Beyond the Sci-Fi: Philip Reece Discusses Autonomous Defence on CTV News

Feb 2, 2026 | AI, Autonomy, Drones for good, In the media, In The Press, InDro Cortex, InDro News, Industry News

The term “killer robots” sounds like a Hollywood script, but as InDro Robotics Founder Philip Reece explained on a recent segment of CTV Your Morning, the technology is already a reality on the global stage.

Watch the Interview Below: (Note: Please scrub to the 1:15:00 mark to view Philip’s segment):

Key Highlights from the Interview:

  • Navigating the Battlefield: Philip discussed how modern drones are evolving to carry out missions even after their signal with a pilot is severed, acting more like guided missiles in their final moments.
  • The Shift to “Cobots”: It’s not just about weapons. Philip highlighted the “positives” of autonomy, such as “cobots” that work alongside soldiers to clear rooms or detect mines, keeping humans out of harm’s way.
  • Canadian Innovation: From robot dogs equipped with specialized sensor backpacks to fully autonomous medical evacuation vehicles, Canada is stepping up its defence innovation.

The Tech Behind the Talk While the interview focused on the battlefield, the underlying technology—edge computing and autonomous decision-making—is the core of what we do at InDro.

InDro Cortex, is the hardware realization of these concepts. It provides the massive compute power required for the drone swarms and autonomous navigation Philip described, but in a footprint small enough to fit on the back of a robot dog or inside a compact UGV.

InDro Robotics on high-level Canadian Trade Mission to France

InDro Robotics on high-level Canadian Trade Mission to France

Dec 5, 2025 | Defence, InDro Cortex, Industry News, Scott Simmie

By Scott Simmie

 

A changing geopolitical world has opened the door to new and potentially massive opportunities for Canadian technology companies through partnerships with European Union countries and contractors.

Earlier this year, Canada signed a Security and Defence Partnership with the EU. And that was the catalyst for a recent Trade Mission to France, where InDro was one of a small group of Canadian technology innovators invited to meet with many of the top defence contractors in the EU.

The Defence and Aeronautics Trade Mission was organised by Montreal’s CENTECH, a non-profit that supports hi-tech companies with high growth potential. It did so in partnership with the National Research Council Canada, The Department of National Defence, and the Délégation générale du Québec à Paris (DGQP).

The trip came at a time of unprecedented developments. Canada recently announced a forthcoming Defence Innovation Strategy, which will rely heavily on Canadian companies for dual-purpose technology innovations that can be applied to defence and sovereignty use-cases. On October 2, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the launch of the new Defence Investment Agency. And on December 1, the Prime Minister announced that Canada will participate in a program known as SAFE – Security Action For Europe. Canada is the only country outside of the EU with preferential access to this program.

The SAFE program, which unlocks some $244 billion in loans to EU partners (and now Canada) “opens massive new opportunities for Canadian manufacturers to build and export Canadian-made technologies and capabilities,” according to this news release. It’s being described as a “generational opportunity” for Canada’s defence and technology sectors.

“Our participation in SAFE unlocks unprecedented opportunities for Canadian manufacturers to build what our Allies need and what our Forces can rely on. This partnership accelerates our own rearmament while showcasing the world-class capabilities of Canadian workers, engineers, and innovators,” says The Hon. David J. McGuinty, Minister of National Defence.

To be clear, it’s not just about weaponry – but a wide range of dual-purpose technologies that can be used to enhance defence and sovereignty capabilities, including robotics, AI, autonomous systems and much more. And that spells unprecedented opportunities for Canadian technology companies, including InDro Robotics.

Above: The Trade Mission on a site visit at ARQUUS. Below: Defence Minister McGuinty at GCXpo, where he announced a $9.2B commitment as part of Canada’s Defence Innovation Strategy

David McGuinty

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS

 

With all of these changes on the horizon, the timing was perfect for the Trade Mission to France. InDro Robotics was one of 10 Canadian technology companies on that trip, which included meetings with key EU defence suppliers. These included heavyweights like Thales, Safran, ARQUUS, Exail Technologies and Airbus.

The trip started in Toulouse, with presentations to Airbus before moving to Paris for site visits and meetings with the other companies. The Canadian delegates learned more about the existing and forthcoming technologies these companies are working on, and were able to showcase Canadian innovations that might be a fit.

“We had the opportunity to meet directly with large defence contractors in France to present some of the cutting-edge technologies that we have,” says InDro Founder/CEO Philip Reece.  “We were able to showcase technologies that are commercially available and in late-stage R&D – as well as provide a teaser of some of the more advanced technologies we will be releasing in 2026.”

