The InDro Evolution, Part II: Ground robotics and software

The InDro Evolution, Part II: Ground robotics and software

Aug 10, 2026 | InDro Solutions, Industry News, Innovation, Philip Reece, Scott Simmie

By Scott Simmie

 

You can divide the evolution of Indro Robotics into two phases. The first focused heavily on drones, drone technology, innovative use-cases, and multiple Canadian and industry “firsts.” We wrote about that first stage, which spans 2014 to 2019, here.

We’ll now look at what’s happened since then. Specifically, the addition of ground robotics in addition to our UAV work. And once again, it’s a story filled with milestones.

Our broader robotics era really begins in 2019, when we sent a single person to work at Invest Ottawa’s Area X.O. Some of the big players, companies like Nokia and Blackberry QNX, already had offices there. But InDro came in lean, sharing office space with Nokia while working closely with the company on Area X.O’s Mobile Command Centre. That large vehicle uses a telescoping antenna to create a private cellular network, allowing secure Command and Control of drone (or ground robotics) missions in areas without networks.

Reece could see the potential of Area X.O as a full R&D headquarters: A private facility with roads dedicated to autonomous vehicles meant engineers could literally walk out the door and test new robots or drones. And so, on March 1st of 2021, InDro formally opened in its own space at Area X.O.

A key early hire was Peter King, who had broad industry expertise in successful drone and ground robotics companies. King (now VP at InDro and Founder and CEO of Cypher Robotics) assisted Reece in building the team at Area X.O.

“When the opportunity came to take lab space at Area X.O and become part of the drone and robot testing grounds, we jumped at the chance,” Philip Reece told BetaKit at the time. “We have already supplemented our team with several very talented engineers, and I am sure we will be adding more in the near future.”

That, it turns out, would be an understatement.

Below: An InDro employee at Area X.O’s ops centre soon after our move. Teleoperated drone and robotics missions can be controlled and monitored from this room. Image two: By 2023, InDro had a rapidly growing team at Area X.O

InDro Robotics

 THE ADDITION OF GROUND ROBOTICS

 

Before we get to ground robotics and autonomy, we should mention that our work on drones never slowed down. We continued to develop new models for extended range and specialised payloads, while advancing partnerships and remote operations using public and private 5G networks. We flew complex missions for clients in Saudi Arabia, built systems for a huge company in South America, and carried out multiple research initiatives in conjunction with universities like UBC and companies like Rogers and Ericsson. We hired aviation regulatory expert and crewed flight instructor Kate Klassen (who has trained more than 10,000 drone pilots online), as well as Dr. Eric Saczuk, a remote imaging expert who also leads the British Columbia Institute of Technology’s RPAS Hub and has flown some of the most complex drone missions imaginable.

But we were also pursuing a parallel pathway: Ground robotics. We knew we could leverage our drone expertise in remote teleoperation, sensor integration and custom builds. So it was really more of a transition of those skills onto ground robotic platforms, along with the steady hiring of exceptionally good engineers from multiple disciplines. For those ground platforms, we secured a distribution deal with AgileX, China’s leading multi-platform robotics company and Unitree. We were soon building custom robots for industrial, academic and R&D clients – and developing our own new proprietary products we could sell (many of which you can find on our InDro Store).

On the latter front, we initially identified remote asset inspection/surveillance and last-mile delivery as emerging markets. We designed and built our first Sentinel inspection robot (now in its third iteration), and our first ground delivery robot, ROLL-E. It was deployed in partnership with a London Drugs location in Victoria for curbside pickup during the COVID pandemic.

With a motto of Invent, Enhance, Deploy, we took on increasingly complex builds, including a multi-robot contract with one of the planet’s largest technology companies. We also designed what would become one of our signature products, InDro Commander.

It’s a platform-agnostic EDGE device that holds the ROS2 libraries and allows for the seamless integration of new sensors by simply plugging them into that powerful box. It also contains the secure, front-end software (InDro Controller) that allows missions to be intuitively planned, executed and monitored. Commander quickly became popular with universities and R&D companies who wanted to rapidly integrate their own robots and quickly proceed to research. We also developed our popular InDro Autonomy software stack.

