Company
Exyn Technologies is a spin-off of the GRASP Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania and is commercializing cutting edge research and development in the area of autonomous flight and aerial robotics.
Our team is comprised of some of the best people in the world in the core areas of autonomy which includes optimal control, perception, motion planning, state estimation, multi-sensor data fusion, and simultaneous localization and mapping. More than half of the team have earned doctoral degrees and/or completed post-doctoral research in some subset of these areas at some of the leading institutions which include UPenn, Georgia Tech and Johns Hopkins.
The team also has a strong breadth of industrial engineering and research experience with team members joining from Boeing, SRI, Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation and United Technologies Research Center.
Altogether our technical team boasts an aggregate of 76 years of post undergraduate experience, and includes multiple DARPA Urban Challenge veterans.

Our Team
Nader has spent his professional career in fast-growth technology domains, progressively moving from engineering roles to leadership of startups and strategic growth initiatives in large enterprises. Nader joined as CEO at the company’s formation in 2014.
Dr. Jason Derenick is Exyn’s Chief Technology Officer and the company’s first technical employee. His expertise lies in the areas of multi-agent control, multi-sensor data fusion, real-time perception and topological algorithms for control and estimation.
William Sisson is a skilled software engineer leading the development of key software architectures at Exyn Technologies. His responsibilities cover networking and communications, as well as path planning and mapping.
Pete Furlong leads the development of the hardware platform at Exyn Technologies, where he is responsible for providing a testbed for Exyn’s algorithmic development. His skills lie in rapid prototyping and mechatronic design.
Denise leads the mapping efforts on the Research and Development team at Exyn. She’s excited by how the data collected by Exyn robots is interpreted and used by customers to bring new insights and deliver value.
Justin completed his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and an M.S.E. in Robotics at UPenn’s GRASP Laboratory under Professor Vijay Kumar. His research was focused on grasping, perching, and visual servoing for micro aerial vehicles.
Brandon Duick is a robotics software engineer at Exyn Technologies, supporting the development of the software framework and infrastructure. He is also responsible for integration and robustness testing of the software and core algorithms.
Amilcar is a mechatronics engineer at Exyn. He is part of the team responsible for the consolidation of the Hardware platform. He loves breaking robots and, more importantly, putting them together. He has experience in mechatronic design and design for manufacturing.
Gary is VP of Products at Exyn, responsible for Product Management including product definition, testing and certification, and manufacturing. His experience includes Consumer Electronics, Biometrics, and Vision-based automotive systems.
Alex earned his Ph.D. at UPenn’s GRASP Lab, working with Katherine J. Kuchenbecker on hardware and software for haptic perception. At Exyn he develops embedded systems and software to support robot autonomy.
James is a Product Manager at Exyn. He is part of the team leading the productization effort of Exyn’s integrated hardware and software platform. He has experience in new product development and product testing.
Nick is a senior member of the hardware team with over 10 years experience in the robotics industry and a background in mechanical and electrical engineering.
Monica is the office manager at Exyn. She leads the development and implementation of policies and procedures. She also has experience in accounts receivable, logistics, and HR.
Jack has a background in both electrical and mechanical engineering as a graduate of Temple University’s general engineering program. As a field engineer, he works at customer sites leading initial robot calibration procedures and works to train end users of the system.
Ben is an award-winning entrepreneur and technologist, leading the commercialization of Exyn’s core technologies. He also holds degrees from Penn, Wharton, and Navy Nuclear Power school, and is an active mentor for startups and entrepreneurs. Selected for Wharton Magazine’s 40 Under 40 (2017)
Rafa is a robotics software engineer. At Exyn, Rafa loves the intersection of programming on C++ and working with dynamic systems. His main responsibility is supporting the development of the flight control architecture.
Jonah is a Field Engineer at Exyn. He studied aerospace engineering and has a passion for all things that fly. He works closely with the hardware and product teams to facilitate testing and development of future technology.
