In the back of a shed in Black Hill Phillip Rowse is busy constructing the prototypes for hardware which will eventually be used by global leaders such as NASA and Boeing.  The hardware which is manufactured in Taiwan has been used on vehicles covering all types of terrain, from the road to the air and sea. 

The autopilot technology has been developed with the organisation Ardupilot Initiative, which is made up of a group of aeronautic and coding experts who share all of their work online for free. 

Mr Rowse joined the organisation in 2009 after starting his career as an aircraft engineer at the Ballarat Airport.  After much experimentation he became employed as an aircraft electronics avionics technician. 

“I moved on to doing electronics in the back shed and really through curiosity I got into the autopilot side of things,” Mr Rowse said.  “I got involved in the Ardupilot project and realised there was some gaps in the hardware they had and what they needed.” 

Most recently Boeing used the autopilot technology on a prototype giant cargo drone which has the capacity to lift more than 220 kilograms. 

Remarkably, Mr Rowse’s technology being used by the likes of Boeing has also been included in toy drones worth less than $200. 

Despite helping to create the state of the art technology which is being used by some of the world’s biggest players, Mr Rowse said the open access philosophy of Ardupilot meant experts such has himself had to find other ways to make a living from their skill set. 

“I don’t tend to make money out of building this stuff, I make money out of consulting with companies on how to use it,” Mr Rowse said.

“It excites me and it scares me (what the technology is capable of). 

“We’ve got some incredible things being done with it, the search and rescue stuff is one of the bigger things that’s impressive.”