French Companies Show Flexibility at Eurosatory 2014

Photo courtesy AUVSI

 By Danielle Lucey



The ways to use unmanned systems are growing in numbers, and those concepts are on display at Eurosatory 2014, occurring this week in Paris.



The show features a dedicated unmanned systems and robotics area and also showcased what some of those companies’ platforms are capable of in live demonstrations that are taking place twice daily at the event. 



ECA Robotics’ IT180 vertical takeoff and landing aircraft showed its ability to carry a small ground robot, in this case ECA’s Cobra, into theater so it could scout out the interior of a hut on a hillside. The UAS was flown via radio control at the demo to avoid any interference with passenger jets taking off from nearby Charles de Gaulle Airport. 



ECA Robotics has manufactured maritime and ground robots for decades, but its UAS is the result of a two-month-old acquisition of company Infotrom. The vertical takeoff and landing vehicle was developed for the French army and has been deployed in places like Mali. ECA’s ultimate goal is to integrate robots from all domains so they can be used from a common controller. 



“This [UAS] is attractive because it’s complementary with ground robots,” says Patrick Peras, land and aerial robotics manager at ECA Robotics. 



He also said he sees new market areas opening up for the technology. 



“There is a very big civilian market, mainly inspection.”



Other French companies are leveraging the country’s flight flexibility with unmanned aircraft to carve out a space in the commercial market. Montreuil, France’s Workfly recently had its Flying-Sensor-S3 VTOL aircraft certified by the country’s aviation authority to fly in urban areas. The company’s Philippe Amann says they still have to inform the Directorate General for Civil Aviation when their product will be airborne under this certification system. 



“We are hoping it will change into something more flexible,” he said. But for now, if a person wanted to fly the system for any use other than by the police or when it’s carrying cargo, it would be permissible, he said. 



The system is deployed with a parachute on top so if there is any issue in flight, it can float back down.