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A podcast about drones and the people behind them. An educational and entertaining take on the current state of drones and what flies ahead in the drone world.
Mark Masterton (00:00.172)
What does Phil Franklin want a drone to do? Does he want to get a taxi to work?
Phil Franklin (00:04.084)
I don't know if I'm quite ready for that, but
Mark Masterton (00:06.958)
Today on Drone is the Future, we have the Vice President of Business Development at Xenetech and Xenodrone, Phil Franklin. We talked to him about his roots as an audio engineer in Chicago, the humble origins of the Xenodrone and drone as a Service model, and how they're all intertwined for the exciting frontier of the future of drones. The connoisseur of pizza, I hear.
Phil Franklin (00:29.1)
Very particular about my pizza. Contrary to popular belief, Chicago people do not particularly care for deep dish pizza. What the f key factor is sound suppression, because drones do create a lot of sound. But on the other side of that, flying speakers makes a lot of sense.
Mark Masterton (00:36.718)
About music.
Mark Masterton (00:47.374)
That's where my head was going, Phil.
Phil Franklin (00:49.582)
Yeah, I just give someone an idea to do something that I hadn't thought of myself.
Mark Masterton (00:58.338)
Drone as the Future is made in partnership with Drone as a Service. Make your survey, mapping, or inspections safer, faster, and more efficient with the help of our team. Elevate what's possible with droneasaservice.com. welcome to the podcast, Phil. Thank you for coming. you're a musical man before you got into all this drone break.
Phil Franklin (01:16.558)
Thank you, Mark. Always happy.
Phil Franklin (01:23.822)
I certainly hope you did not look into my background and find any news.
Mark Masterton (01:27.926)
I'm gonna keep it at your musical guide.
Phil Franklin (01:30.51)
What's in the past is in the past. No, no. For a a good period of my life I was I was very dedicated to making music. Yeah. I learned piano when I was in my younger preteen years. I took piano lessons for several years. That kinda translated into me getting interested in you know, R and B and rap and my mother sang in church and things like that. So
it was kind of a natural progression for me to get into music. I started doing recording. I actually went to c Columbia College in Chicago for a acoustic engineering. So I have a background in understanding how sound works. that translated into me doing, you know, recording for my my my rap groups and things like that. It was it was a fun period of time. But it yes, it's it's in the past, very much so. Is it
Mark Masterton (02:17.918)
Nice to be back in the studio behind the mic again though.
Phil Franklin (02:21.062)
fun, you know. you know, there was a period of my time where I I always wanted to be in front of the camera. So you know, seeing the evolution of technology and how it's changed over time, it's funny because I I was on a podcast the other day and he he y younger guy had no recollection or understanding of what real the real was.
Mark Masterton (02:41.014)
You might need to enlighten en lighten me.
Phil Franklin (02:43.15)
So in in my recording days,
recording was done on tape. All right. Video and and and audio. And I was formerly trained on editing real to real. So you have flat table, the t the cassette was a large format cassette, don't y I can't remember the actual millimeter size, but as you were recording, it was, you know, recording onto the tape and when you needed to do edits you had to physically go in and with a razor blade and cut where the editing to take place and then you'd have to tape it back together.
at the end of the edit. So wow. Yeah. Formerly trained on that, did some stuff at Columbia College, working on audio commercials for radio and things like that. So yeah, I've I I've dabbled a little bit. Okay. Okay.
Mark Masterton (03:32.935)
What do you make of our intro music? I gotta ask.
Phil Franklin (03:35.502)
intro music. it's it's I think it's appropriate. it's technology appropriate. It's I like a little bit more bass, but you know.
Mark Masterton (03:42.478)
Interesting.
Mark Masterton (03:46.102)
Noted, noted. I'll let Josh Santos know. No worries. no, it's just always interesting as a audio engineer, you know. Sure. You hail from Chicago originally.
Phil Franklin (03:56.334)
I absolutely hell from Chicago. Chicago, Chicago. So typically when people say they're from Chicago, and they're not anymore, they're re l a lot of times they're referring to neighboring suburbs. So I grew up on the south side of Chicago. shout out to my Lake Park family. right down the street from Comiskey Park, what was then Comiskey Park that went to US Celier and is now guaranteed rate field. So yes, I am a true
Southside Chicago native.