Below: The InDro Commander module with the InDro Autonomy Stack onboard AgileX platforms. Video: Head of R&D Sales Luke Corbeth highlighting an InDro-modified Unitree humanoid robot at Area X.O’s annual GCXpo event. You’ll notice that humanoid has a “backpack.” That device is InDro Commander (with InDro Controller onboard) in a different form factor. We’ve also modified the humanoid to enable not only remote teleoperation, but VR teleoperation using handsets and a 4K resolution headset

Robot development kit

Industry 4.0 and dual-purpose innovations

 

While continuing custom builds for researchers and industrial clients, InDro has pushed the envelope substantially over the past few years. Specifically, we’ve been developing products for the world of Industry 4.0, where automated and interconnected devices result in vast efficiencies in settings ranging from warehouses to factories to long-range ground and aerial data acquisition and delivery.

Some of the many highlights include:

  • InDro Cortex, a vastly smaller version of InDro Commander, along with more powerful and intuitive iterations of InDro Controller. We’ve also integrated these into a VR humanoid.
  • Developing and deploying InDro Prowler, an exceedingly powerful wheeled quadruped for surveillance and security inspection that sets a new standard for value
  • Serving as technology incubator for Cypher Robotics, helping to develop a tethered drone/AMR system for cycle counting in large warehouses

Another absolutely key accelerator for InDro over the past few years was the launch and subsequent expansion of InDro Forge, our custom fabrication and integration facility.

It houses a full suite of tools for professional fabrication including CNC, water jet table, PCB design – and a plethora of specialized 3D printers that include bigrep ONE, capable of printing objects up to one cubic metre in size (along with all the requisite expertise). We build products for clients there, and integrate our own robots at the site, complete with custom metal and composite work. Forge has been scaling since we began, and has now evolved into a small and growing factory.

 

OUR NEXT BIG THING(S)

 

We can’t provide too many details yet, but we are currently hard at work on three highly ambitious projects. We are going to roboticize the world’s longest-range vehicle – a diesel-electric hybrid capable of 7,000km on a single tank of fuel. It has multiple use-cases, including disaster response in areas with damaged infrastructure, data acquisition and surveillance for sovereignty purposes, wildlife monitoring and protection – and much more. We are also hard at work on Obsidian, a smaller AWD hybrid for multiple use-cases in inhospitable terrain.

We are, at the same time, extensively modifying a very large, long-range drone for highly specialised missions. It can carry both sensors and other payload, and is capable of flying in extreme conditions that would ground most traditional aircraft. More on that down the road.

Below: The multi-purpose, 7,000km vehicle we’re transforming into a robot, followed by the largest drone we’ve yet to work with. InDro Founder/CEO Philip Reece is second from left in the drone photo

Fering
Terrain Drone

INDRO’S TAKE

 

So many milestones, so little time. We didn’t even mention our latest research robot, Axiom. But it’s a cost breakthrough for those doing Physical AI R&D involving humanoids, and its extendible torso allows researchers to position the robot’s arms for high reach, low reach, and everything in between.

There’s a reason we mention Axiom here, one of our most budget-friendly robots. In fact, we’ll drop a picture of it in a second. That’s because, despite the major projects we’ve carried out and are currently working on, InDro still maintains its roots: Inventing, building and testing highly useful tools that help researchers develop algorithms and use-cases that elevate the entire industry.

“It has been quite a journey so far, and an immensely satisfying one,” says InDro’s Founder and CEO Philip Reece. “From a single employee at Area X.O back in 2019, we have scaled significantly, taking on ever-more complex projects for major clients and government departments, while still providing new and affordable innovations for those in the academic and R&D worlds.

“A broader vision for InDro has helped guide the way. But none of this would have been possible without a highly dedicated and skilled team – people who have yet to encounter a problem they aren’t willing and eager to solve. We have done our best to carve a clear, ethical and forward-looking path. So from here, it’s onward: We will continue to invent, enhance, deploy – and scale.”

Below: Axiom. Highly functional, with a very low cost. We’ve included Robotics Hardware Engineering Intern Justin Luo both for scale, and because he put in a lot of hard work on this project

The InDro Evolution, Part One: Drones

The InDro Evolution, Part One: Drones

Aug 6, 2026 | InDro News, Industry News, Innovation, Philip Reece, Scott Simmie

By Scott Simmie

 

It’s been quite a journey.

Since the founding of InDro Robotics by Philip Reece back in 2014, the company has followed a steady trajectory of innovation and growth, marked by multiple milestones and a number of industry “firsts.” We thought, 12 years on, it was worth looking back on that path.

The company was initially formed after CEO Reece saw an opportunity. At the time, he owned Salt Spring Air, a small floatplane company later acquired by the Harbour Air Group. A regular client would hire one of his aircraft annually for aerial data acquisition – but this year declined, saying he was going to use a drone instead. Reece began researching drone technology and quickly identified this would be a growth market where R&D could play a role – both in enabling new technologies and new use-case scenarios. 

