The Danish defense startup Dropla Tech has just been approved to sell its drones and mobile robots to NATO countries. Now, the company is accelerating production with funding from EIFO.
In war-torn Ukraine, large areas remain unused due to leftover mines, unexploded bombs, and grenades scattered across fields vital to Ukraine’s economy. 26.000 square kilometres of agricultural land is denied in service due to contamination - threatening the world’s food security.
But Dropla Tech’s founder and CEO, V’yacheslav Shvaidak, has a solution. The Ukrainian engineer and lieutenant gathered a team and resources to develop a system where a swarm of drones can find hidden landmines, put them onto a digital map and then confirm with cheap ground unmanned vehicles that no threat was left undetected - this reduces the area of tedious manual demining by 90-95 percent. With financial backing from EIFO, the company is now ready to enter production:
“We are pleased to support an innovative defense startup with riskwilling loan capital because scaling and exporting are necessary for the success of the Danish defense industry. Dropla Tech is a great example of a company that can contribute to security in Europe and, with funding from EIFO, can now realize its growth potential,” says Claus Thorup Albjerg, Associate Director at EIFO.
From Ukraine to Odense
V’yacheslav Shvaidak was helping a friend’s software company in Sweden when the war broke out in Ukraine. On the day of his return trip, the invasion of Ukraine began. V’yacheslav Shvaidak is convinced that he can do more for his homeland from a distance than he can in a tank in Ukraine, so he chose to stay.
Shortly after, V’yacheslav Shvaidak came up with the idea for the drone solution, and in the spring, he moved to Denmark when he was awarded a place in the Odense Robotics StartUp Fund’s incubator program. Since then, the small drone company has received strong support from the Danish national cluster for robot, drone and automation industry.
Faster and cheaper mine clearance
Dropla Tech estimates that with current technologies, it costs between approximately 7 and 22 kroner to clear one square meter of mines. By using robotics and artificial intelligence, we can make mine clearance faster, cheaper, and safer.
“We estimate that our solution can reduce the cost of mine clearance to just 70 øre per square meter and shorten the time from 70 to just 12 years,” says V’yacheslav Shvaidak.
Landmine detection through Multi-modal sensor fusion is at its dawn. Most mine detection solutions typically use only one drone at a time, but Dropla Tech’s solution sends six at a time. This means their innovative technology can work faster than previously possible. This way, the drones can cover and map an area of up to half a square kilometer per day.
Subsequently, remote-controlled off-road vehicles can remove grass and bushes and ensure that no threats were overlooked during the initial survey. The vehicles are built to withstand detonations from small anti-personal overlooked mines. The result is that the area is now safe and demining teams can focus their effors on the land that is actually contaminated.
Approved for Sale in Ukraine
Dropla Tech entered into a certification phase and conducted capabilities tests under supervision of State Scientific Research Institute of Armament and Military Equipment Testing and Certification of Ukraine. After certification Dropla Tech will be approved as a supplier to the Ukrainian government. With funding from EIFO, the company now has the capital to ramp up production.
And it is necessary because the Ukrainian defense does not pay in advance or wait for production – they need the goods when they order. The mine clearance season ends in about a week when the ground becomes too wet. But when it becomes possible to send machines out to the fields again in April, the team is ready to send their products to the Demining Operators.
“Ukraine is a gateway to the entire European defense market because the requirements for new products and technologies are high. The product RnD cycles are extremely short, due to immediate feedback from the main stakeholders. That allowed us to gain pace and create a complete product in under 12 month time frame,” says V’yacheslav Shvaidak.
Dropla Tech has also just signed a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) and received funds to study the viability of a humanitarian demining service through drone swarm operations and g eoreferencing in GNSS denied/degraded environments.
“Georeferencing errors are unacceptable in our missions, and humanitarian demining operations sometimes are conducted in GNSS degraded environments. Therefore, securing this capability under ESA supervision is of highest priority to the company”
“Denmark is the country in the world that contributes the most per capita to Ukraine. Therefore, I am also very happy to be part of the young defense technology scene in Denmark, and EIFO’s support for startups in the field sends an important message,” concludes V’yacheslav Shvaidak.
