Iwa Robotics
"Above every emergency."
Los Angeles maker of HAWK, CANARY and PELICAN wildfire drones leased to fire agencies as a fleet service; HAWK is rated for 5 hours and 150 miles.
Iwa Robotics, Inc. is a Los Angeles developer of autonomous drones for wildfire and emergency response, operated for fire and public-safety agencies as a managed fleet service rather than sold as hardware. Its chief executive is Mirza Samnani, a former robotics mechanical engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory who studied aerospace engineering at Georgia Tech; his earlier projects include hospital delivery robots during the COVID-19 period, an automated CPR machine and avalanche early-warning systems in Tajikistan. The company links its origin to the Palisades Fire, stating on its careers page that it went from that fire to first flight in 90 days.
In September 2026 Iwa unveiled the Discovery and Resolution Fleet, three aircraft built on a common airframe and propulsion system with swappable mission payloads. HAWK covers drone-as-first-responder, ISR and search-and-rescue missions, with published endurance of up to five hours, range of 150 miles and payloads up to 22 lb, in mid-range and long-range variants; the company positions it as a procurable long-range alternative to DJI aircraft. CANARY carries thermal, gas and air-quality sensing for fire diagnostics, atmospheric monitoring and crew exposure tracking, referencing the NFPA 1585 exposure-reduction standard, in mini, mid-range and long-range variants. PELICAN is a suppression aircraft that drops water or retardant on hot spots and fire lines in manual or autonomous modes, with a published maximum drop of 100 litres, then returns to refill.
Software ties the aircraft together. A fleet portal used by agency crews handles mission planning, live telemetry, flight logs, maintenance and authorisations, while the proprietary Fire Clone system rebuilds each incident as a live 3D model of terrain, plume drift and air-quality contours against which aircraft are tasked. Named operating concepts include MESH thermal patrol grids, Virtual Hose rotating suppression and Sky Hydrant docks staged about every 20 miles along a corridor.
The fleet-as-a-service contract bundles aircraft, autonomy training, data services, maintenance and insurance, so agencies avoid upfront purchases. Iwa states its systems are NDAA compliant and flown by Part 107 certified crews, and that agencies can buy through the NPPGov cooperative contract and the North Carolina Sheriffs' Association. At launch it had published no customer deployments and was running field demonstrations in eight states on its second national roadshow; independent coverage noted that operating figures such as suppression capacity and turnaround time had not been released.
Primary type & automation activities this supplier delivers:
HAWK
Long-endurance drone for drone-as-first-responder, ISR, search-and-rescue and wildfire detection.
CANARY
Fire-diagnostics drone with thermal, gas and air-quality sensing for crew exposure monitoring.
PELICAN
Suppression drone that drops water or retardant on hot spots and fire lines, then returns to refill.
Iwa Fleet Portal with Fire Clone
Agency fleet portal for mission planning and telemetry, with a live 3D incident model used to task aircraft.
More related news
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
-
10
IMTS 2026 Preview: Record Orders and the Automation Story RobotToday · Sep 14, 2026
- 11
-
12
WRC 2026 Robot Systems: 149 Companies That Build Robots RobotToday · Aug 27, 2026
-
13
WRC 2026 Exhibitor Map: 248 Robotics Companies Mapped RobotToday · Aug 26, 2026
-
14
ROBOTTODAY Weekly July 13 – 17, 2026 RobotToday · Jul 18, 2026
-
15
Physical AI Landscape: From Digital Intelligence to the Embodied Physical World RobotToday · Jul 10, 2026
-
16
Automate 2026 | Amprius SiCore SA88 Competes for Innovation Award in Robotics Battery Category RobotToday · Jun 29, 2026
-
17
Vietnam Robotics Industry Report 2026 RobotToday · Jun 09, 2026
- 18
-
19
RobotToday Weekly Industry Briefing: Feb 2 – 6, 2026 RobotToday · Feb 07, 2026
-
20
Sunny t2000 china s first 2 ton turboprop cargo uav signals a new era for heavy unmanned logistics RobotToday · Jan 12, 2026
Contact Iwa Robotics
WEBSITE
https://www.iwarobotics.aiHEADQUARTERS
United States
Company Facts
Founded
-
Primary Role
Manufacturer
Company Size
-
Primary Region
North America
Annual Sales
-
Funding Stage
-
Funding Total
-
