Full-Time
Autonomy Engineer
Motion Planning & Controls
Tycho.AI
11-50 employees
Resilient autonomous navigation for unmanned vehicles
No salary listed
Cambridge, MA, USA
Hybrid
Hybrid work in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Master's, PhD
 AI & Machine Learning (1) |
|---|
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- A Master's or PhD degree in Engineering, Robotics, Computer Science, or a related field, or equivalent working experience.
- Proficiency in C/C++ with experience shipping production-grade software.
- A strong foundation in modern control system design, including model predictive control.
- Experience developing and implementing motion planning and trajectory optimization systems.
- A working understanding of rotorcraft and fixed-wing aircraft flight dynamics.
- Hands-on experience implementing motion planning and control software on real robotics vehicles.
- Comfort developing and reasoning about multi-threaded real-time systems.
- Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States and may be subject to a government security clearance process.
- Design, implement, and maintain autonomy software for motion planning, trajectory optimization, and flight control.
- Integrate systems into real-world platforms, bridging research and production.
- Stay current on research and apply state-of-the-art techniques.
- Familiarity with learned motion planning and/or data-driven trajectory improvement techniques.
- Familiarity with high-speed vehicle planning or multi-agent trajectory optimization.
- Experience working with embedded robotics platforms, such as NVIDIA Jetson.
- Experience writing microcontroller code, e.g., on STM32.
- Experience building vehicle dynamics simulations based on flight test data.
- Familiarity with open-source flight control systems, such as Ardupilot and PX4.
- Background in convex and nonlinear optimization.
Tycho AI builds navigation and AI systems for unmanned vehicles that can operate without GPS or reliable communications. Their platform combines proprietary software with multi-modal sensor fusion, visual-inertial odometry, and machine learning, running on custom low-SWaP hardware such as FPGAs and ASICs. This enables real-time, edge-based decision-making and precise navigation even in harsh environments, without needing a remote operator. The product is modular and interoperable, so it can work across different drone and autonomous vehicle platforms. Unlike many rivals, Tycho AI targets GPS-denied and contested scenarios, with field-tested performance for high-speed, low-altitude maneuvers and obstacle avoidance, and a strong emphasis on government and military contracts. The company aims to scale its autonomous navigation technology across defense and commercial customers, accelerating product development, flight testing, and deployments with government partners.
Company Size
11-50
Company Stage
Early VC
Total Funding
$18M
Headquarters
Cambridge, Iowa
Founded
2022
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- Tycho.AI won a $2 million AFRL TACFI on May 28, 2026, extending runway.
- Halley reached TRL 6 after 39 T-REX 26-2 flights and a Shahed interception demo.
- FirstMark’s October 2025 Series A and Clarke’s board seat improve credibility with DoD buyers.
What critics are saying
- Tycho.AI depends on AFRL and DoD contracts; a 2027 budget delay crushes revenue.
- Halley’s battlefield pitch faces Lockheed Martin, Anduril, and Shield AI’s faster procurement cycles.
- A failed live-fire mission or EW test would destroy trust and kill follow-on awards.
What makes Tycho.AI unique
- Tycho.AI’s Voyager stack fuses visual-inertial odometry, sensor fusion, and edge compute for GPS-denied missions.
- Halley, launched May 19, 2026, pairs 5.2-pound VTOL hardware with 200-mph intercept speed.
- AFRL’s TRIDENT contract and AFWERX lineage validate Tycho.AI’s modular, military-grade autonomy stack.
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6 month growth
↑ 38%1 year growth
↑ 56%2 year growth
↑ 56%US Air Force invests in AI autonomy for gps-denied missions. Less than a minute The US Air Force is investing in artificial intelligence-powered autonomy as military planners look to reduce reliance on GPS and communications networks in contested environments. Under a new $2-million contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory, Tycho.AI will further develop its Voyager autonomy stack, an edge AI system designed to enable uncrewed platforms to navigate and operate without GPS or persistent communications. "As jamming, spoofing, and other electronic warfare tactics become a standard of modern conflict, the ability to operate without a signal is no longer optional. It is a mission requirement," said Sertac Karaman, founder and executive chair of Tycho.
