GAME OF DRONES

Drone firm Infinium Robotics is in a good place. The company is expecting a major inflow of capital from investors. It is competing in an emerging industry -- indoor drone technology -- where the players are scarce and the customers are increasingly desperate for manpower solutions.

"We're known as one of the pioneers in this field and we want to carve a name for ourselves," said Major (MAJ) (NS) Woon, Chief Executive Officer and founder of Infinium Robotics.

Currently in talks with investors to raise US$5 million (S$7.1 million) to fund further product development and production, the two-year-old company has been steadily gaining ground in the nascent field of indoor drone technology. No wonder he is smiling broadly.

Reading the market

The company makes Food and Beverage service drones that can reduce the need for human wait staff and is looking into drones that can help with physical inventory checks in cavernous warehouses.

"Imagine a drone system being able to do what used to take a forklift and a number of staff to accomplish in a warehousing environment; that's a huge advantage for any logistics company."

With falling birth rates now a global phenomenon, the case for automation grows ever stronger. Said MAJ (NS) Woon: "Getting manpower is going to be a huge problem in 20 or 30 years' time."

Sensing the opportunity back in 2013, he started the company after finding out that there were Government grants for enterprises working to boost productivity.

He got his first taste of drone technology during his service in the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) when the ScanEagle Unmanned Aerial Vehicles were being fitted on the RSN's Missile Corvettes. "I got to understand how drones could be used, in a military way, to boost what we can achieve with limited manpower."

It also got him thinking about how drones could be used in civilian applications.

Global outlook

His aim is to take the company global and he believes that Singapore is just the place to make that happen. "Singapore is a good test bed for new technologies because we are small and well-governed."

The strategy is to develop and push new boundaries in drone technology with an eye on the world.

"The market here is too small; if we only depend on the local market, it's a matter of time before we are edged out by someone with lower costs and better technology," explained MAJ (NS) Woon.

That is why the company spends a substantial amount on research and development.

"We can't be another 'normal' company if we want to survive, we have to be different and better," he added.

Tech edge

The company produces fully working drone systems, but its edge lies in its indoor swarm technology. Connected in a network, multiple drones can coordinate and navigate a pre-defined space to within centimetres of one another.

"It's basically an unmanned, automated Air Traffic Controller for the drones. We've gotten very good at coordinating multiple drones and we also have real-time collision-avoidance systems," said MAJ (NS) Woon while he was casually standing in the middle of a whirring six-drone swarm in flight.

The Timbre Group, which operates a chain of popular dining spots, is set to use Infinium Robotics-made drones as servers by mid-2016.

Dubbed Infinium Serve, the system will see drones carrying orders to a serving station before a human waiter serves it to the table. This cuts the time that wait staff will spend shuffling between the kitchen and the dining area.

Naval start

So how does one go from naval warfare to being head honcho at a tech start-up?

MAJ (NS) Woon, in fact, got a head start in tech as an RSN officer.

"Learning about technology is part and parcel of being an RSN officer because the Navy is pretty small, and we make full use of technology to aid us in any way. For example, the frigates operated by the RSN have a crew of about 90 sailors and airmen and women, compared to similarly sized warships overseas which are typically manned by twice the number of people.

"I would say that the RSN gave me a lot of insights and also the experience and confidence to run my own company," MAJ (NS) Woon.