Grenoble, September 28, 2023 – DARWIN DRONES, an inventory company dedicated to the marketing, support and software development of the EYESEE solution for the logistics market, has just completed its first study in collaboration with ADEME.
Already committed internally to a proactive CSR approach, the company has decided to continue its efforts and has initiated an initial diagnosis to analyze the environmental performance of its solution in order to define development priorities.
« Premiers pas éco-conception » project conducted during this life cycle assesment focuses on two phases : first, the transportation phase of the equipment to the inventory location, and then the usage phase (primarily the energy consumed during the inventory).
The initial results are encouraging : the study confirms that the EYESEE solution has a lower environmental impact compared to traditional inventory methods (up to 4 times more efficient).
Eric Pierrel, president of the inventory company Darwin Drones, is pleased with these initial results, convinced that the future of logistics lies in reducing its environmental impact through automation and intelligent inventory management :
« The logistics sector currently represents 10% of the national GDP, with a turnover of 200 billion euros and employing 1.8 million people in France. It is a vital organ for the functioning of our society. Unfortunately, it is also a sector with a significant environmental impact. Being able to contribute, on ours cale, to a reduction in our carbon footprint is already a victory, and we are committed to continuing our efforts in this direction ».
There is no doubt that this initial approach will directly interest the end customers of Darwin Drones as the results provide decision-making keys to choose the most suitable solution to address the environmental challenges of their logistics chains.
Logistics in motion
This action is part of the broader transformation of the logistics industry. In recent years, the sector has been increasing its efforts towards greater energy efficiency.
France Logistique has developed an CSR framework for the transport and logistics sector to assist them in implementing an CSR policy. Additionally, they have created a charter of mutual commitments comprising about thirty commitments to accelerate the contribution of logistics real estate to ecological transition and economic recovery.
In 2024, Darwin Drones plans to further develop its CSR initiatives by conducting new comprehensive impact assessments to continue its growth while ensuring the environmental cohérence of its activities.
Press contact : Darwin Drones – Justine LUCAS – +33 7 70 02 95 25 – justine.lucas@eyesee-drone.com
Founded in 2021 and headquartered in Grenoble, Darwin Drones specializes in the development and marketing of industrial logistics automation solutions, particularly using drones. The inventory company also provides associated service offerings. The company is dedicated to marketing, supporting, and software development of the EYESEE solution for the logistics market.
Key figures
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In this interview, Eric Pierrel, President and co-founder of Darwin Drones the inventory company, tells us about EYESEE’s successes since the beginning of 2023.
Can you tell us more about the first successes since the last fundraising?
“Since the last fundraising, the EYESEE drone inventory solution has been deployed at many customers such as CNHI (Iveco), Aptar, GKN Driveline, or BM Stores…
Our historical customers have also upgraded to the latest version of the solution, such as DB Schenker, Renault Trucks, Le Roy Logistique, Caterpillar…
Our partnership with Hardis Group also continues (events, press, content).
Being part of the global improvement of the operational efficiency of the logistics world also means being visible in the showrooms of consulting companies and for this reason, we have installed two drones at Stratégies & Co (PwC) and Deloitte in Canada”.
What are the priorities and objectives of the EYESEE inventory company for 2023?
“With this latest fundraising, the challenge is to accelerate EYESEE commercially and operationally, both by continuing to serve historical customers to help them benefit from the solution and by supporting new customers in improving their operational efficiency.
In technical terms, the challenges of the coming months are both to improve the drone solution itself, and in particular its reading speed and ease of use. On the other hand, we are investing in the improvement of the Cloud part of the solution to facilitate the analysis of the inventory data collected by the drone via the implementation of dashboards.
Beyond the historical commercial deployment of the solution, we are starting to structure our international approach by identifying local partners for our customers. These include:
IT Genetics in Romania, Checklist Do Brasil in Brazil, Quotes4drones in England.”
What are the dates to remember for this new year?
“This year has started off on a high note with many events.
Like every year, we participated in the SITL (Transport and Logistics Innovation Week).
This year was also marked by the organization of a Roadshow in the AFTRAL centers of France (training centers in transport and logistics). Several demonstrations took place in Grenoble, Moulins, Saint Quentin Fallavier, Chambéry, Valence, Arnas & Montpellier. EYESEE continues its tour of France with several demos scheduled including one on June 20th at AFTRAL Nice.
