The London-based maritime startup unveils a gyro-stabilized landing pad that recovers VTOL drones on vessels as small as 10 meters in high sea states.
WaiV Robotics has launched the first fully automatic landing and takeoff platform for VTOL drones operating at sea. The London-based company introduced the system on May 5, 2026, backed by $7.5 million in seed funding.
The platform enables UAVs to operate from vessels as small as 10 meters and decks of any size. It works without hardware or software changes to the drone itself.
Solving Autonomous VTOL Drone Recovery at Sea
Offshore landing surfaces never sit still. A vessel deck moves through six degrees of freedom under stochastic wave patterns, and salt spray makes the surface slippery on contact.
Existing solutions have been limited to calm waters or laboratory conditions. Operators of smaller vessels often skip drone deployment for that reason.
WaiV’s patent-pending catch-lock-release mechanism pairs with AI-driven predictive algorithms. The system enables safe, precise drone recovery while a vessel pitches and rolls on the open sea.
The gyro-stabilized platform uses AI-controlled software to “take over the sticks.” It guides the drone via the remote control, removing the need for an expert pilot during landing.
The pad absorbs impact on touchdown, while a locking mechanism secures the UAV’s skids. That prevents bounce, slide, or roll-off in high-sea conditions.
Compatible with Any VTOL Drone
The system supports any type of VTOL UAV, including multicopter, fixed-wing, and helicopter platforms, regardless of the manufacturer.
The current platform handles UAVs up to 15 kilograms. WaiV plans to scale down to aircraft as small as 3 kilograms and up to carriers in the 100 to 300 kilogram class.
That range targets offshore fleets that have long faced deployment constraints. Earlier coverage from Dronelife noted that automated landings on moving vessels remain one of the toughest unsolved problems in unmanned aviation.
“For drones to become a reliable part of offshore operations, the missing piece isn’t the aircraft, it’s the infrastructure around it,” said Johnny Carni, Founder and CEO of WaiV Robotics. “Our system was designed to remove traditional deployment constraints, allowing fleets to operate as mobile launch and recovery hubs that ensure reliable UAV operations. Without a dependable way to launch and recover at sea, large-scale deployment simply doesn’t work. Our goal is to remove that constraint and make drone operations viable from virtually any vessel.”
More information is available at WaiV Robotics.
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Ian McNabb is a journalist focusing on drone technology and lifestyle content at Dronelife. He is based between Boston and NH and, when not writing, enjoys hiking and Boston area sports.
The catch-lock-release mechanism addresses a different challenge from simply reaching the deck. I’m CEO of RangeMark, where we work on passive visual identification of designated landing points. I’d be interested to hear how WaiV acquires and confirms the landing target during the approach, before the mechanical recovery system takes over.