Mark Masterton (04:27.16)
Nice. And a connoisseur of pizza, I hear.
Phil Franklin (04:30.296)
This is also true. very particular about my pizza. granted I I do my best to enjoy whatever pizza I get outside of Chicago, but yeah, that there's no other pizza like Chicago pizza. And you know, contrary to popular belief, Chicago people do not particularly care for deep dish pizza. That you interesting. Yeah. Why? we're tavern style pizza people.
Thin crust, all about the sauce. For me it's pepperoni on pizza and pretty much nothing else. everybody has their preferences, but ultimately I I I haven't been a place in the world and I've been many places where the pizza is in any way equivalent to Chicago pizza. It it can't be matched.
Mark Masterton (05:18.422)
Is there a particular pizza shop that deserves a shout out? What's the best?
Phil Franklin (05:22.254)
most people in Chicago will it well it depends on the level of person. But for for people who grew up in the environment I grew up, you have Italian Fiesta, which is probably gonna be at the top of most people's pizza. But you have places like Dewey's and
One of my favorites that's not necessarily tavern style pizza but has great pizzas, Pequads is not as popular, but it's it's up it's further north in the city. so you know, Cubs fans will probably be very familiar with it. but yeah, there there are a number of good pizza brands. Those are just the ones that whenever I go home I go to.
Mark Masterton (06:07.086)
Okay. Always good to share the knowledge. And and learn about your your pizza likes. we should probably talk about drones, I guess. you've been with this company over ten years.
Phil Franklin (06:08.973)
Yeah, yeah.
Phil Franklin (06:15.978)
Yeah, sure. Why not?
Phil Franklin (06:22.132)
I have eleven years in about a month and a half. Yeah. long time with the company. I've seen it transition from, you know, a small entity of, you know, six or seven people in a a pretty crowded office that was still rather unoccupied to to what it is now, which is you know, every time I wake up and think about it, it's been tremendous growth.
And we've onboarded a lot of fantastic people who really contribute a lot to, you know, where we are and where we are where we're headed as a company. So yeah, it's it's it's it's phenomenal to see where we've come from. no shortage of hard work and effort being put into it every day. you know, some of the folks who've been here nearly as long as as long as me are still still around, which is s very significant. you know
When you're experiencing hardship as a company early on, you you you typically do experience a lot of turnover. So, and even at the stage we're on now, we still do a really good job of retaining staff. and and and it's important. It's it's about culture, it's about willingness to commit to people, it's about making sure that you have people in the right jobs for them. Sometimes you get hired into a position and you could be
better utilized in other areas of the company. And so where that's been possible, we've been able to shift people. and and then just in addition to that, the willingness to commit to going above and beyond job description, that's contributed a lot to any of the successes that we've had. you know, I myself have worked in a a lot of departments in the company. I welcome it. and we have a number of people who continue to
to exhibit that level of commitment and willingness to kind of stretch themselves and do things that they're not necessarily familiar with. I I think it it it creates it it fosters creativity. When you're doing something that you're not necessarily hired for and you have to do the research to be able to do it well. there's a a unique level of commitment that's brought into the environment in that way.
Mark Masterton (08:44.198)
I think that leads us quite well onto the beginnings of the drone sector. Quite a cool story of how it all began, if you wouldn't mind rolling back the clock and telling us how it all started.
Phil Franklin (08:55.662)
Sure. you know, many things come to a a complete surprise to me. our leader is a very, you know, ambitious and unique person who's, you know, committed a lot of his time to his own education. He's, you know, masters degrees and degrees in in in in different areas of business and engineering, and law. And he's managed to, you know, culminate that into the business that we have in front of us.
but he's also extremely creative. And he was pursuing his pilot license, which I know he has now. congratulations, shout out Sean Pastler. and so, you know, it it kind of to me it kind of came out of nowhere that he wanted to start developing a drone. And my god, what year was this? Nine two thousand and seventeen, two thousand eighteen. Okay.
