autonomish
Chris Lane · Perth, Western Australia

Making autonomy work in the field.

I help startups, operators and investors turn robotics, automation and autonomous systems into safe, scalable, commercially successful capability, across mining, energy, agriculture and infrastructure.

Start a conversation What I do
30 yrsin aerospace & industrial technology
3 mo → 1 daydemo cycle rebuilt at Percepto
125+live & virtual demos a year
Tier 1mining, oil & gas and utilities clients
Services

From promising technology to live operations.

Adoption takes more than good technology. It needs operational readiness, aligned stakeholders, practical risk management and a strong safety culture. That's the gap I work in.

01

Go-to-market strategy

Positioning, sales process and partnerships for robotics and autonomy companies entering Australian heavy industry, including landing your first enterprise customer.

02

Deployment & operational readiness

Getting autonomous systems, drones and remote operations from trial into live, high-consequence sites, with site leadership, operators and regulators on board.

03

Technology assessment

Independent, operator-minded evaluation of vendors and solutions for operators and investors: what works, what's ready and what it will really take.

04

Trials, demos & pilots

Designing demonstrations and pilots that prove value quickly, drawing on years of running field trials at Australia's leading automation test precinct.

Who I work with

Both sides of the adoption gap.

Startups & vendors

Robotics, drone and autonomy companies that need to get from prototype to paying enterprise customer.

Operators

Mining, energy, utilities and agriculture teams bringing new technology safely into complex sites.

Investors

Funds and boards that want a practical view of technical and commercial readiness.

Ecosystems & government

Precincts, programs and agencies building regional capability in automation.

Autonomous vehiclesDrones & BVLOSRemote operationsIndustrial sensingCondition monitoringAI & cloud platformsMiningOil & gasUtilitiesRenewablesAgricultureInfrastructureDefence & aerospace
Experience

Engineering, operations and commercial leadership.

Grounded in military aviation test and evaluation, where I was running UAV trials back in 1999. Then two decades across startups, scale-ups and global industrial technology companies.

  • 2025 – now

    Technology Lead

    Australian Automation and Robotics Precinct (AARP)

    Leading technical delivery for autonomous systems, UAV operations and remote operations across a 51-hectare test and innovation precinct, working with vendors, industry partners and regulators.

  • 2020 – now

    Principal Consultant

    Autonomish

    Independent multi-discipline technology consulting in automation, autonomy and go-to-market strategy.

  • 2024 – 2025

    Technical Specialist

    Autônomo

    Worked on the world's first fully autonomous road trains, for MinRes' Onslow Iron project.

  • 2023

    Business Development Executive

    RocketDNA (ASX:RKT)

    Drone data and analytics across mining, renewables and oil & gas accounts.

  • 2021 – 2023

    Australia Region Manager

    Percepto: Autonomous Drones

    Built the Australian sales and operations team from scratch. Cut the demo cycle from three months to a single day, with demos for major miners and utilities.

  • 2020 – 2021

    Global Mining Solutions Manager, Industry 4.0

    Schaeffler

    Led the global mining go-to-market for Industry 4.0 and contributed to the award-winning OPTIME condition-monitoring platform.

  • 2006 – 2020

    Engineering & commercial leadership

    Aquip Systems · Endress+Hauser · AMS Instrumentation · element14

    Instrumentation, metering and process technology for Tier 1 mining and oil & gas, including Roy Hill, Gruyere, Tropicana and South32 Worsley.

  • 1995 – 2006

    Military aviation test & evaluation engineering

    DRA · DERA · QinetiQ, UK Ministry of Defence (Boscombe Down & Larkhill)

    Eleven years in UK defence aerospace. Avionics, comms and weapons-system installations on experimental fast-jet, transport and rotary-wing aircraft. Whole-aircraft electromagnetic compatibility and electrical power quality trials, including safety-critical systems and platform safety cases. Ran a UAV and aircraft weapons trials range, supporting early UAV flight trials (Observer, Phoenix, Desert Hawk) and weapons development (Typhoon, Brimstone, Storm Shadow).

About

Chris Lane

"The future belongs to organisations that can bridge innovation, operations and safety."

I started out as an avionics engineer in UK military aviation, testing aircraft, weapons and some of the earliest UAVs in environments where safety cases weren't optional. That discipline has shaped how I approach every new technology since.

I've worked alongside founders, operators, executives, engineers, regulators and investors, and my job is usually to line innovation up with operational reality.

Whether it's a startup preparing for its first enterprise customer or an established operator adopting new technology, my focus doesn't change: solutions that work in the field, create measurable value and earn the confidence of the people who use them.

Contact

Got a technology that needs to work in the real world?

I'm always up for a conversation about autonomy, robotics and industrial operations, whether you're a startup, an operator or an investor.

chris@autonomish.tech LinkedIn