Max Robotics — Global Service Robot Directory + US Certification

About

Andreas Schaffner is a leading researcher in autonomous aerial robotics, with a focus on the design, control, and localization of unconventional unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). His work centers on developing safe, reliable alternatives to conventional drones, particularly through the use of unmanned blimps. Schaffner’s major contributions include the creation of Skye, a novel spherical omnidirectional blimp with a unique tetrahedral actuation system, which has garnered 56 citations for its innovative design and control methodology. He has also advanced the field of autonomous navigation for blimps by developing a local positioning system using ultra-wideband (UWB) range measurements, enabling accurate on-board real-time pose and velocity tracking—a critical step toward fully autonomous flight. Additionally, Schaffner has contributed to visual-inertial SLAM for fixed-wing UAVs, employing sliding window-based nonlinear optimization to enhance state estimation. His work, cited over 100 times collectively, demonstrates a clear trajectory toward making aerial robots safer for human environments, with notable achievements in robust, easily deployable localization technologies.