Mark Masterton (09:44.343)
Yeah.
Mark Masterton (09:53.504)
So drones are just starting to really like sort of take hold.
Phil Franklin (09:56.588)
Yeah, I mean th there's there's always been a a plethora of small toy drones. but commercially I think at that stage it was starting to become more relevant and how they could be used in business. he saw that, and you know, took it upon himself to build in his mind what the design should look like. And so it was our job to kind of translate that into a to reality. Yeah. Yeah. myself
as well as Callion Carcione, who's one of our colleagues who's now in Toronto, and a a former employee. we were charged with basically building something with no experience. and again, you know, kind of leading back to what I was talking about before, you know, the willingness to commit to the vision and go outside of the box and do some things that you're not necessarily familiar with, contributed to us, you know, building that drone. was it perfect?
Yes, it was perfect. No, no, it was it was I will say it was not a disaster. We'll say that. you know, we used additive manufacturing three D printing, which at that time had become more readily available to, you know, consumers. so we invested in, you know, multiple products to to get that started. We had to learn that process. and so that was a team effort.
we did source some third party support on some of the technology required to get the drone actually constructed from a from an electronic standpoint. once we had all those tools in place, and you know, myself and you know, one of the other team members were charged with getting all the electronic components situated, connected. and then from there it was it was just
you know, getting it outside to fly. So when we got to the point where we thought we had everything right. at that time it was, you know, early January in Chicago, which for those who have not spent any time in Chicago is a blistering cold typically. we're talking you know minus you know ten, minus fifteen degrees. our only access to any space was in the basement of our office building.
Phil Franklin (12:20.878)
so you know we took it down, Sean at it you know, the only active pilot at that time was, you know, charged with flying it. we achieved lift, some level of control. we didn't crash into anything or anyone's cars.
Mark Masterton (12:40.974)
I like the vagueness of the term lift. You achieve lift.
Phil Franklin (12:44.802)
I well and you know, that kind of sparked the the level of confidence that we needed to pursue this in in a greater way. and so, you know, we continue to develop in house as best we could, adding in some you know, rotating arms and mechanics that would support forward fly 'cause the original design v very much mirrors where we are now.
obviously for those who've seen the Xenadrone 1000 at the stage it's at, it's much more sleek, you know, using composite materials, carbon fiber, things like that. but the very early stages was a lot smaller drone. It was still relatively large compared to what was on the market. so it was something different. Yeah. the the construction of that drone was designed more so around the a concept that was very different from what was on the market. So typically typical drones at the time use kind of an X
platform where all of the weight is distributed through the center, with the center as a focal point. ours spread the the mass of the drone away from the center, which was very different. it it created an opportunity for the center of the drone to actually be hollow, which led to us being able to store things inside of okay. so, you know, we were at a point where we had created something fairly unique.
we proved that we could achieve lift with very little knowledge about aerodynamics at that stage. Obviously a lot of time spent learning about aerodynamics, but Yeah, definitely. You know, when you when you start adding, you know, high thrust to at that time, you know
Mark Masterton (14:23.81)
Lot of duct tape.
Phil Franklin (14:39.182)
Plastic without a lot of knowledge about vibrations and how it's gonna affect things. Yeah, you y you gotta throw some duct tape in there to hold things together. And so we we eventually, you know, when we moved on from that drone, we we did call that the duct tape drone. So
Mark Masterton (14:55.746)
That's awesome. so that were the the raw beginnings in a cold car park in Chicago. How did the company transition to their current location, the development center in Mesa, Arizona? Sure.
Phil Franklin (15:04.885)
Absolutely.
Phil Franklin (15:13.016)
So, you know, once we, you know, got the confidence and our ability to start to develop the technology, we had early pilots in Ireland. So that was actually you know, l led by Sean, d started to build a team in Ireland, and you know, worked with some businesses in Ireland to kind of further our understanding of the technology and where our our place could be in it.