“The economic benefits of a UAS versus traditional aircraft were immediately apparent,” he recalls. “And it was also clear there were multiple use-cases where a drone would be able to do things a crewed aircraft could not.”

And so InDro – short for Industrial Drones – was born. It was, initially, a startup operation based out of Salt Spring Island. Reece, along with a few dedicated staff, began building and testing drones (and also some uncrewed surface vehicles for aquatic work). Reece, a serial entrepreneur, had a knack for identifying novel use-cases.

“In 2014, in our very first year, we demonstrated that an Automated External Defibrillator could be delivered by drone, potentially saving lives,” he says. 

For InDro, that trial marked the beginning of a strong and steady voyage.

Above: Advanced urban wind tunnel research drone on a mission with the NRC. Below: A 2014 video (which now shows its age) where InDro demonstrated the potential for AED delivery by drone. Image: InDro Founder/CEO Philip Reece at Area X.O.

Philip Reece Area X.O

PROGRESS, COLLABORATION, MILESTONES

 

In those early days, regulators were exceedingly cautious, even fearful, of this new technology. There was legitimate concern a drone might collide with another aircraft, or cause injury to persons or property on the ground. You couldn’t simply put a drone up in the air regardless of the purpose – you needed a Special Flight Operations Certificate (SFOC) for each and every flight. It was a time-consuming process.

But Reece, a licensed pilot himself, could see the rationale and began building trust with contacts at Transport Canada. InDro also started working with a broad selection of First Responders – fire, police, Search & Rescue and more – training them how to safely use these new tools. At one of the biggest downtown fires in Victoria’s history, the fire department deployed an InDro-supplied drone with a FLIR thermal camera. It allowed the department to see through thick smoke to more strategically direct suppression efforts.

While Visual Line of Sight flights (with an SFOC) could accomplish many tasks, Reece and others in the industry knew that BVLOS flights would open up an entire new world of use-cases. In 2016, in coordination with Transport Canada and First Responders, InDro flew a BVLOS mission to assist with a major forest fire. That was within restricted airspace and a special case. But the company did fly Canada’s first BVLOS mission outside of a test range in 2017.

We also flew regularly from a moving vehicle to document the beauty and diversity of this country during an 11,000 km overland trip through Canada in the Explorer 150 project – a partnership with Maclean’s magazine, Duracell and Rogers, and one of many high-profile events to mark Canada’s 150th birthday. We even captured video of polar and grizzly bears during that trip.

Below: Two members of the Explorer 150 team

Duracell Explorer 150

OTHER FIRSTS

 

There are many. Highlights include:

  • The first “blanket” SFOC for Canada-wide flights, and the first license granted by the Canadian Transportation Agency to use drones as a means of cargo delivery
  • The first flight in Canada using 5G for Command and Control (2021)
  • The first TC BVLOS delivery of simulated blood products between hospitals (2018) and the first delivery of pharmaceutical products (2019) with privacy and other approvals. Those trials, along with further research work transporting AEDs, proved that aerial delivery was faster than emergency ground transport

InDro rapidly developed a reputation not only as a serious player in this emerging industry, but a collaborative one. In 2018, Reece worked closely with regulators and Canada Post to arrange for a demonstration of drone technology and BVLOS flights from the-then Salt Spring Island headquarters. He invited multiple companies – including AVSS, ParaZero Technologies, Avidrone Aerospace, SkyX, DJI and Iris Automation (since acquired by uAvionix) to highlight their own solutions, all observed by Transport Canada and NAV CANADA officials, as well as senior Canada Post management. Those invitations made that event  about elevating the industry, not InDro.

It was that kind of work that garnered InDro Robotics and Reece the prestigious Organisational Award from Unmanned Systems Canada (now the Aerial Evolution Association of Canada) in 2020. The award recognises a company that has made an outstanding contributions to the industry-at-large.