We will also have the opportunity to present EYESEE at the Modernlog exhibition, on May 30 and 31 in Poznań (Poland) on the stand of our partner Hardis Group Polska.
Other events in France and internationally are planned for the second half of 2023.
Are you planning to implement a CSR approach?
” Yes, for the last few months, we have been working on an analysis of the life cycle of the EYESEE solution versus the traditional solution (inventory with cradles). In this context, we have responded to several calls for projects and we are the winners of the EETE call for projects “Entreprises Engagées pour la Transition Écologique” (Companies Committed to Ecological Transition) supported by ADEME.
We are also laureate of the call for innovative projects of the Club Déméter, dedicated to the development of supply chain solutions integrating CSR issues as well as nominated for the Agora Awards Supply Chain 2023 in the category “Best company of the year in the field of Intralogistics”.
Before the end of the year, we will be able to propose a detailed report on the environmental gains offered by the EYESEE solution with precise data and field analysis.
EYESEE is delighted to have participated in the Vertical Forum 2023 at the Swiss Aeropôle in Payerne. On this occasion, many companies were present to discuss the professional use of drones (logistics, construction, agriculture, security, audiovisual, civil engineering, urbanism & real estate).
Thanks to Stanley Schmitt, director of Vertical Master (Training and Consulting) for the opportunity.
The objective of Vertical Forum is to create a meeting place between manufacturers, operators and regulators of all types of drones through presentations and demos.
The 2023 edition was very successful with a good audience, the presence of Swiss media (RTS) and especially drone actors from the three linguistic regions of the country.
“Vertical Master had been planning for several months to explore the segment of drone use in logistics. This segment is not yet well known by drone players who are more on inspection or mapping. EYESEE Inventory Drone, with its very innovative solution, seemed to us to be the ideal candidate to enter the logistics world” explains Stanley Schmitt.
Clément Roulet Dubonnet – Marketing Director EYESEE
What are the future synergies with Vertical Master?
Vertical Master could offer a global solution to Swiss customers interested in integrating drones in their inventories. This global solution could include the equipment but also the complete integration of the solution with training and after sales service. Note that Vertical Master would also be able to bring its drone expertise in national languages (French, German and Italian). To be continued…
EYESEE exhibited its latest innovations in warehouse technology at the 40th edition of the Transport and Logistics Innovation Week (SITL), which took place from March 28 to 30 at the Porte de Versailles in Paris.
SITL has become one of the main events for transport and logistics professionals. The international trade show, which is celebrating its 40th edition this year, brings together all supply chain players from sectors as diverse as intralogistics, robotics, IT systems and logistics real estate. The 2023 edition gathered more than 24,000 participants and 500 exhibitors.
For this 40th edition, the inventory by drone was in the spotlight on our booth D113.
On this occasion, participants were able to see the drone in flight in the Drone Valley and discuss with our team.
EYESEE is a solution designed to help manufacturers and logisticians increase their operational efficiency. It allows to carry out the inventory by collecting automatically the data of stocks of the warehouses. The solution can be deployed in a few days, without any modification of the warehouse or addition of infrastructure.
With an average productivity of 400 locations/hour, EYESEE allows you to increase the reliability of your inventory data while reducing the risks on your site.
The drone inventory solution complies with all current industry standards. It helps 3PLs and logistics departments of manufacturers to eliminate inventory errors before they become downstream problems. L’Oréal, Bayer, GKN Driveline, Le Roy Logistique, Ikea, Aptar and many others have already chosen EYESEE.
Interested in deploying the EYESEE solution in your warehouse?
Check the eligibility of your site by clicking on the button 👇
A question about the features of the logistic drone, its autonomy or its advantages? We answer all your questions in this article 
The solution is adapted to each type of warehouse:
The logistic drone can be used in warehouses along the value chain (raw material warehouses, production sites, finished goods warehouses). All you need is a palletized warehouse.
Factory warehouse
Distribution & retail warehouse
Among our customers who have deployed the solution in Europe
No, the logistic drone EYESEE does not count stocks (the number of goods on a pallet). This drone is designed to ideally read the HU tags (barcodes on full pallets filmed in the Handling Unit). It provides accurate stock data with photos and thus allows to detect empty pallets, obstacles and to anticipate position errors beforehand.