I myself decided to move to Arizona due to, you know, conditions in Chicago. just not really conducive to what I wanted from my family. moved to Chicago, had the conversation with Sean. He was on board with us kind of expanding in that way. We we wanted to move West Coast, had had conversations about it in the past and the timing just fit. so moved to Arizona.
continue to work for the company and and expanding some of our other endeavors, which you know ultimately led to us being able to continue expansion into Toronto and the other places that we were pursuing at that time. But yeah, Arizona really does foster the evolution of tech tech technological businesses, technology businesses.
And we started working with Arizona Commerce, which has been extremely supportive of us, getting us in the face of, you know, potential clients, be it in the US or abroad. And yeah, you know, now we're at the phase where, you know, we've we've we've went for a temper from a temporary space to a more permanent space to now having an an actual facility that we can assemble our products and distribute from and looking to continue that growth in in in the Phoenix area as well.
Mark Masterton (17:03.714)
Pretty good conditions for test flights as well. All year round.
Phil Franklin (17:07.406)
Yes and no. yeah, yeah. No. Air Arizona is absolutely beautiful. I love I love living there and you're you're right. It's absolutely conducive to what we want to do from a testing standpoint. Now
Mark Masterton (17:10.733)
It just seems very sunny from
Phil Franklin (17:25.866)
It's hot. it's not for everyone. I love it. but yeah, it does foster the ability for us to get out as pretty much as frequent as we need to, to test the various technologies that we're you know, we're we're we're putting push behind. So we can get out and fly pretty much any day of the year. at coldest I I don't know. In the daytime we very seldom drop below sixty degrees. So, you know, going from, you know, minus fifteen to sixty, I'll take it any day.
Mark Masterton (17:56.192)
It's it's a nice change up sometimes when we're travelling down from Vancouver.
Phil Franklin (17:59.854)
And it's always fun having you guys. Always fun.
Mark Masterton (18:03.928)
How has the company grown and changed since those early days? I mean, there must have been a big change when the company went public and also when when drones were being encouraged to be produced in America. Absolutely. All these things have seen the company just explode recently.
Phil Franklin (18:20.174)
Absolutely.
Phil Franklin (18:24.362)
Yes. So I mean companies have to be adaptive and growing in order to survive. you know, as it pertains to how our company's grown in the past, you know, two years, you know, once we went public, we've seen tremendous growth. And and again, I you have to tip my hat to Sean and his creativeness and his ability to see a clear path through a lot of noise.
there are a lot of drone companies right now operating out of every country in in in any type of capacity. but what he sought to do is take advantage of the land surveying industry in such a way that you know we have a clear channel to start executing using our technology, which obviously increases visibility, visibility to support, you know, that our capability functions at a high level.
because what's required for land surveying is is you know extreme detail. the the reports that come out of surveys have to be long lasting. when when you think about, you know, someone in in encroaching on someone else's property, you know, we've seen fights, we've seen you know, th legal battles come into play over things like that. So
kind of creating that opportunity and and surveying has led to continued growth of our company.
Mark Masterton (19:57.786)
what what made the company go in that direction as opposed to like film making and photography, which is as you say, saturated that section of the market?
Phil Franklin (20:07.424)
I would say that despite the fact that surveying is a business as old as time, right now there isn't a lot of investment in how it needs to advance with technology. So there's a big opportunity in that, you know, a lot of these companies have been active for a significant amount of time. you know, land surveyors are are
a a state requirement. you have to be certified in order to you know actually perform these functions. And it it's not a a business where there is a lot of newcomers entering the field. and so technology is going to have to replace a lot of the activity that's happening in order for it to be supported long term. and so with these these companies kind of aging out, there's there was the big opportunity for us to step in
purchase these companies, revamp them, incorporate our technology, take advantage of that technology to improve efficiency and speed to be able to get clients and customers their needs within the time frames that they need them. And these are all things that are supported by drone technology. and so, you know, it was very wise for Sean to identify that as an opportunity and you know, it's it's definitely allowed for us to continue with our upward trajectory as a company.
Mark Masterton (21:37.614)
now following all this development and growth, the company's much more public facing these days and you recently celebrated the first public flight of the IQ Square at the the robot rodeo in Arizona. How how was that leading up to it and the day and and the reception so far?