Tycho.AI secures $2M AFRL TACFI contract to advance maritime autonomy in GPS-Denied environments. TRIDENT program to accelerate development and deployment of Voyager autonomy stack for U.S. Air Force edge operations. Cambridge, MA, May 28, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) - Tycho.AI, a pioneer in high-performance edge autonomy, today announced an 18-month, $2 million Tactical Funding Increase (TACFI) contract award from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to accelerate the development and deployment of resilient navigation and autonomous solutions for the modern battlefield. Under the TRIDENT (Tracking & Resilient Inertial-Derived Estimation for Naval Targets) contract, Tycho.AI will deliver a robust, multi-domain navigation and long-range Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) solution to the U.S. Air Force. This effort will advance autonomous capabilities for overland and over-the-water operations in GPS-Denied, Degraded, Intermittent, and Limited (GPS-DDIL) environments. "As jamming, spoofing, and other electronic warfare tactics become a standard of modern conflict, the ability to operate without a signal is no longer optional. It is a mission requirement," said Sertac Karaman, Tycho.AI Founder & Executive Chair. "TRIDENT is expediting the testing and integration of our Voyager autonomy stack to get critical capabilities to the frontlines sooner. This work will ensure our nation's autonomous systems don't just survive but thrive in increasingly contested environments." The scope of work includes test flights and experimentation with both rotary- and fixed-wing platforms in various environmental conditions across multiple domains to collect data and mature Voyager's vision-based navigation. Additional overland and maritime demonstrations will validate the system's autonomous waypoint traversal, multi-agent coordination, mission-level autonomy, and resilient perception capabilities. Tycho.AI will integrate the Voyager autonomy stack with FANTOM middleware to transition the capability into existing operational frameworks. Voyager is a low-size, weight, and power (SWaP) hardware and software autonomy stack that enables small UAS (sUAS) to maintain precise localization and real-time autonomous decision-making at the edge. It reduces operator cognitive workload and ensures mission success in contested and denied areas. Designed with a Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA), Voyager fuses AI-driven perception, navigation, and control into a compact module that can be integrated on any uncrewed platform. "Across a vast, featureless domain with limited connectivity and heavy signal interference, true maritime autonomy has long been a complex technical challenge and significant risk to our national security posture. Voyager is the solution that enables precision over-the-water navigation without the need for communication or any external aids-like GPS or ranging beacons," Karaman added. "We are honored to support AFRL through this TRIDENT project, rapidly maturing Voyager's capabilities and deploying it across the fleet to address the very near-term threats to our nation." TRIDENT builds on Tycho.AI's previous success with the AFWERX "High-Precision Low-Size Weight and Power Robust Autonomy and Navigation" program, a $1 million Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II research grant awarded to the company in June of 2024. That work focused on developing the hardware, software, and algorithms that serve as the foundation for Voyager, enabling sUAS to operate in contested and denied environments. In addition, Tycho.AI has previously developed and deployed autonomy software within the FANTOM middleware architecture as part of a SOFWERX Adaptive Airborne Enterprise (A2E) effort delivered last May. About Tycho.AI Tycho.AI builds mission-critical autonomy software and mission-optimized compute hardware for unmanned systems in GPS-denied and comms-contested environments. The company's edge-executable AI enables intelligent navigation and operation without remote control or persistent connectivity, allowing for fully autonomous high-speed and low-altitude operations. Steered by national security experts and MIT-educated engineers, Tycho.AI is reshaping the future of battlefield autonomy. Visit tycho.ai for more information. About AFWERX As the innovation arm of the Department of the Air Force and a division within the Air Force Research Laboratory, AFWERX brings American ingenuity from small businesses and startups to solve the most pressing challenges facing Airmen and Guardians. Headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, AFWERX strengthens the defense industrial base by expanding access to nontraditional vendors, building new defense partnerships and accelerating the transition of critical technologies to operational capability. In fiscal year 2025, AFWERX awarded more than 1,000 contracts totaling $1.37 billion and achieved 438 Phase III transitions valued at $8.1 billion, supercharging the industrial base that supports U.S. military readiness and battlefield advantage. For more information, visit afwerx.com. Contact Info Tycho.AI's Voyager hardware and software stack. Voyager can be integrated on UAS platforms for precision navigation and edge autonomy in GPS-denied and comms-degraded environments. [Credit: Tycho.AI]. Legal Disclaimer: EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
Tycho.AI successfully demonstrated its Halley Group 1 VTOL uncrewed aerial system at the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering's T-REX 26-2 event at Camp Atterbury, Indiana. The Cambridge-based company executed 39 test flights, with the platform reaching speeds of 165 mph and altitudes up to 10,000 feet. The demonstrations included an inert strike against a ground target and aerial interception of a Shahed replica. Halley's onboard AI system successfully compressed and transmitted navigation-quality video over low-bandwidth data links in communication-degraded environments, with advanced encryption protecting transmitted data. The platform has now achieved Technology Readiness Level 6. Tycho.AI is focused on validating autonomous flight capabilities, integrating kinetic payloads, and transitioning to full-scale production for national security applications.
Tycho.AI has launched Halley, a Group 1 vertical take-off and landing uncrewed aerial system designed for operation in contested environments. The drone can exceed 200 mph and operate at altitudes as low as 25 feet above ground level whilst maintaining fully autonomous flight in GPS-denied conditions. Halley integrates Tycho.AI's Voyager hardware and software, using visual-inertial odometry and map matching to navigate independently of global navigation satellite systems. The platform offers modular configurations for missions exceeding 80 kilometres or high-speed intercepts over 40 kilometres, with a one-kilogramme payload capacity. The system features zero-tool assembly with deployment in under 30 seconds and weighs 5.2 pounds. Applications include counter-UAS intercept, intelligence gathering, search and rescue, and scouting operations. The modular architecture is 3D-printable for rapid field repairs.
Tycho AI Inc. has filed a Form D with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, disclosing an $8 million private placement offering. The company is raising capital through securities issuance under Regulation D, which provides exemptions from registration requirements under the Securities Act of 1933. The filing does not reveal details about the use of proceeds or offering terms, which remain undisclosed in private placements. Such fundraising is common amongst private firms seeking to fund operations, research or expansion. Investors are advised to review the full Form D filing and related disclosures for comprehensive information, whilst carefully considering potential risks and liquidity constraints associated with private investments.