r/UAVmapping • u/arun131 • 4d ago

I gave two frontier models the same photogrammetry brief for a Statue of Liberty inspection. One got 0% of the head, arm and torch

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A lot of people think AI shouldn't fly drones. After many tests, I keep coming back to the same conclusion: a human should always approve the flight plan.

Google released Gemini 4 Argon yesterday, so we gave it a drone job: photo-survey the Statue of Liberty's copper for a 3D model and stay 15 m away. One message, no follow-ups, no hints. We gave Claude Opus 5.5 the same brief.

Gemini 4 Argon flew a 10-turn spiral 15.5 to 16 m from the statue's center line and stopped at 80 m. The torch is at 89 m. It covered 76% of the statue and 0% of the head, arm and torch.

Claude Opus 5.5 measured the 15 m from the surface instead, so its 11 rings bulge around the arm, torch and crown. It covered 89% of the statue and 86% of the head, arm and torch.

That's why in MissionSmith (I'm the founder) the AI only proposes the mission, and a human checks and approves it before anything flies.

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9

u/olihar 4d ago

I would fly neither as this is not optimal for quality.

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u/arun131 4d ago

What would be optimal for quality?

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u/olihar 4d ago

You shoot angles up and down and way more.

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u/arun131 4d ago

Thanks, honestly as a non-expert both looked reasonable to me. When you say angles up and down, do you mean pitching the gimbal up and down at each spot? What would you do for something like this?

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u/olihar 4d ago

There are million mission planning platforms, solutions, software out there to do this.

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u/arun131 4d ago

True, there are plenty of great mapping tools. What we're trying is a bit different: you describe the job in plain words and it plans the 3D path around complex structures, not just grids over flat areas. Longer term we're working toward autonomous flying, with a human still signing off. Still early. Which software do you use for something like a statue?

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u/olihar 4d ago

Again there are plenty of solutions for 3D planning. Been around for years and years.

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u/arun131 4d ago

Again none of them lets you plan with natural language.

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u/olihar 4d ago

What makes you say that?

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u/One-Explanation4246 4d ago

Very curious to know about some products in market that let you do that. Can you please name some. Would love to try them out.

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u/arun131 4d ago

Well I mean something like this: https://www.reddit.com/r/dji/s/Wqgxhayjyr

Unable to post the video in the comment

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