Phil Franklin (21:57.4)
Sure. So it is, you know, I marvel at the difference it makes when people can see in real life what you're doing. Right. We've been to a number of conferences and shows and have displayed the drone over the past few years. but it's different when they actually get to stand in front of it and see it in action. And for me, the response
is is very significant, you know. it's always been real to me because I haven't had my hands on it, but it's different when I can share in the reaction that people have when they see the technology. And again, drones, you know, drones are a common thing right now, but this is this is my drone now. Right. so there there's there's the emotional attachment that that comes with that. But the event would the event was great.
I really appreciate the the the group that, you know, r r asked of us to attend. they were very supportive in making sure that we actually had the opportunity to fly because, you know, we've b we've been to events in the past where the the prospect was there for us to fly, but FAA requirements or base requirements if we were on a government facility simply didn't didn't work out.
And so getting to that event was was it was very special. Very special. everyone who attended was, you know, very interested in what we were doing. That was a Yeah, yeah. They love me. They love me. No no drone
Mark Masterton (23:36.716)
Round of applause at the end. We were there.
Mark Masterton (23:42.414)
Reaction to that insignificant. It was Phil Franklin's in the hand.
Phil Franklin (23:46.016)
It was all me. It was all me. No, no, no. It was really great people out there. again, you know, they were coming over to the booth. They had a lot of questions. we were able to feel those questions and and and really piqued their interest. We let up met a lot of great people who are interested in not only in a technology but in the company. so, you know, some accountants, some representatives from other countries who were actually in the state at the time who
you know, we were able to make connections with and are are pr continuing to pursue that relationship as well as invitations to other countries to bring the drone out, show the drone off. So yeah, no, it was a really great event. It was it it was a small it it was a small event, but it was a mon monumentous occasion for us as a company. again, y you can go online, you can see pictures, you can see video, but when you're present for it, it it makes a difference.
Mark Masterton (24:44.078)
Exactly. Especially in this age of AI video and all that stuff. It makes a difference to see stuff in in real life.
Phil Franklin (24:50.399)
Absolutely.
Mark Masterton (24:54.06)
Xenodrone and drone as a service that they have a number of different drones that are targeting a number of different markets. Wh where do you see drones really digging in the next few years, industries shaping them and stuff? We've sta we've talked about land survey, but there's many other ways that they can be used, right?
Phil Franklin (25:11.874)
Yeah, absolutely. one of our primary focuses right now is around land surveying, yes, and we've developed a technology to support that activity directly so we can more quickly support our clients and their needs. but we we also have our indoor warehouse drone, which I think is going to be very significant for us. there are other companies that kind of pursue this this activity. I think we have a a similar but more evolved approach.
yeah, as an end user focused company, we're always looking way looking for ways to kind of tweak our product to meet more specific needs. we we we want to you know get to a stage where we're you know an off the shelf product, but you know, anything that you buy, you always wish it did something a little bit more, right? And so our goal is to answer that wish, not just a general product.
and so, you know, when we do site evaluations for clients for the indoor drone, we're getting a lot of very specific information from them so we can understand the operations that are taking place there. We're delivering our technology to be able to accommodate their needs and collecting inventory data. but we're also, you know, asking more broad questions. What are some of your other pain points? How can we implement this in such a way that it really streamlines your workflow?
and it supports you being able to expand your business, not just continue with the status quo. So I I think that's a differentiator for us. we're you know, we're continuing to develop technologies. We have the IQ Square, which is another drone that emulates the shape and form factor of the IQ Nano. It's just a larger scale drone that we'll do bridge inspection and power line inspections with. that's actually the drone that we displayed at the the the rodeo.
we have the IQ quad, which is a more streamlined version of the nanos. A little bit smaller, more of what you would expect from you know commercial drones that are currently available. we'll use that for surveying. We've implemented and are continuing to implement new technologies into it for RTK positioning as well as ground ground truthing, LIDAR different LIDAR technologies, and we're actually developing our own
Phil Franklin (27:36.122)
sensor technologies to continue to support that product and everything that we build as a vertically integrated company, w we have the ability to now source into all of our products. and that kind of creates a variety I think that other companies may not have. you know if I if I can deliver an indoor warehouse drone with the same technology of an an ISR, you know military drone.
then then adds a a new adds a variety that's not currently on the market. And it really taps into a vein that's that's not really exposed. You know, there there are so many opportunities that we simply aren't aware of because we the question hasn't been asked yet. And so if we have these technologies internally, we have a a quicker ability to adapt to new situations. And so the I I'd say those are our four
primary focuses the Xenodrome one thousand, the IQ Square, IQ nano and IQ quad. We do have more in tow, and we're excited about our upcoming products in the in the releases as well.
