Resupplying robots with power is the next logistics fight. That was the clear thread in my talk with Francis Roy, Chief Strategy Officer at Quaze Technologies. His team is building a way for unmanned systems to take on energy the way cars take on fuel, simple, reliable, and the same wherever you operate.
The core idea is simple: they want to turn large surfaces into charging points. They aren’t making a tiny puck that demands perfect alignment but instead are focusing on build the tech that allows for a broad pad a drone can land on, a slab a UGV can roll onto, or a plate an AUV can press against at the dock. If the robot makes contact with the surface, it gets power. That removes the fussy charging dance that kills autonomy in the field.
Quaze ships this concept in a portable mat built for operators. It folds, rides in a ruck, and accepts whatever source you have on hand. The mat is an early product, a proof you can drop anywhere. The architecture behind it is the point.
“What we’re building is the electronic architecture that will allow on-man system to access energy anywhere without human intervention. So that’s what we’re focused on,” said Roy.
That architecture is the Q6. Think of it as the brains and switching needed to push real wattage into small platforms without human help. The Q6 is set up in the field and a small receiver allows UAVs and drones to charge wirelessly. For example, Roy showed off a $100 adapter that weighs about 40 grams and connects to a commercial drone. Once attached, the adapter draws power from the Q6 automatically.
Today the Q6 delivers roughly 100 to 250 watts. Therefore, said Roy, it should take an hour to recharge a standard drone under ideal conditions.
“We have a big surface and we turn it into an energy access point,” said Roy. “And the reason why we’re focusing on that is because if it’s a big surface, it doesn’t matter what the form factor of the robot is. When you’re on the surface, you access energy. And it’s perfect to be the agnostic charge-anywhere solution that military is looking for. The mat you’ve seen is only the first iteration in one of our first solution that we are taking to market.”
Roy was excited about the technology. “Experts do logistics, amateurs do strategy,” he said. His crew hopes to cater to the experts. In a world that pushes humans back from the edge and sends robots forward, the cargo list changes. Food, water, ammo, are being supplanted by energy delivery. If you cannot move energy from safety to the edge, and then hand it to the machines without a tech on his knees in the dust, you do not have autonomy.
Roy said the company is selling to NATO clients right now and hopes to expand globally this year.
“We’re really happy with that because it’s really the beachhead product that we’re taking to market with our technology,” he said.
The upside is clear. Uniform energy access across fleets and domains. Less babying of small drones. Fewer hands in harm’s way. Pads that work with many shapes and sizes. And a path from ad hoc field hacks to a standard, repeatable practice. Fuel for robots.
What comes next for Quaze is the scale phase. More OEM integrations. Deeper work with primes. Units in the field long enough to break, get fixed, and prove they belong. If the company can hold the line on receiver cost, increase available power, and keep the operator gear simple, they will have a real slot in the stack. Quaze looks to be a major contender in that race.