Below: Two use-cases we’re particularly proud of: During the peak of the COVID pandemic, InDro flew BVLOS flights for an island-based First Nations community, shuttling COVID test kits and swabs needing analysis back and forth to the mainland. We earlier flew Canada’s first BVLOS deliveries of prescription medications in a fully sanctioned trial

INDRO’S TAKE

Other firsts include working with telecoms like Rogers to carry out Canada’s first flight over 5G. We developed InDro Pilot, then InDro Controller, as a UI for command and control. We’ve collaborated with Federal departments like the National Research Council, detected landmines in partnership with Montreal’s CHAAC technologies for the Department of National Defence, and built multiple generations of R&D drones that run on the open-source ROS2. We remain the key technology provider for the ongoing Drone Detection System at YOW, which has gathered years worth of data shared with Transport Canada, NAV CANADA, the RCMP and other airport authorities. (The system was even used to ensure the airspace was free of drones for former US President Joe Biden’s visit to Ottawa.)

We’ve also helped incubate other companies, including Cypher Robotics, which has a tethered drone attached to an autonomous mobile robot that counts warehouse inventory with 99-plus per cent accuracy. Plus many projects for international clients where we are bound by NDA.

This story could be much longer – there’s a lot we’ve skipped, including the launch of the FLYY online drone training portal – but you get the drift: InDro has continuously pushed the envelope with drone technology and use-cases, collaborating whenever possible while developing custom RPAS solutions for global clients.

“In retrospect, I’m incredibly grateful that client decided to not hire a Salt Spring Air floatplane back in 2014,” says Reece. “That was where all this started, and I could not have envisioned back then how this path would unfold. Our engineering staff has grown immensely since the early days, and we’re now innovating with long-range, hybrid aircraft suitable for deliveries and reconnaissance in Arctic conditions.”

And one more very important thing before we wrap:

“None of this would have been possible without a dedicated engineering team and the support from multiple Federal and provincial programs that believed in us. As a company we are grateful for that trust – and look forward to what’s next.”

Part II of this series is coming soon: InDro and ground robotics.

InDro’s hybrid drone and ground robot: Long-range, all-weather solutions

InDro’s hybrid drone and ground robot: Long-range, all-weather solutions

Jul 29, 2026 | Defence, Drone Delivery, InDro Autonomy, InDro News, Innovation, Scott Simmie

By Scott Simmie

 

Picture this: A medical crisis in a remote or isolated community. Specifically, a patient needs a critical medication quickly.

There’s no pharmacy in the small town, nor is there an airstrip. A medical helicopter is unavailable. But without this medication, the patient might die. This community does have a road leading to the wider world (not all do), but it’s an eight-hour drive to the nearest city that has the required drug – then another eight hours back.

The obvious solution, to those in this field, is a drone. But here, too, there are problems. The range is beyond the reach of most RPAS. And the weather at both ends is inhospitable to most drones; high winds and sub-zero temperatures.

This is a problem – and a big one.

That’s why InDro has been working on a solution. We’re not quite ready to take the wraps off it yet, which is why you’re looking at a render in the image above. (The render, in fact, doesn’t even look close to what we’re working on – it’s a completely different body design.)

But what we’re working on is very real. And we will give you some details.

Below: The isolated community of Akulivik in Nunavik, northern Quebec. Getting critical supplies to remote communities can be challenging, particularly in hostile weather. Image by Couch, licensed under Creative Commons Share Alike 3.0 Unported

Remote community

SOME (BUT NOT ALL) DETAILS

 

The RPAS we’re working with on, like the render that opened this story, is a catapult launch. In fact, we’re building the catapult right now. But that’s about the only thing in common with the image. The body shape is significantly different, and built for far greater efficiency and far harsher conditions. But the other key in this project is range.

Battery power alone won’t cut it; the energy density won’t sustain truly extended BVLOS flights. We considered fuel-only, but the ranges we’re aiming for would require significant fuel, noise and emissions. And so we’ve settled on an electric hybrid.

A small fuel-powered generator will keep the onboard batteries charged, extending our range and reducing the carbon footprint. This RPAS has been engineered to fly many hundreds of kilometres. The body is designed for carrying a heavy payload in even highly demanding weather scenarios. It can fly in sub-zero Arctic conditions, scorching deserts, and even handle the volatile winds in mountain ranges. The catapult launch also minimises the energy required for a traditional ground takeoff.

While there’s clearly demand for delivering critical supplies, the heavy-lift capacity means this drone can also carry an array of sensors (including, of course, a Detect-And-Avoid system). That puts it firmly in the dual-use category, whether for remote communities, industrial tasks or sovereignty/defence applications. We believe it will fill a crucial gap when it comes to long-range BVLOS, particularly in demanding conditions – and look forward to a complete unveil in the future.

 

NOT JUST AIR

 

We are also working on a rugged, long-range ground robot that can be tele-operated over long distances. The mechanics for drive-by-wire have already been installed and we’ve been testing this in a battery-only configuration at our Area X.O R&D headquarters.