Mark Masterton (28:46.45)
you personally, what would you like a drone to do in the future? What does Phil Franklin want a drone to do? Does he want to get a taxi to work? Does he want to be able to drop the kids off at school?
Phil Franklin (28:59.758)
I don't know if I'm quite ready for that, but I mean I I you know, that that is the future though. transportation is obviously something that i is going to evolve into a very common practice and I think that th there's a level of safety that could be attained in using a drone to to transport people that for a helicopter, for example, can simply not match. if you y you lose one propeller in a helicopter
That's it. Right. but the you know, the drones have redundancies in place that can support continued flights and in most cases safe landings, a lot more safe and secure landings. would I like to see it? I would love to see it. Will will I be on it? probably not. No, no, no, no, no, no. I I'll you know I am of the age where I'm grateful to see technology involve at the pace it is.
Mark Masterton (29:48.59)
No not a guinea pig.
Phil Franklin (29:58.928)
but I'm also at the age where my participation is not necessarily necessary. but you know, you know, we I think we all have a vision of the future that kind of looks like what one of my favorite movies, The Fifth Element with Bruce Wil Bruce Willis, where he's you know, jumping out of the hotel or jumping out of the house and landing on cars and things like that. I think that that
Mark Masterton (30:05.3)
So diplomatic. I love it.
Phil Franklin (30:28.172)
That becomes possible with drone technology, right? We kinda s see this vision where drones are everywhere when we go outside. granted, it's probably gonna be a long time before infrastructure is in place to support that. but yeah, transportation very highly. you know, the the replacement of a lot of the dangerous work that happens throughout the world, whether it be in mining or
You know, power line inspection, windmill inspection, those things that cause for people to be in harm's way. Military? Yeah. Absolutely. I mean we're seeing a lot of activity with drones right now. I I expect that that will continue to grow because you know, the balance has to be set where each country has this this capability, right? and you know, we're we're talking about we're talking about war, which is never fun to talk or really even think about, but it it's a reality.
but it doesn't involve you know, it doesn't involve people in boots on the ground. and so if a goal can be accomplished without the loss of human life, I I definitely think that that, you know, drones can play a significant part in in kind of reducing you know, the loss of life life in that way. but more on the fun note, you know, you know, we're seeing in entertainment how drones are providing different perspective at basketball games and football games and racetracks and things like that. So
I think those things will continue to grow as regulations get into place that allow for these things to happen quicker. you know, deliveries is something that, you know, has been tried and proven and tested. So we'll we'll likely see more of that.
Mark Masterton (32:12.652)
What about music? How could you blend drones
Phil Franklin (32:14.146)
What about Sure No This is a good one. This is a good one. so I I think the key factor is sound suppression first, because drones do create a lot of sound, right? but on the other side of that, flying speakers makes a lot of sense. Absolutely. you know, I was reading a documentary on or actually I was just saying I was watching
Mark Masterton (32:35.726)
That's where my head was going Phil.
Phil Franklin (32:42.966)
A documentary on the the sphere in Las Vegas. And then they have upwards of, you know, twenty five hundred speakers or so in that. in order to, you know, triangulate how the sound approaches every individual person in the audience. Uhhuh. Drones in that scenario will be able to create a very unique experience. So I think that's that's something that
Did I just give someone an idea to do something that I hadn't thought of myself? yeah, no, but that's that's a unique perspective, a unique technology, an opportunity. And in the same way that we see light shows now with drones and supporting sound sound shows would be cool.