In addition to the formal presentations, there was a more relaxed gathering hosted by His Excellency the Honourable Stéphane Dion, Canada’s Ambassador to France and Monaco. This provided additional one-on-one opportunities for members of the Trade Mission to meet directly with potential EU partners.

“He was quite gracious in hosting us at his residence. That reception allowed us, in a more informal setting, to cement some of the relationships that we had been building with our French counterparts. This, I believe, could result in quite a few developments,” says Reece.

Below: Reception at the residence of The Honourable Stéphan Dion, Canadian Ambassador to France and Monaco.

Stephane Dion France Trade Mission

INDRO SOLUTIONS

 

We can’t reveal all the details, but we were able to showcase both current and forthcoming InDro innovations – but there was “shock and awe” at some of our solutions. There was widespread interest in our forthcoming InDro Cortex, a tiny brain-box that can be integrated with everything from UGVs to drones to military vehicles, enabling autonomy, remote teleoperation, mission planning, seamless sensor integration and more. There was a lot of interest in Cortex.

“Conversations are underway about how Cortex could potentially be provided in exclusivity to some of the EU defence manufacturers,” says Reece.

But there are other dual-purpose projects slated for release in 2026 – including (with partners) a long-range ISR drone and a UGV with unprecedented capabilities. Details on these are under wraps at the moment, but they caught the attention of several EU contractors.

On this already-exceptional trip, InDro, along with a Canadian modular LiDAR manufacturer BALKO Tech, were invited to present at the Defence Innovation Forum (Forum Innovation Défense, or FID). This is an annual event of the French military which has traditionally focussed on French suppliers.

“This was a tremendous opportunity,” says Reece. “This was the first time foreign companies had been invited to formally present at their symposium. We, along with BALKO Tech, were the only two Canadian companies to be in the very first cohort of international companies to present at the FID.”

Finally, the Trade Mission gave InDro an opportunity to initiate discussions with other Canadian partners on the trip. Those conversations, we believe, will likely lead to future collaborations and partnerships within Canada.

Below: The Canadian delegation on one its site visits

INDRO’S TAKE

 

The global geopolitical scene has been altered dramatically in recent years, with a very uncertain future ahead. What is clear is that advanced technologies will play an even more critical role in defence, sovereignty and stability – and that governments increasingly recognise this fact. Dual-purpose technologies will benefit the defence, industrial and academic/R&D sectors in both the immediate and long-term horizons.

“We are grateful to CENTECH and the Government of Canada for its support of this recent Trade Mission, and are equally grateful that InDro Robotics was selected to take part,” says company Founder/CEO Reece.

“Meaningful conversations are already underway as a result, and we believe the seeds planted in France will ultimately benefit not only the Trade Mission participants, but ultimately elevate much of the technology and R&D sector in Canada. We’d also like express our thanks to The Honourable Stéphane Dion, as well as Kim-An Nguyen and the team at the Office of the Ambassador.”

There will be much more to come on this down the road. We will keep you posted.

InDro on the road: Four major conferences in a month

InDro on the road: Four major conferences in a month

Jun 5, 2025 | Events, InDro Cortex, InDro News, Industry News, Scott Simmie

By Scott Simmie

 

We’ve been busy.

Our Head of R&D Sales, Luke Corbeth, has been on the road – hitting up four conferences in three countries in less than a month. During that time, he’s met with potential clients, seen cutting-edge research, and even officially launched the new InDro Cortex.

It’s always a challenge, selecting which conferences to attend. But we try to be strategic, attending those which combine a chance to meet with new and existing clients while learning as much about new trends and research as possible.

For Corbeth, who has just returned from a show in the UK, it’s all about opportunities.

“Some of these conferences are truly the place to meet with people who are at the forefront of R&D and new use-case scenarios,” says Corbeth. “These people are often leveraging either our technology or tech from other manufacturers and integrators. These events are a great way to stay on top of things.”

Below: Luke at the big AUTOMATE 2025 show in Detroit

Luke Corbeth Automate

AUTOMATE 2025

 

This was the first stop on our tour.

In early May, Corbeth headed to the AUTOMATE 2025 show in Detroit – one of the premiere annual automation events. We were guests at the big Ericsson booth, where the company was highlighting its Ericsson 5G Private network, or EP5G. Large companies with smart factories and high degrees of automation are increasingly opting for private 5G networks for their security, high bandwidth and low-latency. Literally thousands of smart or embedded devices can share data in real-time on a private 5G network.

