News & Updates
Press Releases and updates from the Unleashed Robotics team.
Unleashed Robotics, Inc.
Gig Harbor, WA
August 9, 2026
NASA has selected Unleashed Robotics' proposal, "Iris Core Cutter and Retention Mechanism for Stratigraphy-Preservation," for negotiation for a 2026 NASA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I award. The six-month, $225,000 award is the second space-industry award in as many months, following a Canadian Space Agency subcontract for $155,000 [CAD] under Langley, BC based prime contractor SpaceDIRT.
With several high-profile space drilling failures in recent memory, “why don’t you just call Bruce Willis” is a suggestion that space drilling companies are still forced to endure with every new problem. Indeed, the record for space drilling is held by a human, Gene Cernan, in 1972 at three meters, so human involvement is one potential solution. However, we feel that the robotic-drilling armageddon is simply a case of the industry needing some new “robotic blood.” That’s where we come in, by taking drills off-leash.
Our tetherless drills have no physical connection to the surface, so we needed a different way to cut off rock and ice cores before bringing them to the surface. That is the piece of the puzzle that NASA is funding with this award. Where most coring drills use force from the winch at the surface to fracture the ice or rock, our diamond-tipped spherical iris cutter turns this process into a carefully controlled and energy-efficient “machining” step as the core is incrementally cut and retained for its trip to the surface. This also allows us to sample unconsolidated materials like Lunar or Martian regolith, while preserving the science value of those finely layered substrates.
The Principal Investigator for this effort is CEO & Co-Founder Quinn Morley. The Co-Investigator is Chief Science Officer & Co-Founder Carlos Eytan Gary Bicas, PhD who is an experienced planetary scientist and astrobiologist. The technical team consists of Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder Nikki Froyd, and Systems Engineer Sean Keppler. The Colorado School of Mines' Center for Space Resources, under Dr. Christopher Dreyer, is a subawardee on the project, supplying Mars-analog simulant materials and an independent technical review of the team's results.
“We try to bring a fresh perspective to everything we do, and I think that shows with this device,” said CEO and Principal Investigator Quinn Morley. “We developed something that can not only cut tough rock and ice, but also preserve the science value of difficult materials, all while enabling robotic unloading of the drill at the surface.”