AI-driven drones for policing and the mining sector: A conversation with RocketDNA CEO Chris Clark

RocketDNA Limited (ASX:RKT) CEO Christopher Clark discusses how the company's AI-powered drones are revolutionising data services for sectors like mining and public safety.

Paul Sanger: Hi, I'm Paul Sanger for the Finance News Network, and today I'm speaking with RocketDNA (ASX:RKT). RocketDNA, trading under the ASX code "RKT" with a market capitalisation of approximately $7m, leverages AI and autonomous drones to provide mission-critical data services for enterprise customers. Here to tell us more is CEO Chris Clark. Chris, welcome to the network and thanks for your time today.

Christopher Clark: Good day, Paul. Thanks for having me.

Paul Sanger: Let's get straight into it, Chris. First up, maybe you can explain the benefits of your technologies that they bring for your clients.

Christopher Clark: Yeah, Paul, it's really an interesting business. Essentially what RocketDNA does is that we leverage autonomous drones and artificial intelligence to deliver mission-critical services or technology outputs for our enterprise customers. So, what really that may mean in a practical example sense is on an operational sense we're telling customers how much they're digging out of the ground, but we really get into these nuanced applications whereby customers are really focused on how do we detect leaks that are happening, corrosion that's happening on these assets. And, even recently, a lot to do around security and public safety, providing the situational awareness to customers.

Paul Sanger: A growing segment of your data products is powered by AI. How has AI improved your geospatial insights compared to traditional manual calculations, and what impact does this have on customer decision-making?

Christopher Clark: I think where AI really in the practical sense to your point, Paul, is we're really focused on that autonomous data capture, using the drone technology and then applying the AI to that data to provide a bit of insights or analysis to the customer. And that AI component has really been a game-changer for us. So, automating that data analysis, providing that really quick interpretation and that geospatial data in near-real time has been a force multiplier for our customers. So, we're removing them from these dull, dirty, dangerous, boring tasks and now allowing them to really focus on the data outputs. And this delivers a lot better efficiencies overall for the customer in their operations and their overall operational outcomes.

Paul Sanger: Let's just delve into some of the technology. RocketDNA has achieved Basic Aviation Risk Standard, or "BARS", certification in both South Africa and Australia. Can you elaborate on the significance of this certification?

Christopher Clark: Yeah. So, the BARS, which stands for the "Basic Aviation Risk Assessments", is an international accreditation and a real significant achievement for RocketDNA, because it really reflects the overall approach that we have to safety as a company. And it's a big requirement for these large, especially the tier one operators, in these very safety-focused industries, such as mining and public safety.

Paul Sanger: And moving on to your Beyond Visual Line of Sight, or "BVLOS", approval, what challenges did you face in obtaining the BVLOS approval and how does it enhance your service offerings?

Christopher Clark: It was really quite a rigorous process, took about over two years to get these approvals from the regulator, CASA. But what it does is it enables our business to really fly these drones beyond the traditional limitations, which up to this point has been within 500m or a kilometre of the pilot on site. And now with the BVLOS we can actually conduct these long-range missions and even more recently remotely via Starlink connection where the pilot doesn't even need to be anywhere near the site. We can place them in these remote operating centres anywhere in the country and deploy them at any time.

Paul Sanger: And moving on to your recent contract wins, you have secured a contract with the Western Australian Police Drone Program. What is the significance of this contract for the company?

Christopher Clark: So, this is a total new vertical for us, which is quite unique out of the mining space, and ideally what we're doing is we're now taking our xBot solution, really adding a bit of customisation at the software layer, and really marketing it as our patrol bots, autonomous security and surveillance solution. And what the WAPOL tender allows us to do is really be able to work with the customer in solving a particular use case, which in this instance is really what they call drone as a first responder. So, what you would do is in a practical sense is that for every triple zero call that comes in, you would then send the drone to provide this immediate situational awareness, what's happening at that location, before sending a police vehicle. And what this allows them to do is, again, better use of resources, because using a drone, providing that real-time live-streaming data allows the customer to say, hey, maybe I actually need to send a firetruck and an ambulance as well, or maybe we don't need to send anything. So, it's really the way that the future police departments are going.

Paul Sanger: Yeah, absolutely fascinating. And you mentioned converting current customers into long-term agreements. How does RocketDNA structure these multi-year contracts?

Paul Sanger: And maybe can you comment on the scalability of RocketDNA's xBot data capture technology?

Christopher Clark: So, building on our 12 years of experience within the drone in the mining space, we realised that everything's going towards automation, specifically if you're seeing how the market is developing now, you know, iron ore now coming under $90 a tonne, there's going to be a lot more focus on cost efficiencies within the mining space. And I think, for us, that actually leads into even a better opportunity for us as well in deploying our autonomous xBot solutions. And I think we've always been key about building solutions that are fit for purpose, because you can over-engineer these solutions, but then they end up going into the tens of millions of dollars, and we really wanted to focus on that scalability factor where you make them so accessible and cost-effective that mining sites will have multiple units per site. I joked I want them to be at the same level as photocopiers, right? I know people don't use photocopiers anymore, but everyone still has got one in their office.

Paul Sanger: I've got a big one here.

Christopher Clark: Exactly.

Paul Sanger: I use it all the time because I'm old school.

Christopher Clark: See, but that's great. Everyone's got one, a multi-purpose printer because they became so cost-effective and cheap and put it in. And the salespeople are trendy, good-looking and they know how to get it. And I think that's the same way that drones will be within every industrial site is that everyone's just going to have one, and so we're just really about leaning into that wave of them.

Paul Sanger: Got you. And then, Chris, looking ahead, what are RocketDNA's key goals for the next two to three years in terms of technology development, market expansion and revenue growth?

Christopher Clark: So, Paul, over the next couple of years, we really are planning on expanding on our capabilities within the AI and the autonomous drone space and how these two components integrate together to deliver the value for all these customers on the ground, and really leveraging on these new opportunities within the public sector and security new verticals that have started to open up. We've already started to see a lot of government tenders coming out now asking for these capabilities, and we're going to really lean into those opportunities and make sure that we drive the growth and that adoption within those new greenfields. But, also, understanding that our focus always will remain on delivering this value within our traditional customer base within that mining sector, because they need data every single day. So, really playing to both our strengths through the innovation and operational excellence.

Paul Sanger: Chris, many thanks for sharing your invaluable insights into RocketDNA and taking the time to speak with us today. It's been an absolute pleasure.

Christopher Clark: Thank you, Paul. Go well.