ModalAI Forum

Hi ModalAI team,

Reposting here under VOXL Dev Kits (also asked in the VOXL Flight Deck sub-forum). A few technical questions for our indoor GPS-denied inspection PoC — a compact custom quadcopter (X4) airframe built around the VOXL 2 Mini.

[SLAM / autonomy]

• VOA performance in narrow (~300 mm) corridors — any pipe / industrial refs?
• Open-VINS is pure VIO (no loop closure) — for repeated long flights, is Mapper + AprilTag re-localization enough to bound drift?

[Precision landing]

• voxl-vision-hub provides AprilTag relocalization but notes it "does not yet support autonomous takeoff and landing." Is a fully automated AprilTag precision landing onto a charging dock achievable using the VOXL SDK alone (voxl-tag-detector / voxl-vision-hub + PX4 precision-land), without us writing our own landing logic? If so, what is the recommended setup? If some part still needs custom development, which part?

[Cameras / sensors]

• VOXL 2 Mini has 4 MIPI-CSI. Using 2 for VIO + 1 downward for precision landing = 3. Can a 4th camera (gimbal / thermal) be added, and how?
• For the downward precision-landing camera, is MSU-M0166 (AR0144 micro-coax) the right choice? Can that downward AR0144 be shared by both VIO and the voxl-tag-detector (AprilTag) at the same time?
• Recommended ToF module for collision avoidance?

[Airframe / drivetrain]

• Is VOXL ESC Mini (M0129) compatible with our own motor selection (DShot/PWM) in a standard quadcopter (X4) configuration?
• Any thermal / layout guidance for integrating VOXL 2 Mini + ESC Mini into a custom ducted-cage airframe?

[Mission / comms]

• Vision Hub: can an external host (our charging station) send trajectories and trigger auto takeoff / landing?
• WiFi 2.4 GHz stability indoors — recommended radio module?

Note: We don't have hardware yet (pre-purchase), so voxl-version / voxl-inspect-services / PX4 logs are not available at this stage.

Thanks!
JinHyeok Kim, Pablo Air

Gentle bump — it's been 5 days and this thread is still open with no reply. Would really appreciate any input from the ModalAI engineering team on the questions above (VOA/SLAM in narrow ~300 mm corridors, fully automated AprilTag precision landing via the VOXL SDK alone, and sharing the downward AR0144 between VIO and voxl-tag-detector). Even partial pointers would help a lot — we're evaluating the VOXL 2 Mini for a PoC and are ready to buy an evaluation unit. Thanks!

Hi ModalAI team,

We were directed here from the sales channel. A few technical questions for our indoor GPS-denied inspection PoC — a compact custom quadcopter (X4) airframe built around the VOXL 2 Mini.

[SLAM / autonomy]

• VOA performance in narrow (~300 mm) corridors — any pipe / industrial refs?
• Open-VINS is pure VIO (no loop closure) — for repeated long flights, is Mapper + AprilTag re-localization enough to bound drift?

[Precision landing]

• voxl-vision-hub provides AprilTag relocalization but notes it "does not yet support autonomous takeoff and landing." Is a fully automated AprilTag precision landing onto a charging dock achievable using the VOXL SDK alone (voxl-tag-detector / voxl-vision-hub + PX4 precision-land), without us writing our own landing logic? If so, what is the recommended setup? If some part still needs custom development, which part?

[Cameras / sensors]

• VOXL 2 Mini has 4 MIPI-CSI. Using 2 for VIO + 1 downward for precision landing = 3. Can a 4th camera (gimbal / thermal) be added, and how?
• For the downward precision-landing camera, is MSU-M0166 (AR0144 micro-coax) the right choice? Can that downward AR0144 be shared by both VIO and the voxl-tag-detector (AprilTag) at the same time?
• Recommended ToF module for collision avoidance?

[Airframe / drivetrain]

• Is VOXL ESC Mini (M0129) compatible with our own motor selection (DShot/PWM) in a standard quadcopter (X4) configuration?
• Any thermal / layout guidance for integrating VOXL 2 Mini + ESC Mini into a custom ducted-cage airframe?

[Mission / comms]

• Vision Hub: can an external host (our charging station) send trajectories and trigger auto takeoff / landing?
• WiFi 2.4 GHz stability indoors — recommended radio module?

Note: We don't have hardware yet (pre-purchase), so voxl-version / voxl-inspect-services / PX4 logs are not available at this stage.

Thanks!
JinHyeok Kim, Pablo Air

Hi team — just bumping this in case it slipped through. We're ready to buy one evaluation unit and would really appreciate a quick steer: can the Stinger Vision FPV run AUTONOMOUS VIO/SLAM + AprilTag precision landing, or would Starling 2 / Starling 2 Max be the better evaluation platform for the requirements above? I've also emailed sales@modalai.com in parallel, so whichever channel is easier works for us. Thanks!

Hi ModalAI team,

We're building a compact indoor autonomous inspection drone (PoC) and want to
buy ONE evaluation unit before designing our own airframe around the VOXL 2 Mini.
Could you recommend the best-fit product?

Application: GPS-denied indoor flight through ~300 mm corridors, with AprilTag
precision landing onto a self-charging dock.

Key requirements:

• Size <= 200 x 200 mm (300 mm corridors), weight <= 600 g
• Ducted / caged frame (4-motor prop protection)
• VOXL 2 Mini (PX4), VIO / SLAM autonomy
• AprilTag precision landing <= 0.15 m, ToF / VOA collision avoidance
• Flight time >= 10 min, NDAA-compliant

Stinger Vision FPV looks close — is it usable for AUTONOMOUS (non-FPV) flight
with VIO/SLAM + AprilTag landing? Or is Starling 2 / Starling 2 Max a better
evaluation platform?

Also: lead time / pricing for a single unit, and any export (EAR) considerations
for shipping to South Korea.

Thanks!
JinHyeok Kim, Pablo Air