Powered by our proprietary geomagnetic engine and our hardware suite, ION combines high-precision positioning with accurate tracking of assets and people. That's what allows people, assets, and autonomous systems to interact with space reliably.
Spatial Intelligence for Next-Generation Indoor Navigation
Q&A with Achille de Pasquale, Founder and CEO | Hidonix
Tell us about yourself and what led you to found Hidonix? How did your background shape the company’s focus on spatial intelligence and real-world environments?
I’ve spent most of my career building technology that sits at the intersection of software and physical experience – from virtual reality and gaming to deep tech systems that must operate reliably outside of controlled lab conditions. The most consistent problem statement I encountered was how disconnected many digital systems were from the real world.
Hidonix Industries was formed from that gap. I wanted to build technology that understands the space it operates in. I wanted businesses to understand how a space behaves, how people move through it, and how machines can operate within it. My background pushed me toward first principles thinking: start with physics, constraints, and reality, and design upward from there. That philosophy became the foundation of Hidonix and our initial focus on spatial intelligence.
What problem is Hidonix trying to solve?
At its core, Hidonix is solving the problem of reliable deep tech in places where traditional systems fail. Our primary focus now is defense technology and dual-use platforms like ION that work on the commercial side. Let’s look at ION specifically. GPS can break down indoors, mapping infrastructure is expensive and fragile, and many “indoor positioning” solutions only work under narrow conditions.
We’re addressing the fragmentation between mapping, positioning, intelligence, tracking, safety, and action. Most systems treat these as separate layers. We believe they need to be designed together as a unified understanding of a space that supports operations for any stakeholder. In the current market, you would need at least four different platforms to build an intelligent spatial system. Even then, interconnectivity would be a gamble. These silos cease to exist with ION.
What limitations do you see in existing indoor and outdoor navigation approaches?
Many existing approaches rely heavily on signal assumptions, static calibration, or external infrastructure such as beacons. That makes them costly to deploy, difficult to maintain, and unreliable as environments change.
Another limitation is the tradeoff between precision and context. You might get a location estimate, but without understanding the structure of the space itself – its geometry, constraints, and dynamics – the location isn’t very actionable. Navigation is more than “where I am”. Today, navigation serves a larger purpose with analytics for operators and safety features for security teams.
How would you describe ION, and what role does it play in enabling spatial intelligence?
ION is our spatial intelligence platform. It’s the system that connects mapping, positioning, tracking, and interpretation of a space into a single architecture. Rather than layering intelligence on top of location data, ION is designed to analyze and track movement through space in the context of its surroundings.
Literally, ION means Indoor-Outdoor Navigation. Powered by our proprietary geomagnetic engine and our hardware suite, ION combines high-precision positioning with accurate tracking of assets and people. That’s what allows people, assets, and autonomous systems to interact with space reliably, without heavy reliance on traditional infrastructure.
From a design perspective, how did you approach combining positioning, mapping, and intelligence within ION?
The approach to designing ION was from the ground up. We knew ION was going to be more than blue-dot navigation. We treated tracking as the connective tissue between mapping and positioning. Mapping provides structure, positioning provides coordinates, and tracking gives continuity insights over time.
By intentionally designing ION this way, intelligence becomes accessible beyond a single use case. It supports operational teams, application developers (with our SDKs), autonomous systems, and everyday users from the same spatial foundation.
Where are you seeing the strongest real-world use cases for ION today, and what types of benefits does it enable in those environments?
ION has multitudes of applications, but we’re seeing the strongest use cases in spaces where public safety is crucial. Large venues, school and university campuses, industrial sites – in these settings, ION provides continuous, reliable tracking that allows safety teams to detect anomalies and respond faster during emergencies.
This is important for two big reasons. One: Accurate spatial awareness enables safer crowd flow and reduced operational blind spots. Two: High-value assets can be tracked in situations of theft or daily movement for better coordination between human teams and autonomous systems.
We’re making safety proactive rather than reactive. Parents feel safer sending their children to schools. Security teams of large spaces can keep a meticulous track of everyone and everything from one control room. At the end of the day, mental peace is far more valuable than anything.
Why did Hidonix decide to design its own robotic platform, and how does the Hido II rover support your broader spatial intelligence strategy?
Robotics became essential once we realized that mapping for larger spaces can be faster, more accurate, and less labor-intensive with our rover, Hido II. We had tested various other autonomous robot dogs on the market but found them to be inefficient. Some couldn’t navigate rugged surfaces, while others would get confused with obstacles on the ground.
Hence, we built our own rover that can climb stairs and rough surfaces without issues. The rover maps spaces autonomously and sends data over to the CMS platform. It’s built to reduce human workload while increasing efficiency.
Looking ahead, how do you see spatial intelligence influencing the future of robotics and smart infrastructure, and what role do you want Hidonix to play in that evolution?
Spatial intelligence will become a foundational layer for robotics and smart infrastructure, much like connectivity and compute are today. There’s growing industry recognition that spatial intelligence has benefits to make environments measurable, trackable, and actionable. The next wave of robotics and smart infrastructure won’t be defined by “smarter machines” but by modular tools that are better at what they do.
That’s the role we want Hidonix Industries to play. We’re taking complex deep tech – like our geomagnetic engine, tracking devices, and robotic mapping tools – and turning it into a platform partners can use with clarity and confidence. Whether someone is building a navigation product, expanding a hardware ecosystem, or improving operational and safety visibility, ION strives to give them practical tech that supports their workflows.
The content & opinions in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily represent the views of RoboticsTomorrow
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