Because we want to extend the range significantly, a lightweight, low-displacement generator vastly increases range while keeping the propulsion electric-only and minimising carbon footprint.

This particular ground robot is much larger than anything we’ve publicly revealed (though we have built some pretty big ground robots for high-profile technology clients). The greater size, rugged suspension, cargo capacity and long range mean it will be useful for a broad range of use-cases. Yes, it can deliver a significant quantity of supplies – whether to a community, wildfire crews, disaster zones or even front-line troops. It can handle exceedingly rugged terrain, meaning even if infrastructure is heavily damaged (or non-existent), it will reach its destination. It can even be configured to carry an injured human being out of a remote or dangerous location.

We call this new product Obsidian. The photo below was taken in early April of 2026, and significant work has taken place since then.

Obsidian Build April 2026

INDRO’S TAKE

 

Both of these hybrid projects represent significant advances in aerial and ground robotics for InDro. By significantly extending range and ruggedness, Obsidian and the forthcoming drone open up a far broader array of humanitarian and defence-related use-cases.

“Engineering is all about solving problems,” says InDro Founder and CEO Philip Reece. “We believe this truly efficient, long-range and heavy-lift drone will fill a critical void in getting important supplies to remote and isolated communities, gathering data over long distances and in inclement weather, and also find a role in defence and sovereignty applications. We are equally excited about the capabilities of the hybrid ground robot.”

We look forward to fully unveiling these remarkable products when complete. Stay tuned.

SkyScoutAI: A system to predict and prevent wildfires

SkyScoutAI: A system to predict and prevent wildfires

May 5, 2026 | Industry News, Innovation, Scott Simmie, SkyScout Ai, Wildfires

By Scott Simmie

 

Wildfires are a growing threat.

You might think, based on media coverage, that we’re having more of them. That’s not always the case; in some areas the number of wildfires is down. The real problem is that wildfire outbreaks in recent decades have become more intense: Larger, hotter, and spreading more rapidly. Scientists examining data from NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites gathered over 21 years found that “the frequency of extreme events increased by 2.2-fold from 2003 to 2023, with the last seven years including the six most extreme,” says a study published by Nature.

NASA sums up the problem like this: “Extreme wildfires have become more frequent, more intense, and larger. The largest increase in extreme fire behavior was in the temperate conifer forests of the Western U.S. and the boreal forests of northern North America and Russia,” it writes. “Warmer nighttime temperatures are a major contributing factor, allowing fire activity to persist overnight.”

Traditionally, we’ve used satellite data, weather forecasts and observable conditions on the ground to try to gauge risk. But our response has generally been reactive; rushing to contain and extinguish once a wildfire is underway, or rapidly evacuating communities once a fire is approaching.

Now, Canadian tech company SkyScoutAI says it has a better way. With the tagline “Predict * Prevent * Protect”, SkyScout says its system fuses ground sensors, satellite imagery, historical data, specific terrain features, drones and a powerful AI engine to produce an evidence-based score of the real-time threat to any given area where the system is deployed.

It’s a bold claim. But, given the Chief Technology Officer’s commitment to this field – which includes nearly a decade of research into using drones and AI specifically for wildfires – it’s clear there’s a ton of science it.

Above: A fast-moving wildfire east of Kamloops, BC in 2018. Photo by Murray Foubister via Creative Commons Share Alike 2.0. Below, a screengrab from SkyScoutAI.com

SkyScoutAI Screengrab

MULTIPLE DATA POINTS AND POWERFUL AI

 

A key component of the SkyScoutAI system is the person who helped devise it. Chief Technology Office Michal Aibin holds both a PhD and is Head of the British Columbia Institute of Technology’s Master of Science Program in Applied Computing. He’s been researching the use of drones and AI for wildfires since 2017, and now has graduate students assisting in that research. For Michal, trying to find a solution to this problem isn’t simply an engineering challenge; it’s personal.

“What I really wanted to do with my research at BCIT is something that can make a change for the community, to the lives of people,” he says.

With a background in AI, he started by looking at existing methods of predicting wildfires and thinking: There must be a better way.

“We noticed there are lots of things on the detection side of things…detection of the fire, wildfire assessment, change detection – but there’s not that much on the prediction and prevention side,” he says. “So the question that came in the initial phases of research was: ‘What can we do six months or 12 months in advance to learn what the fire season will look like?’ And this is where the idea of prevention and fuel measurement and using different sensors and putting all of these into some comprehensive risk prevention management tool came into action.”

