Unikie contributes to the defence industry through its 10+ years of expertise in developing embedded software and the enabling technologies for Physical AI. Unikie infuses real-time intelligence and autonomous capabilities into scalable, production-ready solutions.
Over the past five years, Unikie has developed advanced autonomous drone technology and delivered several product-level customer reference implementations.
“Intelligent drones is one of our main application areas where we apply our expertise in autonomous systems and AI-driven situational awareness. Right now, we are focusing on how operators and autonomous systems work together, and how this interaction can improve reliability, efficiency, and security,” says Veli-Pekka Vatula, Director, Defence and Security at Unikie.
Real-Life Testing and Collaboration Through Hackathons
Unikie’s goal is to foster long-term innovation in autonomous drones by sharing its profound technical expertise with the community. For example, Unikie is a driving force in the Finnish drone development ecosystem, tackling real-world drone challenges with other experts in the field.
Practical collaborations include events such as the Drone Innovation Hackathon, taking place June 9-11, 2026, that allows testing complex drone operations in a real-world, controlled environment at Nokia Arena in Tampere. In Unikie’s challenge, teams must demonstrate a drone’s ability to perform a fully autonomous surveillance mission over a given area without human control during flight. Being able to physically test drones in a major indoor arena complements testing in simulated environments.
Recently, Unikie demonstrated how autonomous drones are transforming industries with enhanced swarm surveillance and protection capabilities (see the video below). In this demonstration, Unikie’s AI System drives real-life drones on a decided mission together with our Autonomy Orchestrator and the AI Agent Suite using voice control. The solution can be used for multiple purposes in different environments.
Meet Unikie and DDE at Eurosatory 2026
Since its launch in 2022, Unikie has been a member of the Digital Defence Ecosystem (DDE), a network of leading Finnish defence and technology companies and research institutes co-innovating new defence technologies.
DDE allows Unikie to collaborate and engage with a broader ecosystem, as it enables direct dialogue with service providers, hardware manufacturers, and defence stakeholders. This collaboration helps everyone understand which problems need solving and how technology development can be aligned to meet real needs.
“The ecosystem plays a key role in connecting traditional defence companies with new dual-use technology providers and end-users. This is especially important as the sector moves toward faster development cycles and greater use of civilian technologies,” Veli-Pekka Vatula states.
Unikie will join DDE at Eurosatory 2026, the benchmark global tradeshow for Defence and Security, held on 15-19 June 2026 in Paris, France. Come meet us in Hall 5b at booth B494.
If your team is working with sensor fusion, perception, system hardening, or swarm orchestration, you should definitely talk to us and see how Unikie’s 10+ years of hands-on experience with Physical AI can help you transform a prototype into a mission-critical autonomous system.