Nour is a robotics software engineer at Exyn. She earned her M.S.E. in Robotics at UPenn’s GRASP Laboratory. Her studies focused on networking, data structures and algorithms, and computer vision.
Molly has spent her professional career managing both software development and customer success teams in the tech space. She specializes in support, business analysis, project management, and client engagement.
Sean brings over a decade of mobile autonomous robotics experience to the R&D team at Exyn. Driven by a profound curiosity of the universe, he seeks the betterment of intelligent machines within it.
Ben has a background in testing and developing new technologies in aerospace and robotics. At Exyn he is a field engineer, deploying Exyn systems.
As a field engineer, Joe works to train and educate the end-user on our technology. He also tests and evaluates new robots for the field. He is a Navy veteran and a graduate of the University of Delaware.
Vidisha is a Field Engineer, often on the road showing off Exyn tech. When in the office, she focuses on product testing and productization efforts. She studied Bioengineering at Penn but has discovered a passion for robotics and travel at Exyn.
As a member of the R&D team, he explores and implements new algorithms to make Exyn robots more agile. He earned is M.S.E in Robotics from UPenn.
Tiffany designs, implements, and manages people and culture initiatives that attract, develop, engage, support, and retain a satisfied, high-performing team.
As a Business Development Technical Analyst, Lynn finds new business opportunities for Exyn to explore. She assists in drafting proposals and works closely with our Chief Operating Officer
Evan earned his M.S.E. in Robotics from Upenn. As a Mechatronics Engineer at Exyn, he focuses on integrating electromechanical components and sensors into the hardware.
Deliang is a principal engineer on SLAM, mainly focused on 3D lidar odometry and mapping, visual-inertial odometry, and point cloud post-processing. He is passionate about research and development of robotics.
Code Whisperer. Software Fabricator. Sometimes I write my own languages.
Other times I use these: C, C++, Erlang, Java
A nerd to his core, Justin brings nearly a decade of agency marketing experience to the team. His never-ending fascination with technology and the internet — plus a love of a good story — drives his work to produce thought-provoking, engaging content.
Seasoned software engineer, coach, and technology leader who is passionate about building high-performing teams, quality products, and healthy culture.
As a Robotics Engineering Intern, Sarah is developing new automated tools to analyze sensor data during robot acceptance testing. She obtained her M.Eng in Mechanical Engineering at Cornell University.
Brian is a hardware engineer chasing a new found love for robotics and mechatronics with a background in electrical and computer engineering and cybersecurity.
Ikenna Achilihu is a second-year Master's student in Mechanical Engineering/Robotics at Upenn. He is an intern at Exyn working on various aspects of robot hardware and embedded systems design.
Ryan is the Senior Talent Acquisition Partner at Exyn, he is passionate about technology & how it makes the world a better place. He is committed to delivering the best candidate experience and integrating top talent into the Exyn team.
Kody joined Exyn with his human, Joe Snodgrass, and instantly became a key member of the team. Aside from ensuring all our robots are industrial grade, Kody likes treats and stealing the comfy spot on the couch.
As an Electrical Engineer, Ryan works in the Hardware team with a focus on designs that connect its various systems. He earned his B.S. in Electrical Engineering at Penn State, and has experience in consumer and industrial product design
As a Senior Robotics Engineer at Exyn, Zheng is mainly responsible for research and development of Lidar-inertial SLAM, state estimation and point cloud processing algorithms. He got his PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Florida
Joel is a graduate of Laurentian University, with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and specialization in mechatronics. He is a Field EIT and works on site with end-users in order to help them utilize the Exyn drones.
Board of Directors
Vijay Kumar is the Nemirovsky Family Dean of Penn Engineering with appointments in the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, Computer and Information Science, and Electrical and Systems Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania.
Nader has spent his professional career in fast-growth technology domains, progressively moving from engineering roles to leadership of startups and strategic growth initiatives in large enterprises. Nader joined as CEO at the company’s formation in 2014.
Investors





