Mesodyne, a company that has developed a power generator for unmanned systems that require high endurance, was named the winner of the 2020 Startup Showdown on Thursday, Oct. 8. 

Mesodyne’s patented generator converts fuel into electricity via light. Small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, the generator is completely silent and has no moving parts. It can operate on any fuel, and it has 10 times the energy density of lithium ion batteries.

Developed at MIT, incubated at ANL, and accelerated by the Air Force Techstars, Mesodyne’s patented technology enables small electric UAS to fly 10 times longer.

Alongside fellow MIT graduate student and company co-founder Dr. Walker Chan, Dr. Veronika Stelmakh, CEO and co-founder of Mesodyne, set a world record for efficiency with this new type of energy conversion from heat to electricity via light in 2017.

Around the same time, Dr. Stelmakh and Dr. Chan realized that drones were one of the biggest emerging markets, but they knew that these systems were severely limited by their power sources, which could stifle their ability to revolutionize a variety of markets.

Through several programs, Mesodyne proved out its technology, and now, it is preparing to demonstrate its initial alpha prototype. The company has also signed contracts with some initial customers.

“We’re really excited to demonstrate our lights out in a drone and show the potential of the technology, which is to enable more than 12 hours of flight time for small UAVs,” Dr. Stelmakh said during the Startup Showdown.

The other finalists for the Startup Showdown were Civ Robotics, which develops fast, reliable and autonomous marking solutions on UAVs and UGVs for the construction industry; Pierce Aerospace, which focuses on the practical and robust integration of Remote ID services into the UAS ecosystem.; and Sentient Blue, a developer of hybrid microturbine power systems for UAVs as a direct replacement for lithium polymer batteries.

Tomahawk Robotics, a market leader and innovator of robotic control solutions serving industrial, security and defense markets, was also a finalist, but did not participate in the panel.

Congratulations to Mesodyne, and all of the other finalists!