS work in forestry is heating up. We're using LIDAR drones to do volume estimates on standing timber, as well as a bunch of other land management stuff. Infrared data for species ID and stuff too.

Might want to monitor the listings on americanforestmanagement.com as well as nonprofits like the nature conservancy, American Forests (AF) and the American Forest Foundation (AFF)

You wanna come clean my fish tanks? I’m not paying you or anything. I just want someone to clean my fish tanks.

Cleaning really isn’t one of my gifts, I’m afraid

I know that big telecom companies, the folks running the nationwide long-haul networks and tying all the data centers together, are all dealing with issues on their networks that come down to not having eyes on the assets. A well-written proposal about how drones could inspect the routes might…

lead to something interesting. Especially if you were able to include info about possible rights-of-way for new fiber builds. Just listened to our CTO commit to physically inspecting thousands of route-miles of fiber, AND then setting up ongoing physical eyes-on reviews.

And knowledge of modern GIS systems (we use QGiS because it’s open source), and how to integrate with drones would be even better.

If Cotality sounds interesting at all I’m happy to do a warm intro. My Dad’s their chief scientist and was a GIS prof for 30 years, so he knows the space (unlike me)