It depends on the type of inventory you adopt and the frequency you use the solution. Another important factor is the size of your warehouse. The EYESEE solution can read an average of 400 locations per hour and the battery pack provided allows for about 2 hours of flight time. The calculation is simple :). Depending on the warehouse and the size of the locations, the efficiency can reach 800 locations per hour.
No, EYESEE is a solution that requires the presence of an operator to supervise the flight of the drone. However, the operator does not need to be trained to fly the drone or to use joysticks. Simply pressing the buttons on the application is enough. During an inventory mission, the drone operator makes sure that the flight is going well, and can also report problems on the tablet application (points of interest related to the goods, the pallet or the rack for example).
When the logistic drone finishes its inventory mission (one side of an aisle) it lands and touches down. The operator must also change the battery when necessary and move the drone to the next aisle.
It’s quick. There are a total of 3 training sessions: 2 short sessions of training on EYESEE Cloud remotely and 2 to 3 days of training on the use of the drone on site (most frequently when the equipment is delivered). It is not necessary to have a telepilot license.
These sessions are spread over a typical period of 12 weeks from the date of order (can be accelerated depending on stock availability).
Important point: no infrastructure or addition of codes or labels for localization is required.
After 4 demos in the AFTRAL centers of Grenoble, Moulins, Saint-Quentin-Fallavier and Bourg-en-Bresse, EYESEE continues its roadshow in Valence and La Motte-Servolex.
On February 21 and 22, 2023, our team went to the AFTRAL centers of Valence and La Motte Servolex, for a flight demonstration of the EYESEE solution.
On the agenda:
Video feedback on these 2 demos 👇
“This partnership with AFTRAL is really an obvious one. It is a win-win event. Indeed, we have the same interest in bringing logistics professionals, either who want to discover innovative solutions, or who want to recruit staff to run their warehouses or drive their trucks. We have also recruited a former student of Aftral who is now in charge of drone deployment at EYESEE”, says Clément Roulet-Dubonnet.
After these events in Auvergne Rhône-Alpes region, next demonstrations are currently being organized in different regions in order to meet and show on the field how the EYESEE solution works. Contact us if you would like to organize a demo in your facility or warehouse.
Launched in the summer of 2021, the partnership between AFTRAL through its many training centers and EYESEE, the drone inventory solution, is gaining momentum during the EYESEE Roadshow. The demonstration carried out on the site of Saint Quentin Fallavier led by Elodie Labrune launched the 2023 season off to a flying start.
Maxime Vincendeau and Michaël Motte from Le Roy Logistique, an EYESEE client for several years, came to testify about their use of the solution in their own warehouses. This testimonial made it possible to make the demonstration in a monitored environment (in this case the training center) even more practical and to illustrate it with production use cases in active warehouses.
“We are very grateful to Le Roy Logistique for coming to testify about their use of EYESEE. Who’s better than a customer to talk about our solution?”
– says Clément Roulet-Dubonnet
The demonstration on January 23, 2023 took place in the heart of the Chesne business park in Saint Quentin Fallavier. This extremely dense area is home to numerous regional, national and international logistics and industrial companies.
“In our policy, it’s important to us to rely on the local ecosystem. In this regard, to make ourselves known, it was quite natural to begin nearby – EYESEE is based in Grenoble. We are really grateful to AFTRAL and Elodie Labrune in particular. She opened the doors of her logistics and transport training center to us, which is perfectly suited for demonstrations of our pallet inventory solution by drone.” – adds Clément Roulet-Dubonnet, VP Marketing”
The area’s many companies are always on the lookout for new talent and new ways to improve their productivity, performance and reduce their environmental impact: in a word, innovation.
The event organized in a few months was quickly a success, the organizers then decided to double the sessions to respect the maximum capacity of the center. In the end, dozens of companies came to the different sessions, represented by about fifty people.
Following this great demonstration, next demos of the other AFTRAL centers on the EYESEE Roadshow list will be organized throughout the year in different areas in order to meet and show in the field how the EYESEE solution works.
