An Israeli start-up that recently emerged from "stealth mode" to launch a fully automated industrial drone system is preparing to set up a second base in Australia and tap local investors for funding.
Airobotics, which operates from an unmarked warehouse in Petah Tikva in Israel, launched the company and its autonomous drone system - a drone, base station and the accompanying software - last month.
"We were in stealth for the last few years because we saw no point talking about what we want to do unless it was already done," the start-up's co-founder and chief executive Ran Krauss told The Australian Financial Review. 
"I know it is kind of counter-intuitive to all the start-up hype in the world, but we don't believe in that. We didn't feel comfortable saying anything until we were confident what we have does what it says it does."
From a freestanding base station, the six-kilogram drone is autonomously launched to complete a programmed task, such as inspecting equipment, conducting surveying and mapping, or monitoring for emergencies or security breaches.
The drone collects and analyses aerial data and lands back on the base station where a robotic arm replaces its batteries and payload, readying it for the next task.
Mr Krauss claims the company is the first to successfully launch such an integrated, autonomous system for industry and hopes to establish an office in Australia next quarter to target mining, oil and gas and industrial companies.
An autonomous drone could present a faster way for an oil and gas company to monitor a long pipeline or a safer way for a mining company to inspect a glitch at the top of a towering processing facility which could be otherwise dangerous for an employee to access.
Frank Farrall, the Asia-Pacific lead partner for Deloitte Digital, said total industry revenues from the global non-military drone industry in 2015 were estimated to be between $US200 million and $US400 million and growing.
"If you are smart about it, whether it is agribusiness, mining, media where there is strong demand and use case, and able to operate in areas that are not publicly restricted, then you have a winning proposition," he said. "You definitely don't have the Google or Microsoft of the [commercial] drone space yet."
Some of the world's largest mining companies have begun using drones, including BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, but according to Accenture mining senior manager Paul Snowdon it is "early days". "Anything to do with cost reduction and productivity is absolute top of the agenda right now at most mines," Mr Snowdon said. "In terms of the level of cost reduction and productivity improvement drones could deliver to mining companies, it is still in the very early days."
Mr Krauss plans to start approaching Australian investors in coming months and is already in talks with a number of mining companies. Its clients include Israel Chemicals and a global technology company.
Airobotics has raised $US28.5 million from investors including early stage venture capital firms BlueRun Ventures and CRV as well as two Google executives - Noam Bardin, the CEO of Waze, the Google-owned navigation app, and Richard Wooldridge, the chief operating officer of the Advanced Technologies and Projects (ATAP) group at Google.
Mr Krauss said many Silicon Valley investors approached drones cautiously because they had "been disappointed by fantasies that did not become realities".
"Even if you are not in the drone or mining industry you can understand the value of an automatic flying robot," he said. "But a lot of them were disappointed with investments in drones because it is difficult to separate reality from fantasy. In our case, investors saw potential to actually do it."