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.