WARRENDALE — Self-piloted aircraft are closer than ever to becoming a part of every day life, and a Zelienople company is doing its part in the forefront of autonomous aircraft technology.

SkEyes Unlimited was among companies showcasing their work at a media day event at SAE International. They showed the latest technological advances in autonomous vehicles, including self-driving cars.

SkEyes is a spinoff company of Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute, according to its website. The company also has developed camera software that allows for smooth footage from cameras mounted on helicopters and humvees.

It has facilities in Zelienople where it tests various devices and software on such vehicles as the 200-pound autonomous helicopter it featured at the event.

“They can lift 77 pounds, they can fly in high winds. It's not a toy,” said Omead Amidi, CEO of SkEyes.

The team at SkEyes currently works with Yamaha Motor Co. to produce mapping technology which creates three-dimensional maps the company uses primarily for agriculture.

“We fly around and in real time we capture the color and topography of the ground below,” Amidi said. “Turned out that has a nice application that has commercial viability for Yamaha.

“But we basically want to make a search-and-rescue helicopter.”

Eventually, Amidi wants to use the autonomous helicopter for search and rescue missions to find people when the weather makes it impossible to send a manned helicopter or a small drone.

“In bad weather you can't fly a manned helicopter or a little drone. But you can fly these,” he said. “You can use them for mapping, for camera work.”

SkEyes has also developed camera software that stabilizes footage from cameras mounted on helicopters and humvees, footage that before would be too shaky to be useful.

“This is designed so you can strap it to a tractor or a humvee (or a helicopter),” said Amidi pointing to a small black box.

SkEyes has sold units of the camera with the downloaded software to the military who use it on humvees both to monitor surroundings while staying inside the vehicle and also on unmanned vehicles sent to scout.

The company has also made a smaller camera for less heavy duty work.

This camera is used primarily football teams for training and better game footage.

The small camera is mounted on a player's facemask and uses SkEye's software to provide smooth footage that is useful to coaches and, someday, television.

“Some of the smaller units we sold those to the Miami Dolphins,” Amidi said. “They're not cheap, but the Miami Dolphins don't seem to have an issue with price.”

The company's training facility is in Zelienople, but they are still working on getting the proper permits.

“Currently, because the helicopter is 200 pounds, we have to fly it in a controlled air space,” said Amidi, “We're hoping to find a municipal or government partner where we can easily get more permits to fly it for real applications.”

SkEyes is looking to get started as soon as they can to prove their technology is safe and useful he said.

This can take millions of hours in the air and many more (people) working to show that it is safe for the public, Amidi said.

“Eventually, I think with more proliferation of these things over the years you're going to see them used more conventionally,” he said. “We have the technology; we just need the hours to prove it.”