Award-winning ArroTech bringing about a safer world
Company’s autonomous GEON E61 drone speeds demining operations
PANAMA CITY BEACH, FLORIDA, May 2, 2024 —The war in Ukraine has serious implications for non-combatant nations around the world.
For example, when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, 68 percent of the East African nation of Somalia’s wheat imports came from Ukraine, according to Statista, a German online platform that specializes in data collection. Somalia’s desperation is compounded by domestic unrest, drought and climate change.
Ukraine historically has produced 10% of the world’s grain and 15% of its corn. The Council on Foreign Relations reports that agriculture accounts for 14% of the jobs in Ukraine, which has become progressively less able to maintain yields, in part due to the presence of explosive remnants of war (ERW) in farmers’ fields, making them inaccessible.
That problem is a factor that aggravates the hunger crisis in Somalia and elsewhere and helps account for high bread and beer prices in Western nations.
U.S. intelligence officials have estimated that up to 60% of the missiles fired by Russia at Ukraine fail to reach their targets or do not explode. The government in Ukraine has said that landmines and unexploded ordnance pose a threat in almost a third of the nation’s total area, home to 6 million people.
The World Bank has placed the cost to demine Ukraine, an effort that would take decades to complete using conventional methods, at $38 billion.
ArroTech Corporation, a startup based in Panama City Beach, Florida, is working to make mine removal much safer, faster and less expensive. The business is committed to becoming a global leader in the altruistic application of unmanned aerial vehicle systems (UAVs).
It is making swift progress toward that goal.
ArroTech’s GEON E61 is the world’s first fully autonomous drone optimized for use by military, humanitarian and commercial demining organizations. It features a proven onboard military-grade metal detector and highly advanced fully autonomous software.
Currently, operations to detect ERW and metallic landmines rely upon handheld and cart-based metal detectors.
Last year, the Association for Uncrewed Vehicles Systems International (AUVSI) named ArroTech an XCELLENCE Award winner.
The company was among a pool of accomplished applicants in the award program’s Humanitarian category. Winners were congratulated during the XCELLENCE awards ceremony at AUVSI’s 50th anniversary event. Learn more about the AUVSI XCELLENCE awards here.
“XPONENTIAL is all about designing a shared plan for the future of autonomy,” Brian Wynne, president and CEO of AUVSI commented at the ceremony. “Our award finalists are redefining what’s possible with uncrewed and robotic technology.”
“ArroTech’s mission is to develop innovative technologies to help rid the world of dangerous explosive remnants of war (ERW), which include unexploded ordnance (UXO) and abandoned explosive ordnance (AXO),” said ArroTech CEO Steve Millaway. “We are highly honored to win the AUVSI XCELLENCE Humanitarian Award.”
Using the GEON E61, demining operations can provide GPS coordinates for metallic objects to explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) personnel efficiently and at greatly reduced cost. Flight plans for the drone are easily configured in seconds with user-friendly smartphone and tablet apps. Onboard sensors allow the drone to precisely traverse variable terrain and avoid obstacles.
ArroTech envisions that a fleet of GEON E61s will help Ukrainian farmers locate and remove hundreds of thousands of ERW and metallic landmines from their fields. The company is using donations from worldwide for-profit and nonprofit organizations to help cover its costs so that it can provide these services to Ukraine’s farmers for free.
About ArroTech: ArroTech develops and manufactures precision autonomous drones for a variety of military, humanitarian, and commercial applications. Visit ArroTech.com.
About AUVSI and XPONENTIAL: The Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) — the world’s largest non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of uncrewed systems and robotics — represents corporations and professionals from more than 60 countries. AUVSI and Messe Düsseldorf North America co-host XPONENTIAL, the leading annual gathering for global leaders and end users of uncrewed technologies. Visit AUVSI.org and xponential.org/
