Latest News
We’re bringing the future in sight to the entire UAS industry. Here’s what we’ve been up to lately.
What It Takes To Fly ‘True’ Beyond Visual Line of Sight
How Iris enabled the first true BVLOS missions by Gabrielle Wain, Head of Public Policy & Government Affairs Flying over a field in Salina, Kansas Recently, Iris Automation’s team of pilots traveled from Reno to rural Salina, Kansas to conduct field testing, a...
Iris Automation and Kansas DOT Successfully Complete Historic Beyond-Visual-Line-Of-Sight Drone Flight
FAA UAS Integration Pilot Program partners complete first true beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) drone operation, powered by Iris Automation’s collision avoidance system TOPEKA, Kan. (November 12, 2019)— The Kansas Department of Transportation’s (KDOT) Unmanned...
The 3-legged “Safety Stool”
The key safety principles that drive the success of the Flight Operations team at Iris Automation Iris Automation relies on the testing of our Detect and Avoid technology, Casia, through real-world field tests conducted by our Flight Operations team. The team is based...
My Way or the Hawaii-way
How Aloha Fridays became an Iris tradition “Every revolution was first a thought in one man’s mind” — Ralph Waldo Emerson Aloha Friday at the Iris 2019 Retreat One of the most exciting things about joining an early stage start-up is the opportunity to make an...
Kansas approved for first Beyond Visual Line of Sight drone flight in the nation
TOPEKA – The Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) received permission to conduct the first ever Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone operation in the nation leveraging only onboard detect-and-avoid systems. This is the first-ever FAA authorized operation to...
IRIS AUTOMATION, SKYFRONT AND ECHODYNE POWER FIRST EVER BEYOND-VISUAL-LINE-OF-SIGHT DRONE FLIGHT WITHOUT HUMAN VISUAL OBSERVERS
FAA UAS Integration Pilot Program partners, including The University of Alaska Fairbanks, Iris Automation, Skyfront, Echodyne, and Alyeska Pipeline Service Company achieve milestone in drone industry FOX, Alaska (August 1, 2019) -- The University of Alaska’s Unmanned...
Introducing our newest Iris board member—Scott Smith
We’re thrilled to announce we’ve brought Scott Smith on board as an Independent Director to the company board! Scott brings a remarkable background to the team and company. He began his career at Lockheed, went on to found his own successful aerospace startup,...
The Journey to Casia: Part One
by Zack Goyetche, Electrical Engineer at Iris Automation The Iris Casia module As an electrical engineer who is obsessed with creating the physical, I delightedly jumped at the opportunity to design and build hardware for Iris Automation when it presented itself one...
Soft Landing: Coming Out On Top
How I came out as trans while a business leader in tech It’s the middle of June, late in the morning when the summer fog starts to burn off and concede to the California sunshine filtering softly through the window. I’m sitting across from Alex, my boss and CEO of the...
#HelloCasia
Meet Casia, our Detect and Avoid system for BVLOS operations May 2019 marked one of the hugest accomplishments in Iris Automation’s history to date — launching Casia, the product we’ve been working towards since our inception. Casia is the first commercially available...
Iris Automation announces Casia, the first turnkey collision-avoidance solution for the commercial drone industry
Providing the “eyes and brain” for drones, software enables missions beyond visual line of sight SAN FRANCISCO -- Iris Automation, an artificial intelligence and safety avionics company, today announced the launch of Casia – the first commercially available computer...
A Look Inside the Iris Reno Office
By Taylor Westerman In the midtown area of the ‘Biggest Little City’ sits the University of Nevada, Reno’s Innevation Center. Today I’m excited to take you on a tour of our Reno office and perhaps in doing so will have you asking, “where can I sign up?” Four months...
Educational Robotics, Iris, and You
A story about learning through teaching by Katie Widen Setting up my high school team’s robot (right) next to that year’s world champion (left). This game involved placing inner tubes on pegs, 2011. Imagine walking into a basketball stadium or a high school...
Day in the Life of Deputy Head of Flight Ops
Cheryl Contreras gives us a look into a typical day of field testing as the Deputy Head of Flight Operations at Iris Automation Helicopter ride home after a day of testing. I’ve worked at Iris for a year and a half, starting as a Flight Operations Technician and...
Mission:Values
By Stephanie Lacy-Price People & Communications Specialist at Iris Automation From the Iris Culturebook, 2019. Finalizing our company values and building them into our culture is the work I’m most proud to have taken on during my time at Iris and has formed the...
Flight Simulator: Episode 1
By Eric SchaferSimulation Architect at Iris Automation Like human pilots, artificial intelligence autopilots practice not crashing in a simulator. Having transitioned from many years of movie visual effects (crashing encouraged) at Industrial Light & Magic to...
Diversity and Inclusion at Iris Automation: Q & A with the founders
CEO Alex Harmsen and CTO James Howard open up about D&I Iris team retreat, September 2018 What does diversity and inclusion mean to you? Alex: To me, the single largest contribution from diversity is creative thought. Very simply, without diversity in...
Iris Automation, Kansas DOT begin test flights for the Drone Integration Pilot Program
SALINA - The Kansas Department of Transportation is starting the testing phase of the Integration Pilot Program this week. Flights by Iris Automation will focus on enabling new detect and avoid capabilities for drones. Iris Automation will be testing its collision...