Elios

The Elios 3 is a confined-space inspection drone made by Flyability (Lausanne, Switzerland), equipped with onboard LiDAR, a camera/IMU suite, and optional payloads including ultrasound NDT and a flammable gas sensor. Its primary task is visual and non-destructive inspection of GPS-denied, inaccessible indoor environments such as mines, tanks, and industrial infrastructure. The drone is piloted by a human operator for the initial mapping/inspection flight, with autonomy features (Smart Return-to-Home, Autonomous Repeat Flight, obstacle avoidance) reducing cognitive load and enabling repeatable re-execution of recorded missions — but the vendor explicitly states autonomy is designed to support, not replace, the pilot. Research groups have demonstrated fully autonomous contact-based NDT on the Elios 3 platform, but this is an experimental capability, not the standard commercial product offering. The system is best characterized as Supervised-Autonomous for its Autonomous Repeat Flight mode and as Teleoperated/Supervised-Autonomous for initial manual flights, with the overall operational model sitting at Supervised-Autonomous.