Mark Masterton (33:24.15)
Looking ahead to the future, there has been announcements of the Interceptor P one. Can we talk about that a little bit and
Phil Franklin (33:30.572)
Yes. yes. so the Interceptor P one is a new product line that we're gonna launch in support of defense. right now there in and for a while now there's been a big push in the military to be able to suppress drone activity. And so, you know, w we're introducing a technology that will be able to reach speeds and
in in order to inner s intercept other drones and possibly even other missiles. this is a low cost technology. a lot of times well all of the time, you know, defense missile defense systems are extremely expensive. so if you can imagine you know in in place of a single missile that may be upwards of, you know, you know, let's let's just say five million dollars, we can send up, you know, maybe thirty or forty smaller units
to intercept a missile, have it explode in air as opposed to, you the the money it would take for a single missile to match trajectory and and you know intercept another missile. But also drones in general. obviously again we we've seen a lot of activity of drones in in the Middle East being used as threats and damaging buildings and c loss of life. and so it's it's important that
We as a company who have the ability to manufacture and develop these technologies, make a effort to support a a and I think this is a you know, a a human rights advocacy effort to to a certain level, you know. low cost means of intercepting incoming drones that are being used as weapons. and so yeah, I'm I'm actually very excited to start production on these these drones we'll be developing
in the US. so they will be NDAA compliant drones. We hope to be able to get them market ready very soon. and so, you know, we'll be you'll be seeing video content of this technology very soon as well.
Mark Masterton (35:41.326)
Awesome. Awesome. you you're a traveling man as well, Phil, as well as a musical man. you're you're traveling around the world with with the company. Where you head to next?
Phil Franklin (35:50.504)
I will be in Brisbane, Australia in another about ten days. I'll be spending some time out there. Have you been to I have not. I've been to Sydney.
Mark Masterton (35:58.814)
Never before?
So this is a whole new scouting mission in terms of finding the best slice.
Phil Franklin (36:06.517)
Yeah, you know what?
Mark Masterton (36:08.182)
Does Australia really rank highly?
Phil Franklin (36:10.56)
I had f I had I had great food in Sydney. I'm I'm at the stage now where I don't even bother trying pizza at other places anymore 'cause it's only gonna lead to disappointment. But I had a wonderful steak out there. I had a wonder wonderful experience in Sydney altogether. it's beautiful country. people are very receptive, responsive and and quite considerate and you know, I I enjoy myself there. I'm looking forward forward to the same in in Brisbane.
Mark Masterton (36:39.666)
Well thank you for taking us on a whistle stop tour of Xenodrone and Drone as a service. And yeah, look forward to what the future holds as for the company and for drone.
Phil Franklin (36:49.139)
As do I. Thank you, Mark. And I'm gonna get you a cowboy hat.
Mark Masterton (36:55.8)
Drone as the Future is made in partnership with Drone as a Service. Make your survey, mapping, or inspections safer, faster, and more efficient with the help of our team. Elevate what's possible with droneasaservice.com.
Mark Masterton (37:22.018)
Hey drone as the future. Honored to be your voicemail this week. I was if drones had the capability to do this and you could have any meal from any restaurant in the world delivered to your doorstep, what would it be?
Phil Franklin (37:34.638)
It's hilarious. they're still on the line. How about that? I'm going to say a large Italian fiesta, pepperoni, pizza, all to myself, from the Italian fiesta on seventy first street, just off Stony Island in Chicago. Have to be specific about location.
Mark Masterton (37:37.964)
They still in the light?
Mark Masterton (38:01.1)
My God, you just blow my mind. Imagine being able to order from anywhere.
Phil Franklin (38:06.39)
Yeah, I don't want anything else.
Mark Masterton (38:08.236)
That's amazing. Wow. Okay.
Phil Franklin (38:11.286)
Is he still in lacking a hang this up now?
Mark Masterton (38:13.366)
Yeah. That's fair. Thank you.
Mark Masterton (38:25.688)
This has been the Drone as the Future podcast. Today's episode has been produced by Ryan Whitten, coordinated by Samantha Holomay, filmed by John Rawlinson, and features original intro music by Josh Santos. Thank you very much for tuning in, and if you'd like to follow along our journey, fly over to that subscribe button wherever you're listening so you can be updated to hear what flies ahead.