The Great Wall of China is one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. If you’ve ever seen the wall in person, then you’ll understand just how massive and impressive it is.  However, because it was built over 2700 years ago, it has seen some major wear and tear from weather and time.  One particular area that has had a lot of damage is the Jiankou section of the wall.  This part of the wall is constructed on cliffs with forests on the side making it difficult to physically inspect it.

The Chinese government has been interested in restoring the great wall for some time now and have chosen an innovative way of doing it.  The Chinese World Cultural Heritage Foundation partnered up with Intel to use drones in restoring the wall. These drones will be operated remotely and will provide a better view of the wall.  Anil Nanduri is the vice president of Intel’s drone team tasked with this project. He stated that drones can successfully inspect several parts of the structure including areas of the wall that was previously inaccessible to human inspectors.

Intel’s Falcon 8+ drones will be equipped with artificial intelligence technology to enable them to search for damaged areas of the wall quickly and effectively.  These drones are already equipped with the latest tracking and imaging technologies to gather the necessary data for the inspection.  The Falcon 8+ drones have a lightweight chassis and batteries that last longer than regular drones. They will also be running one of Intel’s latest innovations, Realsense, which is a collision avoidance system.

With this new technology, the drones can gather images and videos of the wall and can then create 3D images that will help restoration experts study the wall from different perspectives. This way, they can focus on areas of the wall that need the most attention.  By partnering with Intel and using their new technology, China is making a statement about its dedication to preserving World Heritage sites stated Li Xiaomi, the chairman of the foundation.

In the next few months, the drones will search and identify areas that are damaged around the Jiankou section of the wall. They will then map these areas and provide inspectors with data and high definition images and videos.  Intel is looking forward to working with China with the Realsense system and hope that more countries will follow suit and use this technology to inspect and preserve other priceless cultural and ancient structures.