Skydio Ascend 26, the American drone company's annual showcase of its latest tech, has not gotten any less exciting for tech fans but, realistically, the devices on display are unlikely to replace the DJI devices that the government are making it hard to buy in the USA.
CEO Adam Bry talked a great deal about being able to deploy drones within a few minutes for law enforcement and
The robots are here and they fly.Today at Ascend, we announced:• R10 - a breakthrough indoor drone that uses AI and autonomy to get into the most dangerous places so people don’t have to.• F10 - a prototype Robotic Takeoff and Land (RTOL) drone that will unlock long-range,… pic.twitter.com/JpeNx02wWPSeptember 18, 2025
The F10 will not be available until 2027 – though pre-orders are welcome now. The propeller-powered drone is launched from a robot arm and 'thrown', which is potentially cheaper than space-based platforms.
The software is nevertheless able to orbit and track a subject and use its wings (but obviously cannot hover in the same way that a traditional quadcopter can).
The drone has a curious-looking asymmetrical design which places a camera system at the end of the longer wing.
In flight, this wing stays lower, so the camera gimbal can keep the drone out of shot and 'eyes' on the ground while the A.I. builds a flight path to orbit a selected spot or even a moving subject.
Incredibly, in Bry's demo, the drone was able to automatically land on the arm too.
Admittedly, the dock appears to be the size of a storage container you might find on the back of a truck, but that would still make it portable for the kind of industries Skydio is now targeting.
The central fuselage is held in a box in a new autonomous 'MegaDock' automatic launching station, eliminating the need for a ground crew, and up to five drones can be stored and charged in the dock while the central robot arm holds one ready for dispatch – essentially letting it lift itself on its props.
He concluded that "there is no ultimate drone" – highlighting the company's two quadcopters X10 and R10 for urban and indoor use, respectively. The F10 is for range. At no point was creative use mentioned, however.
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