Thanks to AFTRAL, all the EYESEE team and Le Roy Logistique
Grenoble, France, December 8, 2022 – The startup Darwin Drones, which develops and markets the Eyesee drone inventory count, announces a €1 million round of funding, bringing in the Groupe Idec through its investment subsidiary Team Invest Innovation, the Crédit Agricole Alpes Développement, as well as several business angels.
The startup now has the necessary means for the commercial deployment of Eyesee to logistics and industrial sites in France and abroad. After having attracted first customers such as L’Oréal, Bayer, DB Schenker, and Leroy Logistique, who adopted the Eyesee offer since its prototype stage, Darwin Drones is now aiming to set up a network of distributors and integrators in its main target markets.
“This fundraising, following an initial market validation, confirms the relevance of Eyesee’s positioning to automate and make the inventory processes of industrial and logistic sites more reliable. We are delighted to welcome new shareholders who are commited to our side. This funding allows us to start our acceleration and internationalization phase with serenity and determination.”, comments Eric Pierrel, president of Darwin Drones.
Eyesee was born in 2015 from a Grenoble-based collaboration combining the logistics DNA of Hardis Group and the industrial drone expertise of Squadrone System. It was therefore quite obvious for Darwin Drones to approach investors active in the Grenoble area, in particular Crédit Agricole Alpes Développement and Grenoble Angels.
“The Eyesee project, led by Darwin Drones, showcases Grenoble’s technological and commercial expertise on a national level and is now beginning its international journey. We are delighted to be able to support this project and especially the management team, which combines an ability to listen with notable responsiveness and dynamism.“, explains Rami Hassoun, equity investor at Crédit Agricole Alpes Développement.
“For us, supporting such a project means that we believe in the strong development potential of the Eyesee inventory drone solution dedicated to stocktaking within logistics sites using an autonomous drone. Eyesee has been proven for more than 5 years with many customers already using it, demonstrating impressive results compared to traditional stocktaking methods. Darwin Drones is determined to deploy this disruptive solution on a larger scale in France and internationally for the logistics sector, which is always on the lookout for innovative and reliable solutions to improve productivity. Finally, Eyesee was created and developed in the Grenoble area by experts in logistics and drone engineering, it was thus important to support this project in its commercial launch phase.”, explains Jean-Yves Costa, the project’s instructor and investor at Grenoble Angels.
The development of partnerships being a strong vector for growth for Darwin Drones, the recent fundraising is also an opportunity to create synergies. Thus, the Groupe Idec, a major player in real estate and construction, which operates as a planner and developer, investor, turnkey designer-builder, and creator of energy solutions, is joining the Eyesee project to accelerate its market access.
“Our stake in Eyesee is the result of a global approach to the need for tools that promote the development of industry and logistics 4.0“, comments Patrice Lafargue, President of Groupe Idec. “We are thrilled to partner with the Darwin Drones team and its other shareholders to develop this project, which combines an innovative vision and a pragmatic approach to strengthen the digitalization of logistics platforms. We have an incredible portfolio of projects with some 700,000 m2 of warehouses that we build each year and the nearly 1,700,000 m2 of buildable space throughout France to give this innovative solution a tremendous boost.”
Thanks to the press!
Founded in 2021, Darwin Drones is specialized in the development and marketing of industrial logistics automation solutions, especially by drone. Darwin Drones also provides services associated with this activity. The company is dedicated to the sales, support and software development of the Eyesee solution for the logistics market.
Press contact: Nora NESSER – +33(0)6.43.53.64.01 – nora.nesser@eyesee-drone.com
C2AD is the private equity vehicle of Crédit Agricole Sud Rhône-Alpes and Crédit Agricole des Savoie. Crédit Agricole Alpes Développement is involved in venture capital, innovation capital, development capital and transmission capital (startup, SME and ETI). C2AD manages €100 million, invested in 180 companies.
Press contact: Rami HASSOUN, – equity investor – rami.hassoun@ca-alpes-developpement.fr
Groupe Idec is a major player in the real estate sector, bringing together more than twenty companies with expertise in their fields. It operates in France and abroad to plan, develop, finance
and provide innovative energy solutions, as well as to design and construct all types of buildings.
