Flyrobotics is a field robotics company that designs and deploys autonomous systems for advanced monitoring of natural and built environments. We take cues from nature and apply biomimetic principles to develop tools for real-world use. Our work integrates robotics, adaptive sensor platforms, parameter estimation, and geospatial data science. The team combines applied research and industry experience across energy, air and water quality, agriculture and forestry, and population modeling.
Making visible the invisible
FLYROBOTICS exists to make the invisible visible. We develop autonomous systems to monitor and act on environmental conditions that are critical to human wellbeing and ecosystem health. We believe that wellbeing is only possible when understood as a relationship between people and the systems around them. Our mission is to apply our knowledge and access to advanced technologies to develop new solutions in mobile robotics, sensing, biomimicry, and cognitive algorithms.
Co-evolution and adaptive autonomy
We anticipate a future in which autonomous systems enhance our ability to understand, act upon, adjust to, care for, and regenerate the systems we depend on. We aim to contribute to a more livable world—driven by data and guided by principles of co-evolution between technology, nature, and society. We believe nature holds resilient, efficient, and often more sustainable solutions than most technology we know. Our vision is to translate inspiration from ancestral organisms into autonomous systems capable of responding to the complex challenges of the future.
Flyrobotics began as a research effort within the Smart Cities Center at the Polytechnic Institute of Tomar (IPT), where early field prototypes combined robotics, sensing, and data science to map dynamic environmental conditions. These first tests—floating drones in reservoirs, mobile platforms in forests, indoor air monitors in public buildings—demonstrated how real-time environmental data could be gathered autonomously, with minimal human intervention. Flyrobotics was founded in 2025 to turn these experimental systems into robust tools for water and air quality monitoring. Today, our DragonFly and FireFly platforms deliver continuous precise data for water and air quality management, on parameters that are often invisible, yet critical to health and sustainability. We maintain a strong emphasis on development and field testing, operating as a hybrid team—part lab, part service provider.
Flyrobotics is based in Tomar, Portugal. Its members include university professors and PhD candidates in Electrical and Computer Engineering, specializing in field robotics, control systems, and cognitive algorithms for autonomous sensing in air and water environments. The team’s combined expertise covers robotics design, embedded systems, AI, parameter estimation, and data science—supported by active research collaboration with the Polytechnic Institute of Tomar, the University of Coimbra, and the Institute of Systems and Robotics (ISR‑UC). The group also integrates professionals with backgrounds in forestry engineering, agricultural engineering, project management, software development, and large-scale data systems and humanitarian technology.
Flyrobotics works closely with the Polytechnic Institute of Tomar (IPT), with which it shares a laboratory and develops joint research in robotics, sensor networks, and electromechanical systems. The company’s origins are tied to several R&D projects emerging from IPT’s Smart Cities Research Center (Ci2), such as DragonFly, Libélula, and Aquatropolis. It also collaborates with the University of Coimbra on cognitive algorithms, artificial intelligence, and electroactive polymers. Its Headquarters are located in the old centre of the historical city of Tomar.