To show off the potential of private 5G, companies like Ericsson (which is the world’s largest provider of cellular network hardware) need to showcase tangible use-cases. And so Corbeth was there with Captis, a cycle-counting and precision scanning autonomous robot built for warehouse environments. InDro Robotics is the incubator of Cypher Robotics and helped do the R&D work on Captis. 

“We make private 5G sexy,” laughs Corbeth. “Captis is a prime example of a technology that effectively leverages private 5G networks.”

 

ICRA

 

Next, it was off to Atlanta for the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, or ICRA. Once again, there was plenty of automation and robotics on display, but the real emphasis at ICRA is on research. Posters and papers are a big part of the event, which draws some of the leading global researchers and thought leaders.

“ICRA is more of a forward-looking conference when compared with Automate,” explains Corbeth. “You’re really getting a peek at technologies, algorithms and use-cases that are coming down the pipeline.”

ICRA attracts a *lot* of researchers from the academic world, and a significant portion of InDro’s clients are from universities. At this event, InDro displayed its new Cortex – an exceedingly powerful module for robot integration and teleoperation – for the first time in public.

“Cortex is a platform- and sensor-agnostic brain box,” he says. “It can be attached to any platform – wheeled, tracked, quadruped, humanoid or drone. Because it’s plug and play, anyone who already has some combination of platforms and sensors can quickly build a robot around it.”

InDro also displayed its ROS2-based drone, developed by InDro for R&D use-cases. You’ll be hearing more about that in the future.

 

IDEaS

 

From Atlanta, it was back to Ottawa for the Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS) event. Put on by the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Air Force, there was definitely some emphasis on military applications such as Counter-UAS technology. InDro is prioritised on positive use-case scenarios, such as logistics, mapping, Search and Rescue, cargo delivery etc.

“We have really maintained our focus on drones and robots for good,” says Corbeth.

 

UK

 

And last, but not least, Luke jet-setted to the UK for the big Smart Manufacturing Expo in Birmingham. It could be described as the UK’s equivalent of Automate, with the focus on automation and robotics in the manufacturing sector. At the June 4-5 event, Corbeth was representing the Captis cycle-counting solution.

“Really, we were exploring whether potential clients in the UK are experiencing some of the same problems with cycle counting that existing clients in Canada, New Zealand and the UAE have. There was a tremendous amount of interest in Captis.”

Below: Another show, another booth for Luke Corbeth. Second photo shows Luke with senior Ericsson staff Jan Diekmann, Alan Minney and John Tomik. InDro shared the stage with Ericsson in Birmingham to discuss the future of smart factories and private 5G networks

Luke Corbeth
Luke Birmingham Ericsson Jan Diekmann, Alan Minney and John Tomik

INDRO’S TAKE

 

As mentioned, we choose conferences carefully in order to maximise our spend, exposure, and client outreach. Corbeth was able to meet with many existing clients and develop new relationships that could lead to strategic partnerships and/or sales. Perhaps most importantly, he was able to showcase Cortex, our new ROS2 R&D drone, as well as promote the Captis cycle-counting/precision scan solution.

“It’s been a very busy month for Luke and InDro Robotics,” observes InDro Founder and CEO Philip Reece. “We are very excited about both Cortex and our R&D drone and are on a trajectory to manufacture these at scale later this year. We’re pleased to see the level of interest in these products – and have no doubt the investment we’ve made in attending these events will pay off.”

Interested in learning more about either of those products? You can get in touch with Luke (who may still be jet-lagged) right here.

InDro in Atlanta at ICRA – IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation

InDro in Atlanta at ICRA – IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation

May 21, 2025 | InDro Cortex, InDro News, Industry News, Scott Simmie

By Scott Simmie

 

We are at ICRA 2025 – billed as “the premiere conference in robotics and automation.”

With about 40,000 attendees, there are some conferences out there that are even larger. But few are more influential when it comes to R&D. Some 3,000 research papers have been submitted for the show, with massive poster displays showing off cutting-edge research and new use-cases.

InDro is represented at this show by our Head of R&D Sales, Luke Corbeth. We spoke with Luke about why this conference is so important in this edition of our Sound Byte micro-podcast.

PAPERS, POSTERS, BREAKTHROUGHS

 

All of that research may not be as immediately appealing as the latest humanoid robot, but some of it might well improve the next generation of humanoids or reveal new use-cases. Research unveiled at shows like these – and particularly at ICRA – often finds a pathway from R&D into real-world applications..

