About

The autonomy brain
for anything that flies.

Vasco Robotics is a spin-off from the University of Klagenfurt and the University of Bern. We build the software that lets aircraft perceive, decide and act on their own: an autonomy brain that runs on different platforms, flies without GPS, and can be inspected and verified.

01 / Where we come from

Research first.
Then the field.

Vasco Robotics grows out of the Control of Networked Systems group at the University of Klagenfurt and the Software Engineering Group at the University of Bern. Our autonomy and navigation architecture was developed within the HERMES team, which won Stage 2 of SPRIN-D’s Fully Autonomous Flight 2.0 Challenge in August 2026: unknown environments, no GPS, two aircraft flying at the same time.

Three researchers, two universities, one conviction: progress in autonomous robotics depends as much on how software is built as on what a single robot can do.

Founding
2027Planned incorporation. Until then, Vasco Robotics is a venture in formation.
Roots
ETH Zurich · NASA JPLWhere our team and advisors trained and researched. Research groups at the University of Klagenfurt and the University of Bern.
Proven
2 × winnerSPRIN-D Fully Autonomous Flight 2.0 (2026) and NATO SPS SAPIENCE (2025).
Focus
Anything that fliesUAVs today. The same brain for other aircraft tomorrow.
02 / Why

Leipzig was
a warning.

In the night of 4 to 5 August 2026, a drone carrying explosives was found next to a cargo aircraft at Leipzig/Halle Airport. Hours later, a second drone collided with a freighter aborting its landing. Two drones reached one of Europe’s largest cargo hubs before anyone could act.

The gap is not limited to airports. Power plants, ports, rail, data centres, hospitals and public events share it: small, low and slow objects go unseen until it is too late, and nobody can say what is coming, where, and when.

Our goal is to close that gap. Early detection, tracking and warning for people, critical infrastructure and civilian infrastructure providers. And when a threat is confirmed, guidance for interceptors and responders.

  1. Detect

    See it early

    Small, low and slow objects, day and night. Ground sensors and airborne scouts feed one live picture of the airspace.

  2. Track

    Follow it

    Detections become tracks. Trajectory and intent are estimated continuously, across sensors and across aircraft.

  3. Warn

    Say what, where and when

    Alerts reach people, operators and authorities with time to act, in the terms they need to decide, not raw sensor data.

  4. Guide

    Act on it

    Interceptors and responders are guided to the right point in space and time. The decision stays with people. The flying does not.

03 / Where we are going

From autonomy
to judgement.

Today the brain navigates without GPS, understands the scene and executes missions on its own. That is the foundation, and it has been tested in competition.

Where we are going is judgement: an aircraft that makes fast decisions under uncertainty, reasons about intent and consequences, and adapts to situations nobody scripted. These three abilities are what we are building the company around.

Fast decision-making

Decides in milliseconds, on board

No link to the ground and no round trip to a data centre. Perception, prediction and choice run on the aircraft, fast enough to matter when something crosses its path.

Reasoning

Understands the scene and the mission

The brain knows what it sees, what the mission asks for and what its actions mean. It weighs options against intent and consequences, and can explain why it acted.

Dealing with the unexpected

Keeps working when the plan breaks

Degraded sensors, jamming, new obstacles, a failed unit, a changed environment. Learned behaviour grounded in physics lets the aircraft adapt instead of stopping.

04 / Track record

Competition wins

05 / Contact

Interested?
Let’s talk