UASDrone / UAS
Fixed-wing and multirotor airframes with flight controllers, GPS, and telemetry. Build your payload, not your aircraft.
Applications Open|Cohort 01 / 2026_
Build hardware.Build for defense.
A new kind of hardware accelerator. Most programs end with a pitch deck. We end with your product deployed with real operators. Six months, ten teams, pilots on our own customer projects.
Applications close July 1, 23:59 ET
Autonomous Systems◆Defense Tech◆Robotics◆Computer Vision◆Perception & LIDAR◆Space & Satellite◆Industrial Automation◆Edge ML◆Energy Systems◆Mesh Networking◆Drones & UAS◆SLAM & Navigation◆Autonomous Systems◆Defense Tech◆Robotics◆Computer Vision◆Perception & LIDAR◆Space & Satellite◆Industrial Automation◆Edge ML◆Energy Systems◆Mesh Networking◆Drones & UAS◆SLAM & Navigation◆
Section 02 / The Difference
What you actually get.
The three things hardware founders can't solve alone.
On your own
With Hardlaunch
01Capital
On your own
Cold pitches to investors who don't fund pre-pilot hardware. Equity given up before you have proof.
With Hardlaunch
Risk capital structured around reaching deployment, not just prototyping. Warm intros to investors when you raise your next round.
02Infrastructure
On your own
Lab time rented hourly. Field tests organized as one-off favors.
With Hardlaunch
A network of hubs, labs, and test sites built for prototyping hardware in the environments it will actually run in.
03Customer Pilots
On your own
A year selling into a single pilot. Bespoke integrations for every customer.
With Hardlaunch
Pilots with industry and government partners. Real deployments that validate your commercial path and de-risk adoption.
Section 03 / Base Platforms
Pilot-ready, day one.
Our drone, robotics, sensor, and compute platforms are already deployed in customer environments. Bring your payload, stack, or integration, and start flying, driving, or sensing in a real mission, not a lab demo.
GNDGround Robotics
Mobile chassis with LIDAR, IMU, and compute modules. Focus on your autonomy stack, not your drivetrain.
SNSSensor Arrays
Modular sensor platforms with edge compute. Acoustic, RF, optical, and environmental, ready for your algorithms.
COMCommunications
Software-defined radios, mesh networking hardware, and antenna systems. Build your protocol, not your radio.
EDGEdge Compute
Ruggedized compute nodes with GPU acceleration. Deploy your models on hardware that survives the field.
PWRPower Systems
Battery management, solar, and energy harvesting platforms. Integrate your product without designing a power stack.
Section 04 / Operations
Path to real-world deployment
Deployment is the goal from step one, not the reward at the end.
PH-01ALIGN
Define your deployment target
Who uses this? Where does it run? What constraints matter? Deployment shapes every decision that follows, so it's the first question, not the last.
PH-02BUILD
Build against real-world requirements
Not just what works in a lab. Hardware, firmware, and software engineered for the environment they'll actually live in.
PH-03TEST
Validate in conditions that reflect actual use
Hardware, environment, and operational constraints. Bench, lab, and real field sites, including flight ranges, so validation isn't an afterthought.
PH-04DEPLOY
First live use
Pilot on a real customer project. Continue through initial delivery, iteration, and expansion. You exit the program in operators' hands.
Section 05 / Exit Manifest
What you leave with.
Specifics, not promises. At the end of six months, not a demo day, not a deck.
01
Deployed System
Running in a real customer environment. Not a lab demo, not a video.
02
Signed Pilot Agreement
With the customer using your product. Terms documented, not a handshake.
03
Validated Unit Economics
Real cost-per-deployment from the field. Not a slide-deck projection.
04
Regulatory Pathway
Started and documented. FAA, FCC, MIL-STD, or whatever your product needs.
05
Investor Pipeline
Warm intros to investors who fund deployed hardware, queued for your next round.
Section 06 / Signal Check
This is for you if:
01
You have a working prototype (or close).
02
You know who should use your product.
03
Your biggest blocker is getting into a real environment.
If two of these don't ring true yet, come back when they do. We'd rather be direct than waste your time.
Section 07 / Application Timeline
Cohort 01: Key dates.
Rolling reviews from June 15. Eight-week application window, long enough to put together a real submission, short enough to be a forcing function.
May 12
Applications open
Form goes live at hardlaunch.io/apply.
Jun 15
Rolling reviews start
Strong applications get a call before the deadline. Apply early if you're ready.
Now openJul 1
Applications close
23:59 ET. No extensions.
Now openJul 8 to 15
Interviews
30-minute conversations with shortlisted teams.
Jul 22
Offers out
Decisions emailed by end of day.
Aug 5
Acceptances confirmed
Offer letters signed; cohort roster locked.
Sep 1
Cohort 01 begins
Six months in, deployments out.
Apply to Cohort 01~ 15 minutes · No fee
Section 01 / Comms
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