“It’s really about creating that knowledge transfer,” explains Corbeth. “Others can build on top of what was discovered instead of having to do that work over again. And, that ultimately lays the groundwork (not only) for improvement in our field but also collaboration as well between academia, industry and others.”

And while Corbeth will be checking out the poster presentations (and robots!) when he has a moment to slip away from the booth, most of his time will be spent talking with potential clients about recent InDro innovations.

Those on display at the show include InDro Controller – our user-friendly interface for remote teleoperations and autonomous missions. Controller is the result of an immense amount of Front and Back-End development. It allows for the rapid plotting of repeatable autonomous missions with a few clicks of a mouse. Actions, such as zooming in on a point of interest or scanning a particular item for thermal anomalies, can be set up in a flash. And the software immediately detects any new sensors added to a robot (or drone) and allows for a fully customisable dashboard to display and save the data they acquire.

We’re also showing off our new R&D research drone. We developed this product, which runs on ROS2, over the past two years. Because it’s fully Open Source and has powerful onboard compute, it’s the perfect tool for researchers who want to test new applications and code. There are very few drones that have been developed specifically for R&D purposes, so we’re pleased to be offering this (and have already sold units to US researchers).

 

THE BIG REVEAL

 

We’re most excited, however, to be showing our new Cortex module in public for the first time.

“It’s a brain box for virtually any robot or drone,” says Corbeth. “So the idea behind Cortex is it’s extremely lightweight. It has really capable compute in the (NVIDIA) Orin NX in addition to 5G connectivity and power distribution. So we can turn virtually any Uncrewed Ground Vehicle or Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle into a robot capable of teleoperation and autonomy with a little bit of software and some sensor integrations.”

We’re not releasing full specs yet, but we’re incredibly excited about the capabilities offered by Cortex. It allows not only for remote teleoperation, but for the near-instant integration of additional sensors on UGVs and UAVs without all the coding. We can also bundle Cortex with additional software stacks like InDro Autonomy. And, of course, it plays nice with InDro Controller.

If you follow InDro, you’ll be aware we previously developed the popular InDro Commander, which carries out similar functions. Cortex is the logical descendant of that R&D, putting even greater power into the smallest package possible.

Though commercial release is scheduled for later this year, we’ve already had inquiries and pre-orders. Here’s a peek at Cortex on display at ICRA 2025:

InDro Cortex ICRA 2025

INDRO’S TAKE

 

We choose our conferences carefully. ICRA is truly at the centre of cutting-edge R&D and is a must-attend for us. Not only is it a great opportunity to expand our client base, but also a chance to see the latest and best research in the sector.

“The show has come a long way since we were last here,” says Corbeth. “There has been an incredible amount of innovation in such a short period from the companies that exhibit and the researchers that are presenting. Notably, a lot of advancement in humanoids, grippers and solutions like Cortex that make it easier to develop, create and deploy robotics systems.”

Interested in more information about Cortex? You can hit us up here.

The new InDro Cortex: Amazing power in a tiny package

The new InDro Cortex: Amazing power in a tiny package

Jun 19, 2024 | InDro Autonomy, InDro Controller, InDro Cortex, InDro News, Scott Simmie

By Scott Simmie

 

The InDro Robotics engineering team, as always, has been hard at work. And we’re particularly pleased with our latest R&D breakthrough: The InDro command module, which we’ve named InDro Cortex.

It’s a small but exceedingly powerful box that will immediately enable robotic platforms to reach the next level. It’s robot-agnostic, meaning you can integrate Cortex with any ROS-based robot (which is pretty much all of them).

And what can it do?

A better question might be: What can’t it do? And the answer there is “not much.”

Below: An InDro Robotics Cortex mounted on a Unitree B2 quadruped. Cortex enables remote teleoperations, autonomous missions – and much more…

InDro Control Module ICM

BACKGROUND

 

There’s some important history here – which also tells you something about the InDro Robotics ethos.

In November of 2021, we released a very popular product. InDro Commander was developed in response to the needs of clients who wanted to be able to quickly turn a platform into a smart, easily customisable robot capable of teleoperation over 4G or 5G. From developers and academics through to large technology companies, our clients had been requesting such a solution. In fact, even in the development of our own products we identified the need for an all-in-one solution to speed robot integration and enable teleoperation.

“Our engineering team came up with the concept of the InDro Commander after integrating and customizing our own robots,” said Philip Reece, CEO of InDro Robotics, when the product was launched. “We realized there were hurdles common to all of them – so we designed and produced a solution. Commander vastly simplifies turning a platform into a fully functioning, teleoperated robot.”