One of the things he noted early on is that wildfires “don’t just happen – they develop,” By this he’s referring to a cascade of factors or events that ultimately culminate into conditions that are a Perfect Storm for wildfires.

How dry is it? What’s the fire history in this location? How dense are the trees? Is there a water source nearby? Structures? What’s the immediate forecast and what are the historical weather patterns? Is the terrain likely to speed the spread of a wildfire?

Beyond its core algorithmic engine, SkyScout AI uses ground sensors to capture real-time microclimate data across monitored areas. For aerial imagery, the company partners with InDro Robotics for drone operations and regulatory compliance, and with Spexi to obtain the resulting high-resolution captures. SkyScout AI then assembles and processes that imagery internally, feeding it into their wildfire prediction and risk analysis pipeline.

SkyScoutAI’s proprietary AI engine takes all that disparate data and fuses it together to produce an easy-to-understand, actionable risk score. It has a very simple User Interface which includes data points at any given location, the threat level, and the confidence the AI has in its overall prediction (see below).

SkyScoutAI Live Screengrab

PREDICT, PREVENT, PROTECT

 

While SkyScoutAI’s system handles multiple variables, it can’t predict when a human being might  accidentally (or even deliberately) cause an ignition. Nor can it say when an electrical line might arc, or where lightning might strike. But because it can predict threat levels with a high degree of confidence, decision-makers have a tool that allows them to prepare resources. Thermal-equipped drones can make regular sorties in high-threat areas and provide an early warning system is there is an ignition. That data – the precise GPS coordinates – can be relayed in real-time to First Responder partners for a pinpoint response before the fire gets out of control.

It all sounds good – great, even – on paper. But it’s another thing to prove this system in the real world. That’s precisely what’s happening right now, with SkyScoutAI deployed in multiple locations in BC. There are also discussions with contacts in the US. Once the system has proven its worth, says Michal, the hope is for the company to quickly scale.

“We are fully ready as a technology. Now we are looking for institutional adoption and government procurements,” he says. “Those are processes we obviously don’t control. But we really hope that in two or three years we’ll be talking about SkyScoutAI as a tool known not only Canada-wide, but worldwide.”

Below: Michal Aibin speaks about SkyScoutAI on a recent edition of the SoundByte micro-podcast

 

INDRO’S TAKE

 

We’re big fans of SkyScoutAI – and not simply because we’re handling the drone and regulatory end of things. We’ve seen the utter devastation wildfires can cause too many times – to communities, to our forests, and to our environment and atmosphere itself. We also believe in the power of data, and the ability of SkyScoutAI to draw on multiple data points for continuous real-time threat-levels makes a lot of sense to us,

“Wildfires cause billions of dollars in damage annually, yet we’ve never had a reliable, data-driven way to predict threat levels,” says InDro Robotics CEO Philip Reece, who is also a Member of the Board of SkyScoutAI.

“This integrated system, which continuously evaluates multiple data points to produce reliable threat scores and confidence levels, will assist decision-makers in their allocation of resources to those areas most at risk with advance warning. Wildfires will continue to happen, but SkyScoutAI now provides an early warning system that should reduce their impact.”

Seeing is believing. We encourage you to check out SkyScoutAI’s dashboard, which includes live imagery and threat detection in multiple locations where it’s deployed, right here.

 

H2CanFly works to accelerate adoption of hydrogen as fuel

H2CanFly works to accelerate adoption of hydrogen as fuel

Apr 21, 2026 | Environment, Industry News, Innovation, National Research Council, Scott Simmie

By Scott Simmie

 

Picture a world where long-haul passenger jets are powered by liquid hydrogen – modified engines burning the gas the same way they used to combust Jet A fuel. There is zero CO2 produced. With the exception of some nitrogen oxides (due to higher combustion temperatures), the only exhaust is water vapour.  For an even cleaner, zero-emission process, imagine a short-haul hybrid turboprop using fuel cells to power batteries and electric motors. You could even use hydrogen to run a generator for hybrid propulsion of long-range drones or UGVs.

Providing the hydrogen is obtained in a sustainable way, such as using wind- or solar-powered electrolysis, this chemical element could be the path toward a net-zero emission future in not only the aviation sector, but many others as well.

That’s certainly the future H2CanFly, a non-profit national R&D and commercialisation initiative with some 45 partners in industry and academia, would like to see. Its vision? “Working together to build safe sustainable, and equitable aviation solutions for a cleaner world.”

