System and method for controlling a remote aerial device for up-close inspection

A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions for remotely controlling a remote aerial device for up-close inspection of an object that, when executed by one or more processors of a computer system, cause the computer system to:

• control the remote aerial device to move to an initial target location in a transitory mode, wherein the initial target location is located in proximity to a portion of the object to be inspected;
• and
• cause the remote aerial device to operate in an inspection mode while the remote aerial device is located less than an inspection threshold distance from the object to be inspected by, for each of a plurality of movements between a plurality of hovering locations of the remote aerial device in the inspection mode:
• receiving, from one or more sensors of the remote aerial device, proximal sensor data indicating one or more directions toward one or more proximal obstructions, each proximal obstruction being located within a distance threshold of a current hovering location of the remote aerial device;
• determining a plurality of incremental movement directions based at least in part upon the proximal sensor data, each incremental movement direction indicating potential non-obstructed linear movement of the remote aerial device of a fixed distance in a direction from the current hovering location to one of a plurality of potential hovering locations;
• receiving, at a remote control module, a selection of one of the plurality of incremental movement directions indicating a target hovering location selected from the plurality of potential hovering locations;
• controlling the remote aerial device to move from the current hovering location to the target hovering location based upon the selected incremental movement direction;
• and
• causing the remote aerial device to remain at the target hovering location until a further selection is received from the user.

A computer system for remotely controlling a remote aerial device for up-close inspection of an object, comprising:

• a remote aerial device having one or more sensors;
• a remote control module having one or more processors;
• and
• a program memory coupled to the one or more processors and storing executable instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the computer system to:
• control the remote aerial device to move to an initial target location in a transitory mode, wherein the initial target location is located in proximity to a portion of the object to be inspected;
• and
• cause the remote aerial device to operate in an inspection mode while the remote aerial device is located less than an inspection threshold distance from the object to be inspected by, for each of a plurality of movements between a plurality of hovering locations of the remote aerial device in the inspection mode:
• receiving, from one or more sensors of the remote aerial device, proximal sensor data indicating one or more directions toward one or more proximal obstructions, each proximal obstruction being located within a distance threshold of a current hovering location of the remote aerial device;
• determining a plurality of incremental movement directions based at least in part upon the proximal sensor data, each incremental movement direction indicating potential non-obstructed movement of the remote aerial device of a fixed distance in a direction from the current hovering location to one of a plurality of potential hovering locations;
• receiving, at a remote control module, a selection of one of the plurality of incremental movement directions indicating a target hovering location selected from the plurality of potential hovering locations;
• controlling the remote aerial device to move from the current hovering location to the target hovering location based upon the selected incremental movement direction;
• and
• causing the remote aerial device to remain at the target hovering location until a further selection is received from the user.