Yes, with limits. The Scout 137 is built for confined, GPS-denied spaces, and the same design sets the rules outside: it navigates on LiDAR rather than GPS, so it needs structure within sensor range, and it carries its own tether, so its wind tolerance depends on how much tether is out.
This question came from an attendee at one of our Live Online Demos.
Navigation: structure, not satellites
The Scout 137 has no GPS receiver. It localises with SLAM on its 128-beam Ouster OS0 LiDAR, which senses 360° out to 75 m on surfaces with 80 % reflectivity and 35 m on surfaces with 10 % reflectivity. Indoors, the walls, frames and ceilings give it plenty to lock on to.
Outdoors, the same applies: the drone works where there is structure within that range. Next to a tank wall, along a quay, under a bridge deck or beside a building, the LiDAR has surfaces to localise against. In a wide open space with little or nothing in range, it does not.
Wind: the drone carries its own tether
The tether delivers power, which is why flight time is effectively unlimited, but the drone also carries the weight of every metre that is out: 18.5 g per metre, or 1.11 kg at the full 60 m. More tether out means less margin against wind. With the full 60 m out, our technical specification gives:
- Up to 5 m/s: the drone flies around comfortably.
- Around 8 m/s: the pilot needs to actively hold the sticks to keep the drone from drifting.
- Above 10 m/s: stick input no longer helps, and the drone starts to drift.
With a short tether the margin is larger: with 1 m of tether out, the drone held position at 12 m/s in the wind tunnel. With the UTM Payload and 35 m of tether out, it also held 12 m/s. All figures were measured in the worst-case attitude, 45° into the wind.
Weather and temperature
The system is rated for −20 °C to +50 °C, and the flight electronics and the ground station are IP54; rain is not covered by this rating.
Where outdoor use makes sense
The Scout 137 stays a confined-space drone first. Outdoors it fits where the same strengths matter: close to structure, without GPS, on a cable instead of a radio link. Read more about tether reach in How long is the tether, and how far can the Scout 137 fly?, about the sensor in 3D LiDAR, and about the assets we inspect in critical infrastructure.
Have an outdoor asset in mind? Bring it to the demo and we will tell you honestly whether it fits.
Short question? 15 min with an engineer