Sounds ideal. But it’s not a simple or easy path, particularly when it comes to passenger-carrying aircraft.

“Aviation is the most challenging industry to de-carbonize, and sector growth is anticipated to out-pace typical incremental efficiency improvements. Clean sheet designs take time, and the technologies that enable these designs must be advanced now to achieve our net-zero objectives by 2050,” states the H2CanFly website.

We spoke in-depth with H2CanFly CEO Eric Lefebvre, and will extract some key nuggets from that conversation. But first, a brief video from H2CanFly partner Airbus that lays out in simplest terms how using green hydrogen for aircraft and vehicles might someday look (and note the blended-wing aircraft in the video).

Above: We have no plans to produce a hydrogen jet. But by the year 2050, the odds are good a blended wing like this could be in the skies – albeit with different livery.

THE HYDROGEN ADVANTAGE

 

Why use hydrogen rather than gasoline or jet fuel? The obvious answer is to reduce the carbon footprint of everything from drones to ground vehicles to large passenger aircraft. Lefebvre, and many others, believe hydrogen is the clear solution.

“Hydrogen has a bright future in terms of its scalability, cost factor, its energy density, its gravimetric density, and so forth,” he says. “There are a lot of key applications that will benefit from the use of hydrogen. But there needs to be work – and it needs to be concerted and organized in order to bring about the desired R&D outcomes.”

That’s where H2CanFly comes in. The not-for-profit organisation has several major OEM partners, including Airbus, Boeing, CAE, Ballard and more. There are multiple SMEs, including InDro Robotics onboard. Others from the aviation sector, such as Edmonton International Airport, the Ontario Aerospace Council, and the Canadian Airports Council are involved. Plus there are several partners in academia, including the University of Waterloo, Concordia University, UBC and more. With so many high-level, vested partners on board, there’s the potential for real momentum (you can find a partner list here).

In addition to being a voice of the industry, H2CanFly is very much involved with trying to shape the next steps of the hydrogen evolution in Canada. That means working directly with partners on real-world R&D projects, carrying out research at its newly announced ARCTIC (Aero Research & Clean Tech Innovation Centre) lab at Aéroports de Montréal’s YMX Innovation Centre, conversing frequently with regulators – and orchestrating multiple (and complementary) R&D efforts in a unified way to push the needle forward in Canada.

 

A CHALLENGING, BUT NECESSARY STEP

 

Integrating hydrogen as a combustible fuel on a long-range passenger aircraft is not an easy task. It would involve liquid hydrogen, which would have to be in cryogenic tanks (there’s also research underway into binding hydrogen atoms with another material to create solid hydrogen, but that’s a topic for another day).

Those cryogenic tanks are not practical for storage in the wings, so in most designs they either sit aft of passengers (which means reducing seats or extending the body), or in a newer design such as a blended-wing craft. Commuter aircraft and regional feeders would likely use fuel cells producing electricity to power electric motors. Most existing fuel cells aren’t suitable for long-range flight with larger aircraft due to their weight and power output limitations (though there are steady improvements).

But the push is on. And Canada’s National Research Council says H2CanFly is playing a critical role:

“Decarbonizing aviation is a critical component of Canada’s goal of meeting net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and making the sector more sustainable,” states the Council’s 2025-2026 Departmental Plan.

“The H2CanFly consortium is set to transform the aviation industry by fast-tracking the commercialization of hydrogen propulsion aircraft to reduce aviation’s climate impact and strengthen Canada’s position as a global leader in the field. This partnership network, uniting key stakeholders from industry, academia and government, will build an inclusive and accessible national hydrogen flight research platform to achieve critical environmental and economic objectives for Canada.”

There are certainly hurdles ahead. It can take many years for new aircraft designs to be certified, and – for the aerospace industry – the bottom line is always important. The cost of sustainable, “green” hydrogen will have to come down (and the consensus is it will). There are also global and regional regulations/agreements requiring aviation carriers to achieve net-zero carbon emission by 2050 – and hydrogen seems to be the solution of choice.

The two videos below both provide excellent overviews of what’s ahead, with the second being longer and more in-depth. If you’re pressed for time, check out the first one (though they’re truly both worth a watch).

INDRO’S TAKE

 

InDro Robotics has long supported a sustainable future, so the widespread possibilities offered by hydrogen are of great interest to us. In fact, we’re currently working on a project with partners that involves a proof-of-concept for delivering hydrogen fuel in the field to RPAS and uncrewed ground vehicles.