It positions itself as a responsible player in the energy transition and in limiting the artificialization of land. The company works with local authorities on each new operation to revitalize territories by creating new living and working spaces. This commitment translates into a desire to contribute to the green growth of cities, businesses and individuals, while meeting the challenges of
sustainable, coherent and pragmatic economic development.
Key figures:
▪ Year of creation: 2000
▪ 500 employees in France + 700 worldwide
▪ 500 million euros of Revenues
▪ 3 million m2 certified
▪ 20 companies in France
▪ + 1,000 Ha developed or in progress in France and internationally
▪ 260,000,000 euros of assets
▪ 700,000 m2 built each year
▪ + 20 logistics parks in France and abroad.
Press contact for Groupe Idec : Isabelle BIGOT – 06.16.06.91.23 – isabelle@calliope- event.com
Created in 2005, Grenoble Angels is an association affiliated with France Angels, the national federation of business angels. Grenoble Angels brings together a hundred local investors throughout the Isère department, who support and finance start-ups and innovative companies in their seed phase.
With more than 15 years of experience and over 200 projects funded, Grenoble Angels relies on the experience and expertise of its members to support local entrepreneurs and projects.
Grenoble Angels’ philosophy is based on the 3 C’s: the triple contribution of Business Angels in Capital, Competencies and Contacts.
Key figures since 2005:
-More than 1,000 investment opportunities investigated § 250 companies funded
-25 million euros invested by Business Angels
-200 applications received per year
-10 startups supported and funded every year
Follow Grenoble Angels:
Website: https://www.grenoble-angels.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/grenobleangels
Twitter: https://twitter.com/grenobleangels
Press contact: Jonathan COLLOMB – délégué général- 04 76 28 25 32 – contact@grenoble- angels.com
The EYESEE drone warehouse project became the laureate of the call for projects “Entreprises Engagées pour la Transition Ecologique” (Companies Engaged in the Ecological Transition) and was supported by the ADEME.
ADEME (French Environment and Energy Management Agency) is an expert agency that meets the challenges of ecological transition, in order to build a sustainable future in a low-carbon world.
EYESEE has participated in this call for projects by presenting the automatic drone inventory solution and its benefits in terms of reducing the negative impacts generated by using manual inventory. In fact, the drone inventory solution for logistics warehouses significantly reduces the environmental impact of warehousing activities while providing economic benefits. Extensive studies are currently being carried out to precisely quantify the differences.
The inventory mobilizes a lot of resources and has a negative impact on the environment. The standard manual process, i.e., the use of scissors lifts and scanners, is a low-value-added activity that poses safety (working at heights), quality and reliability problems due to human error. It requires the transport of scissors lifts (often rented, sometimes managed internally) to the logistic site and this causes a high environmental impact due to the transport of scissors lifts by truck (from 2 to 4 tons per scissors lifts).
Inventory is resource intensive and has a negative impact on the environment. The standard manual process, i.e., using cradles and scanners, is a low-value-added activity, with safety (working at heights), quality and reliability issues due to human error. It requires to bring on site platforms (often rented, sometimes controlled internally) and it has a high environmental impact due to the transport of these platforms by truck (from 2 to 4 tons per platform).
The use of EYESEE inventory robot therefore eliminates the use and trucking of scissors lifts for inventory activities by using a drone to collect data. Moreover the energy consumption per location visited is 10 times lower with a drone than with a scissors lifts.
For these reasons and many others, EYESEE drone warehouse is the laureate of the EETE (Companies Committed to the Ecological Transition) call for proposals, which consists in supporting the international diffusion of the progress brought by this modern and economical method of carrying out inventories in a rack.
Watch the replay of our webinar and learn how drone inventory count allows you to increase productivity in your warehouse.
Program:
Using new technologies for inventory automation, and in specific the drone inventory count, allows to improve the production.
Inventory drone offers many advantages to companies, as explained in this webinar by Clément Roulet Dubonnet, co-founder of Darwin Drones.
Darwin Drones is the company dedicated to the marketing, support and software development of the EYESEE drone inventory solution for the logistics market.
Inventory and stock keeping activities are time-consuming and inefficient but simple. Yet production depends on the quality and efficiency of this process.
EYESEE simplifies these activities to have a more accurate inventory and a more fluid activity at any moment.
Why are finished goods warehouses switching to EYESEE?
With drone inventory count EYESEE, you can :