Commander, as this webpage explains, “is designed to allow developers to quickly customize their own robotic solution. The following are common additions that can be easily added to any Commander-controlled robotic system: LiDAR (2D/3D), PTZ camera, thermal cameras, wireless charging, IMU, RTK.”

Commander, quite simply, takes the pain out of integration.

And how does it do that? Well, it ships with a powerful EDGE computer pre-loaded with ROS1 and ROS2 folders. It also contains multiple USB ports, allowing for the instant addition (and recognition of) pretty much any sensor you can throw at it. It allowed clients who were previously spending a ton of time on integration to simply attach Commander to the robot’s power supply, start plugging in sensors, and then remotely operate via a secure dashboard.

When it was first released, Engineering Lead Arron Griffiths dubbed it “ROS-in-a-Box.” We later changed that to Commander, but here’s the splashy video released at the time in advance of the big IROS show, where Commander made its debut:

SMARTER, FASTER, SMALLER

 

At InDro, we have a motto of “Invent, Enhance, Deploy.” But deployment doesn’t mean we rest on our laurels. InDro’s engineers continuously look at ways to enhance existing products. And that’s exactly what we’ve done with Commander. We asked ourselves: How could we make this even better?

“InDro Cortex grew out of the idea of making a general purpose backpack/module that any OEM could put on their motorized product – everything from a ground robot to even a golf cart, drone, car, truck or RC platform,” says Engineering Lead Arron Griffiths. “That single module makes any platform ROS-enabled, AI-ready and 5G connected.”

A lot of work went into this. One of the biggest tasks was designing and developing four new boards that pack a lot of AI compute power (and other features) into a tiny space. There are separate boards for EDGE computing, teleoperation data transfer, and sensor integration. There’s also a separate WiFi system.

“And of course, it can run on either a public or private 5G network,” says InDro Vice President Peter King.

And did we say size matters? The small size of Cortex means it can be placed on virtually any robot – from the smallest quadruped to the largest AMR. It can even be fitted to a drone.

“It’s tiny so it fits on everything. So basically we can turn any platform into a very powerful robot without all the time and hassle,” adds King.

Below: Much of the magic of InDro Cortex lies in the design, development and testing of four new circuit boards:

InDro Control Module ICM

AUTONOMY AND INDRO CONTROLLER

 

InDro Cortex is a powerful solution on its own. But pairing it with our new InDro Controller provides incredible synergy.

We just wrote a fairly comprehensive post about InDro Controller, so if you’d like more details you can check this out. But in a nutshell, InDro Controller is a powerful desktop UI for operating any robot. With a highly secure data connection, InDro Controller automatically senses all key parameters of any robotic device. It will automatically detect any sensors, providing a data feed from all of them with minimal latency.

“It can handle all sorts of data,” says Front-End Developer RJ Bundy. “It doesn’t matter if the robot has standard or custom sensors, InDro Controller can automatically detect and visualize them. For example, if you added a radar unit to an existing robot, the system will pick up on that immediately.”

InDro Controller provides the operator with a highly customisable dashboard for carrying out complex missions. It will also keep track of any missions manually carried out, and make them repeatable as autonomous missions.

And that autonomy? InDro has created two different autonomy software stacks. One is for outdoor missions that rely on GPS; the second is for indoor missions like SLAM in GPS-denied environments. That software comes with InDro Controller – and is also loaded onto the module. So the two key elements of this system – InDro Controller and InDro Cortex – have been made to operate seamlessly together.

“Anyone should be able to configure and control Cortex for their product, and indeed, their solution,” says Griffiths.

Below: A look at the powerful InDro Controller UI dashboard. The Controller software has been created to be an ideal match for InDro Cortex and is easy to operate.

Teleoperations with Robots

INDRO’S TAKE

 

We’re extraordinarily proud of the work our engineering team has put into Cortex – as well as InDro Controller. We believe these two, in combination, set a new bar for both robot integration and complex remote teleoperations.

“The design and creation of the boards used in Cortex was a significant technical challenge – and a significant achievement. The same can be said of our two new autonomy stacks,” says InDro Robotics CEO Philip Reece.

“Whether it’s a ground robot, a drone, or some other device that requires high processing power and minimal latency with all the features enabled by ROS, Cortex allows developers to quickly transform virtually any platform into a powerful autonomous robot with minimal effort.”

Interested in learning more? Of course you are. Contact our Head of R&D Sales, Luke Corbeth, right here.