“With concerns over greenhouse gases and a changing global climate, now is definitely the time to be exploring renewable propulsion systems and infrastructure for the future,” says InDro Robotics Founder and CEO Philip Reece. “We are pleased to be working with Eric Lefebrve and H2CanFLy on not only a sustainable future, but one where Canadian innovations in the hydrogen sector have an opportunity to be put to use globally.”

You can listen to our conversation with Eric, who appeared on a recent episode of our SoundByte micro-podcast, right here.

 

InDro’s VR humanoid draws crowds at MWC26

InDro’s VR humanoid draws crowds at MWC26

Mar 5, 2026 | InDro News, Industry 4.0, Industry News, Innovation, Scott Simmie

By Scott Simmie

 

InDro is proud to be displaying, alongside Ericsson, at the huge Mobile World Congress (MWC26) in Barcelona. It’s a massive show, highlighting connectivity and the near-endless variety of solutions that rely on it: Everything from industrial robots and other Industry 4.0 innovations through to AI-powered smart glasses and the myriad of other devices that can help enhance life at home.

We’re alongside Ericsson Enterprise Wireless Solutions – which is demonstrating the power of its Ericsson Private 5G network, or EP5G. It’s the solution for the growing number of companies and sectors that need their own secure, high-bandwidth and ultra low-latency networks to enhance data processing, speed and efficiency. Problem is, you can’t actually *see* what a private 5G network looks like. InDro is on the scene to provide, in a tangible way, a look at what such networks enable.

In this case, we have a humanoid that can be remotely operated over 5G or WiFi using a high-resolution headset and hand controllers. It’s being operated at the show by InDro Forge Hardware Engineering Manager Joel Koscielski. It’s a perfect solution for situations where you might not want to put a person at risk.

“Connected through EP5G, the system essentially allows a highly trained technician to physically embody the robot and perform a series of actions. It’s really been a crowd pleaser so far, and we think it’s a critical stepping stone,” says InDro Head of R&D Sales Luke Corbeth, who’s also on the scene.

Ericsson also invited Canadian company Cypher Robotics. InDro has incubated Cypher and assisted with the development of its breakthrough Captis system for autonomous cycle counting and inventory management. Rather than explain it all here, check out Luke’s post from the floor of WMC26:

WAIT A MINUTE

 

While our VR tele-operated humanoid is certainly very cool, you might ask yourself: ‘Hang on. That looks cumbersome. Why not just send in a fully autonomous robot to do those difficult jobs?”

Good question. But there’s a gap between perception and reality when it comes to humanoids and their capabilities. Before a robot of any kind can be deployed for a truly autonomous task, it needs to be programmed and trained. This involves machine vision, machine learning, simulation – and much more. But the actions Joel is taking in the video above could actually be used to train that humanoid for a specific task. Here’s Luke once again:

“Imagine you have your most highly trained technician performing a task. The system can collect visual and motion and haptic data, which we can then put into a reinforcement learning algorithm via simulation and then deploy that skill or policy,” he says. In other words, what Joel is doing could be used to teach that robot to one day carry out those functions entirely on its own. 

“Everyone sees humanoids through sci-fi and other mediums and expects them to be autonomous. And while that is the end goal here, we’re showing what we think is a critical, critical piece in that whole puzzle.”

The InDro demo has been drawing huge crowds throughout the show – and those in attendance fully understand the significance of what we’re showing, along with how EP5G is a critical enabler in settings where security and speed count.

Below: The Ericsson/InDro/Cypher Robotics display grabs attention at WMC26, followed by the Cypher Robotics Captis system.

 
 
 
WMC26 humanoid
WMC26 Captis

INDRO’S TAKE

 

We love big shows, and take pleasure not only in showcasing our own innovations, but seeing all the amazing things that others from around the world are working on. WMC26 is a huge show, and we’re still processing everything we’ve seen – and will likely be exploring other innovative technologies which caught our attention that might push InDro’s offerings even further along that cutting edge. 

“We’re pleased with the feedback we’ve received on our VR humanoid project,” says InDro Founder and CEO Philip Reece. “We’re grateful to Ericsson for once again choosing InDro – as well as Cypher Robotics – to help potential clients visualise the incredible power of private 5G networks and the kinds of solutions they enable.”

Luke is planning a full video of his trip – including many of the cool things he saw at the show, as well as a glimpse of Barcelona. Keep an eye out for that on LinkedIn!