Robotto, a Danish startup that began by detecting wildfire smoke from drones, says its autonomy software is now licensed on about 5,000 quadcopter and fixed-wing platforms in Ukraine, according to a profile published by UNITED24 Media on July 14, 2026 (updated July 15). The article says the figures were supplied by Robotto and cites no independent testing.

From wildfires to Ukraine

  • Robotto began as a spin-out from Aalborg University in Denmark. Its original software used onboard AI and computer vision to detect wildfire smoke and map fires in real time, per UNITED24 Media.
  • Kenneth Geipel, a Danish army veteran who built the company and whom a photo caption identifies as CCO, told the outlet that a former comrade from a 2005 Afghanistan deployment, whose wife is Ukrainian, contacted him on LinkedIn to ask whether Robotto could help. The conversation then moved to Signal, where Ukrainian FPV drone operators joined in. The article places this after noting that wildfire detection was still Robotto’s only focus on February 24, 2022; it does not date the message itself.

What the software does

  • Robotto sells autonomy software, not aircraft. Its “edge nodes” let drones navigate and strike targets without satellite navigation or a radio link, per the company’s description.
  • A single camera feed identifies objects and estimates their position in 3D.
  • The architecture is modular, with separate navigation, detection and object-calculation components, so swapping one part adapts the system from a quadcopter to a fixed-wing aircraft.
  • It was developed with Ukrainian drone makers and frontline units, with a focus on loitering munitions.

Company-reported figures

  • About 5,000 licensed platforms in Ukraine, in service since 2024. The article’s introduction says “more than 5,000 drones” and its body says “about 5,000,” and it does not reconcile the two.
  • Geipel told UNITED24 Media the software achieves an 80 to 100% hit rate when satellite navigation is denied, including under electronic warfare, in poor visibility and across different airframes. The article gives no definition of a hit, sample size, test conditions or time period.

Funding and affiliations

  • Robotto UA, a Ukrainian subsidiary, was set up in March 2026 with support from Final Frontier, which invests in European space and defense technology, and EIFO, Denmark’s export credit agency and national promotional bank. EIFO has worked with Robotto since an early growth loan in 2022. Intellectual property is held in Denmark.
  • The article says Robotto is part of the 2026 NATO DIANA cohort and works with the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and gives no detail on either.

Human control

The company says autonomy reduces operator workload “without removing the person who decides to engage.” The article does not explain how engagement decisions are made, approved or overseen.

What was said

  • Geipel: “We built our product on the front line, together with these units. That is our edge.”
  • Geipel: “Ukraine is the epicenter of military drone innovation.”
  • Christine Thaagaard, head of governmental relations: “What we are really building is a bridge between Ukraine and NATO: shared technology, shared knowledge, shared standards.”
  • Robotto sums up its approach as “designed in Denmark, combat-proven in Ukraine.”

Sources and notes

This post is based on UNITED24 Media’s profile by Marharyta Varadovska. Lens did not contact Robotto and could not verify the platform count or hit rate. The article gives no founding year, revenue, valuation, contract values, investment amounts, or names of the drone makers and units involved. A social-media post shared with Lens describes Geipel as a co-founder with a middle name and dates the first message to February 24, 2022; the UNITED24 Media article and Robotto’s website support none of those details, so Lens has not used them.

Image: a quadcopter drone in flight over hills near Karpenisi, Greece, by Jason Blackeye via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC0 1.0; cropped. Stand-in photo; it is not related to Robotto and does not show the events described.