Drones are everywhere. In leisure, transport, among real estate builders, insurers, law enforcement and of course, they have taken a decisive place among the military. The bulk of the market – 90% are manufactured by the Chinese – is used outdoors thanks to the GPS type signal emitted by thousands of satellites. Only, when you have to go inside, it gets complicated. Only three European companies work in this field. Two in Switzerland and Multinnov, located in Normandy, in Néville (Seine-Maritime). Founded in 2017 by Maxime Bignard, it is a real success story.
With ten employees including four engineers in the Research & Development department, Maxime Bignard has developed two autonomous systems: “First the Rewiew 2, a wireless rover. The only one in the world capable of inspecting pipes. The other is the Stéréo 2, a French drone which can fly in closed, confined spaces, underground, where signals do not pass or pass poorly. To achieve this, we resimulate the location of the devices by visual odometry with cameras, an inertial unit and a central computer. It's like the human brain with an inner ear. The calculation of the positioning is done instantly and creates a relative GPS of the order of a millimeter. From there, with a camera and powerful lighting, the operator can launch control, monitoring and also measurement operations,” explains the engineer.
“In addition,” continues Maxime Bignard, “we founded the company Alpha Scan, which offers services, and the company Drone Français for the sale and design of parts in order to restore a little sovereignty vis-à-vis the 'Asia. We are truly a UFO in the drone field! »
Developed and assembled in Normandy from European and Asian components, Multinnov drones are only intended for professionals for nuclear power plants, petrochemicals, transport such as RATP and SNCF, shipyards and shipowners… “And for many other areas, with enormous skills, insists the specialist. Our drones can also operate in areas where the waves are jammed. Our customers use them mainly to avoid sending humans either for the risk of accident, asphyxiation or to save time in interventions: 80% for the moment allow visualizations. 60% of our sales are exported and we manufacture around a hundred drones per year. But the need is enormous and the demand exponential. »
And for 2025? “We want to increase to 20 employees and generate 10 million euros in turnover,” reveals Maxime Bignard. For this, we are working on smaller and more powerful components, on improving the quality of 3D printing and the defense market. Above all, we want to soon release the first drone in the world capable of flying in all spaces. Both outside and inside! »
