AEROVEL PEOPLE
Tad McGeer is Aerovel's founder and president. He trained as an aeronautical engineer at
Princeton and Stanford, and then joined the new Engineering Science faculty at Simon Fraser
University in his native British Columbia. There he developed the concept of passive dynamic
walking, which went on to be adopted as a paradigm for study of human locomotion and
design of legged robots. In 1990 he returned to aeronautics, joining a Virginia start-up,
Aurora Flight Sciences, as Chief Scientist. He headed early design studies on the Perseus and
Theseus unmanned research aircraft, and then proposed the Aerosonde miniature aircraft
concept for long-range weather reconnaissance. This led to founding of the The Insitu
Group, beginning in a Silicon Valley garage in 1992, and moving to the Columbia River Gorge
in 1994. Insitu pioneered development of miniature robotic aircraft in worldwide trials,
under conditions ranging from arctic winter to severe tropical thunderstorms. Aerosondes
made the first unmanned Atlantic crossing (1998), first unmanned typhoon reconnaissance
(2001), and first eye penetrations into tropical cyclones (2005). In 2000, Dr McGeer began
design of the Seascan miniature aircraft for long-endurance imaging reconnaissance. Seascan
made the longest-ever flight for a ship-based aircraft in 2004, while the GeoRanger variant
made the first unmanned geomagnetic surveys, and the Scaneagle military variant was
adopted by the US Marines and Navy. Dr McGeer directed Insitu’s engineering program for
more than 10 years, with particular responsibility for conceptual and configuration design,
performance, dynamics and control, avionics, algorithms, simulation, and onboard and
ground software. During his tenure the company grew to more than 100 employees and more
than $20M/year in revenue, with recognition as one of the fastest-growing technology firms
in North America. Two further companies, Aerosonde Pty Ltd and Cloud Cap Technologies,
were meanwhile started by Insitu technology and alumni. In 2006 Dr McGeer himself started a
new company with Aerovel. He continues to serve as an affiliate faculty member in
Aeronautics & Astronautics at the University of Washington, and as founder and committee
chair for the W Prize.
Princeton and Stanford, and then joined the new Engineering Science faculty at Simon Fraser
University in his native British Columbia. There he developed the concept of passive dynamic
walking, which went on to be adopted as a paradigm for study of human locomotion and
design of legged robots. In 1990 he returned to aeronautics, joining a Virginia start-up,
Aurora Flight Sciences, as Chief Scientist. He headed early design studies on the Perseus and
Theseus unmanned research aircraft, and then proposed the Aerosonde miniature aircraft
concept for long-range weather reconnaissance. This led to founding of the The Insitu
Group, beginning in a Silicon Valley garage in 1992, and moving to the Columbia River Gorge
in 1994. Insitu pioneered development of miniature robotic aircraft in worldwide trials,
under conditions ranging from arctic winter to severe tropical thunderstorms. Aerosondes
made the first unmanned Atlantic crossing (1998), first unmanned typhoon reconnaissance
(2001), and first eye penetrations into tropical cyclones (2005). In 2000, Dr McGeer began
design of the Seascan miniature aircraft for long-endurance imaging reconnaissance. Seascan
made the longest-ever flight for a ship-based aircraft in 2004, while the GeoRanger variant
made the first unmanned geomagnetic surveys, and the Scaneagle military variant was
adopted by the US Marines and Navy. Dr McGeer directed Insitu’s engineering program for
more than 10 years, with particular responsibility for conceptual and configuration design,
performance, dynamics and control, avionics, algorithms, simulation, and onboard and
ground software. During his tenure the company grew to more than 100 employees and more
than $20M/year in revenue, with recognition as one of the fastest-growing technology firms
in North America. Two further companies, Aerosonde Pty Ltd and Cloud Cap Technologies,
were meanwhile started by Insitu technology and alumni. In 2006 Dr McGeer himself started a
new company with Aerovel. He continues to serve as an affiliate faculty member in
Aeronautics & Astronautics at the University of Washington, and as founder and committee
chair for the W Prize.
Kris Gauksheim earned a BS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science as a member
of the Harvard band, and then returned home to study robotics and embedded systems at the
University of Washington. He joined Insitu in the midst of the Seascan program, where he
worked closely with Dr McGeer as a software developer, aircraft operator, and flight
instructor on land and at sea. He was instrumental in developing Seascan's differential-GPS
technique for autonomous Skyhook retrieval. Kris joined Aerovel on Day 1, and works on
next-generation ground and onboard software for robotic vehicles.
of the Harvard band, and then returned home to study robotics and embedded systems at the
University of Washington. He joined Insitu in the midst of the Seascan program, where he
worked closely with Dr McGeer as a software developer, aircraft operator, and flight
instructor on land and at sea. He was instrumental in developing Seascan's differential-GPS
technique for autonomous Skyhook retrieval. Kris joined Aerovel on Day 1, and works on
next-generation ground and onboard software for robotic vehicles.
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