ROBODRONE INDUSTRIES SRO

Their core work

ROBODRONE INDUSTRIES is a Czech SME specialising in drone and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technologies, with a focus on both airspace management infrastructure and the design of safe, autonomous rotorcraft. Their work spans two complementary domains: integrating drones into shared low-altitude airspace via mobile network-based surveillance, and engineering fail-safe flight systems for urban air mobility platforms. Based in Brno, they contribute applied engineering expertise to research consortia tackling real-world challenges in drone safety, GALILEO-based navigation, and VTOL aircraft behaviour. As a small company, their value to a consortium lies in hands-on UAV system knowledge rather than academic research capacity.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their first H2020 project (2017–2020), ROBODRONE's focus was on the infrastructure layer of drone operations — specifically how mobile telecommunications networks can track and coordinate low-flying drones at scale. By their second project (2020–2023), the emphasis had shifted decisively toward the aircraft itself: fail-safe behaviour, autorotation, VTOL design, and autonomous navigation using satellite systems. This is a clear progression from "how do we manage drone traffic" to "how do we make individual aircraft safe and self-reliant in urban environments".

ROBODRONE is moving deeper into the engineering of safe autonomous rotorcraft, suggesting future collaboration interest in urban air mobility certification, fail-safe avionics, and satellite-guided flight — rather than network-layer UTM.

How they like to work

ROBODRONE has participated exclusively as a consortium member, never taking on a coordinator role, which suggests they prefer contributing defined technical work packages rather than managing projects. Across two projects they engaged with 15 distinct partners — a relatively broad network for just two participations — indicating they integrate well into multi-stakeholder consortia. This profile fits a specialist SME that brings focused engineering capability and relies on larger partners or universities to handle coordination and dissemination.

ROBODRONE has collaborated with 15 unique partners across 7 countries through just two projects, which is a healthy spread for a small company. Their geographic reach is European, consistent with pan-EU transport and UAV research consortia.

What sets them apart

ROBODRONE occupies a rare niche as a Czech SME with direct hands-on experience in both the network-side (UTM, surveillance) and the aircraft-side (VTOL, fail-safe, autorotation) of drone integration — most players specialise in one or the other. For a consortium building around urban air mobility or drone traffic management, they offer practical SME credibility alongside genuine technical depth in rotorcraft safety. Their Brno base also places them in one of Central Europe's strongest engineering and aerospace clusters.

Highlights from their portfolio

• AURORA
  The larger of the two projects at EUR 451,250, it addresses the full safety stack for urban air mobility — from GALILEO navigation to autorotation emergency recovery — making it the clearest signal of ROBODRONE's core engineering ambition.
• MoNIfly
  An early-stage UTM project combining drone surveillance with mobile network infrastructure, demonstrating ROBODRONE's capacity to work at the intersection of telecoms and airspace management before the field became mainstream.