Drones for Work win 2017 ESNC Nederlands challenge

And the 2017 ESNC Award in the Netherlands Challenge goes to… Drones for Work! The start-up based in Delft had the idea to use GNSS data to position and stabilize their drones.

Drones for Work develops a control systems to allow drones to operate in harsh off-shore conditions. The satellite navigation data will help drones avoid being blown more than 10 centimetres off course by sea winds up to 7 kph.

Drones for Off-shore Work

We met two of the three co-founders - business and technology expert Robert Crone and embedded systems wiz Maurice Bos - in their brand new lab in the Buccaneer in Delft a week before the big Award Ceremony in Tallinn. Of course, at that moment, the fact that Drones for Work is the Dutch winner was still one of Europe’s best kept secrets. “I was so happy we won, I almost tweeted it immediately,” Crone remembers. “Luckily, I read the warning in the email just on time.”

Like many drone engineers, the three founders were primarily interested in tinkering with technology and had little previous experience with off-shore work. They met each other while working on the successful electric racing car at Delft University of Technology. “I like working with electronics and embedded systems, I don’t really care if it’s a car or an airplane,” says Bos. “The nice thing about drones is that they are relatively cheap and accessible, so you can do a lot as a small start-up.”

More information see the SBIC website