Autonomous drone startup Rownd kicked off its Wisconsin-based R&D program with an airborne demonstration in Hartford, showcasing technologies for the U.S. military.
“We are going to give our military the best weapons in the world,” CEO and co-founder Rob Thelen said yesterday during a press conference at Hartford Municipal Airport in Washington County. “We have a vision of building and making Wisconsin a drone and autonomy center of excellence.”
Following initial remarks from Thelen, U.S. Rep. Scott Fitzgerald and local flight instructor Steve Krog, attendees gathered outside the small CubAir Flight School hangar to observe the Rownd drones in action. While the company has larger fixed-wing machines, yesterday’s demo focused on the surveillance capability of its smaller quadcopter drones.
After his team set them up in front of the small crowd, Thelen gave a verbal command, sending one of the drones about 30 meters into the air where it briefly hovered in place. The machine then began to fly slowly around the airfield, where other planes were also landing and taking off.
While it was in the air, Thelen showed attendees the operations panel on a laptop that was receiving images from the drone. He explained it can differentiate between people and various types of machinery such as vehicles, giving its military operators real-time battlefield insights.
Thanks to the AI framework underpinning the Rownd system, a single operator can run multiple drones at once. They can also learn from their missions to improve performance over time, Thelen explained.
“It’s like having a sergeant in your pocket,” he said.
Along with surveilling the surrounding area, these self-guided AI drones can also carry out attacks as well as counter-drone warfare when facing adversaries with similar technology.
“We just got a contract for anti-drone as well, so we can actually put a small shotgun underneath there basically and go hunt down other drones,” Thelen said.
He added the company is “moving very quickly” on existing contracts with several branches of the military. Rownd leaders will be headed to Florida and Wyoming in the coming weeks for drone exercises, giving potential users the chance to try the technology
Fitzgerald, a Republican who represents the state’s 5th CD, yesterday touted the Trump administration’s emphasis on upping domestic production of drones as well as counter-drone applications for homeland security and active warzones.
“This would provide our warfighters one more tool in their toolkit that they’re going to need in the future,” he said.
Thelen said the company’s in-state R&D program is working toward multiple technical goals, including making the drones as affordable as possible to produce and get into the hands of soldiers. That involves using 3D printers to make part of the frame and cutting labor costs.
Meanwhile, Rownd is continuing development of its constantly evolving AI-based autonomous operation software. And the team is working on further improving their ability to combat other drones — in a controlled fashion, Thelen noted.
“We’re not going to be shooting them out of the sky, over the skies of Wisconsin. Any farmers, we’re not going to be shooting deer or anything like that … please don’t ask again,” he quipped. “But what we are going to be testing is being able to actually track the drones and chase them down.”
Ultimately, Thelen said he wants to ensure the U.S. military can exceed the drone capabilities of adversaries around the world, in hopes of preventing aggression and saving lives.
“It’s something that’s going to make us so intimidating to our enemies that they won’t even dare to invade an island chain … that’s what we’re working on, and we’re trying to do it as fast as we can,” he said. “Being a veteran myself, we want to make sure we protect our brothers and sisters in arms as much as we can.”
Hear more about the company in the latest WisBusiness podcast.
