Adam Klaptocz

We created RigiTech to connect rural communities to the global market. Our drone-based delivery technology is designed around sustainability, universal communication and safety and cost-effective operations. We believe in a world where universal access to goods is a reality.

As a Board Member of DIAS, I support the Swiss drone industry through advocacy, events and industry support. The purpose of the Drone Industry Association Switzerland (DIAS) is to: - Embrace the use and acceptance of drones (aka Unmanned Aerial Systems); - Represent, support, defend and promote Swiss drone companies, specifically with a focus on export; - Engage with other associations and groups facing similar challenges;

WeRobotics is creating a future where local communities can use robotics for social good by building a global network of labs where people accelerate and scale the impact of their humanitarian aid, global development and environmental protection efforts using appropriate robotics solutions. As the technical expert of the founding team, I was leading the engineering efforts of WeRobotics, most notably in our rural cargo delivery and mosquito vector control projects. I was in charge of setting up Lab infrastructure in our worldwide locations, negotiating and nurturing relationships with Technology Partners, and ensuring the technical feasibility and success of all our social good projects.

- Strategy for future development and definition of product roadmap, evaluation of new technologies in materials, manufacturing, electronics, prospecting and interfacing with key suppliers and partners - Management and coordination of active hardware and mechanical projects, defining budgets, managing a team of engineers. - Project leader: Albris next-generation drone. Close oversight of hardware/mechanics development, system architecture definition, coordination between hardware/software teams, industrialisation

Coordinating a team of engineers in charge of research into new platform and mechanism designs, control strategies and sensing techniques. Developing new products to improve and expand senseFly's line of autonomous robotic solutions for aerial mapping and photography.

Drone Adventures is a non-profit organisation with the goal of promoting the use of civilian drones in the Humanitarian, Conservation, Cultural and Search and Rescue sectors. Our main activity is to organise showcase missions that demonstrate how state of the art in drone technology can be used for the betterment of our planet. As founder and president, I defined the vision of the organisation, ran drone-based missions in Namibia, Japan, the Philippines and Tanzania, and created the infrastructure to allow the organisation to grow.

Designer of the AirBurr drone, a flying robot designed to withstand and recover from collisions, and the ancestor of the Elios drone now commercialised by spinoff Flyability.

- Designed hardware modules to be used on several different mobile robots, including pan-tilt camera systems, sensor boards, rotating infrared scanners and motor drivers - In charge of all parts of the design process, beginning with electrical circuit and mechanical design, component selection and purchasing, through to printed circuit board layout, routing and production, microcontroller firmware coding, finally testing and series-production

Manufactured and characterised new Organic Light Emitting Device (OLED) structures to determine their physical properties, yielded industry-leading results that were later patented and sold to be used in commercial devices

- Involved in the design and construction of a prototype fluid sterilization system using cutting-edge microwave technology which was subsequently installed in a plant for the US Department of Agriculture - Closely involved in all parts of the automation and control system during design and construction phases: design of automation system, programming and commissioning of PLC control program, wiring, calibration and testing of sensors and actuators

- Thesis on sensing and reacting to collisions between flying robots and objects in crowded environments. Includes design and optimization of robot structure for collision robustness, new mechanisms for attachment to surfaces, and control and sensing electronics for autonomous flight. Several fully autonomous flying prototypes have been built from the ground up. - Author of several peer-reviewed book chapters, journal and conference papers More details at http://lis.epfl.ch/AirBurr/

- Master project on the design of an ultra-lightweight microflyer robot, including a new electronics suite featuring aVLSI optic flow sensors allowing fully autonomous flight at 10g - Received Best Paper Award at IROS2006, the biggest international conference on robotics

- 5-year degree similar to a Masters-level engineering degree in Switzerland, including five full-time, 4-month work terms acquiring practical experience in industry before graduating