At the halfway point of 2026, the energy sector is no longer testing whether drones, robotics and AI belong in daily operations. It is now figuring out how to scale them safely, securely and economically across pipelines, transmission lines, offshore platforms and refineries, as autonomous systems move from innovation projects into operational infrastructure. No one knows this better than Sean Guerre, Executive Director of the Energy Drone & Robotics Coalition (EDRC), For the last decade, he and his team have grown EDRC from a small training-focused gathering into a global community of energy and industrial stakeholders who use drones, robots and data to transform critical infrastructure operations. Here’s his mid‑2026 reality check on where autonomy is truly deployed in the energy sector, where the biggest gaps remain and what the next six to twelve months will decide.
From Early Training Days to a Global Coalition
Guerre came into the energy space with a background that straddles oil and gas, technology and media, a mix that made the EDRC almost inevitable. Ten years ago, he saw asset owner-operators across oil and gas, petrochemical, utilities, mining and other critical infrastructure asking the same questions about drones for survey, mapping and inspection: which OEMs to trust, how to train teams safely and whether to build in-house programs or outsource.
“It was a very simple challenge that existed in the industry, but there were so many pieces to it,” he recalled. “Everybody in our industry was pretty much a pioneer. They were just starting, and that was really the nexus of why the Coalition was started.” He continued, “We wanted to distill the news just for critical infrastructure,” he said of the EDRC newsletter. “Things that may be very prevalent in entertainment or agriculture aren’t necessarily made for industrial drones and robots and data that we’re going to have for our industries.”
What began as a small training session with fewer than a hundred people has evolved into a full-stack ecosystem of education and peer exchange, all delivered in what Guerre calls a “slightly irreverent, witty tone” that keeps a serious subject approachable. It includes weekly newsletters, live and virtual training, regional “Bots and Brews” meetups, member roundtables under the EDR Connect banner, and the flagship annual Energy Drone & Robotics Summit in Houston.
A Decade of Adoption: From Hesitancy to Large Fleets
When EDRC launched in 2016, the timing aligned almost exactly with the introduction of Part 107 in the United States. Energy and critical infrastructure operators were initially hesitant, given stringent compliance requirements and the stakes involved at many facilities.
After a decade of watching the space, Guerre refers to adoption as “tremendous,” with energy and utilities leading the market globally. He points to Drone Industry Insights (DII) data that has consistently ranked energy and utilities as both the number-one adopter and one of the fastest-growing segments for commercial drones. “There are very few companies that are not utilizing drones or robots in any case,” he said. “It’s just a question of scaling.”
Scaling is where the real work now lies. “Most people were in the early days trying to figure it out or launching proof of concept,” he said. “Now we see absolutely large fleets scaling, a tremendous amount of use cases throughout their assets that they’re utilizing drones and robots. And now, especially, they’re all focusing on the data.”
Operators have moved from one-off proofs of concept into large fleets and a wide variety of use cases across their assets, from inspection and survey to confined-space operations and beyond. As Guerre noted, the focus has shifted from the platforms themselves to the data they produce and how to turn that data into actionable insight.
Training, Bots and Brews, and EDR Connect
Over the past decade, EDRC has steadily built out an education and networking portfolio designed to keep the ecosystem aligned on fast-moving topics. Recent examples include a one-day physical AI forum focused on how AI is deployed in analysis and on the OEM side, and the dedicated Energy Security and Counter-UAS Forum launching this year. EDR Connect, the coalition’s membership community, convenes several times a year for in-depth roundtables that surface operational challenges and emerging use cases, such as drone cargo from the Gulf Coast to offshore platforms.
Bots and Brews, a popular networking series, blends informal happy hours with live robotics demos and training. Guerre revealed these are slated to “go on the road” beyond Houston, due to strong interest from communities in Oklahoma, Colorado and Calgary.
On the content side, EDRC records and republishes much of its conference programming, offering on-demand access through articles, videos and webinars so that education is not limited to those who can attend live. LinkedIn remains the coalition’s biggest channel outside of news and events, with Sylvia Ibarra curating daily updates and Megan Horn shaping the weekly newsletter’s voice. “We try to stop the scroll and get people to comment or give their thoughts and share insights,” Guerre said.
AI’s Two Fronts: Data Tsunami and Smarter Machines
Guerre believes AI is making the biggest impact in energy operation across two main fronts: analytics and autonomy.
On the analytics side, he described AI as the only realistic way to turn what he called a “tsunami of data” from sensors, drones and robots into meaningful action. Utilities, for example, need to find faults that could trigger wildfires or identify components that will fail before the next turnaround cycle.
“They have to be able to look at these things consistently,” he said. “AI is able to do that because it’s able to then consistently look at it and start to look at other anomalies in the models. It can basically tell you, it’s time to fix it now, it’s time to fix it later.”
In the background, AI agents increasingly connect inspection data to legacy enterprise systems. Guerre described chains in which AI not only flags anomalies but also initiates work orders in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, schedules crews for wells, offshore platforms, transmission lines or substations, and then ingests feedback from digital twins or field tablets once the work is complete. That amounts to a real-world version of predictive maintenance at scale.
On the autonomy side, AI is becoming the “brain” inside OEM platforms. Detect-and-avoid capabilities, Part 108 readiness, BVLOS expansion, drone docks, swarms and complex deployments across air, ground and sea all depend on smarter onboard systems. “Those have to be smarter machines, and they have to be able to be taught in a very rapid way,” Guerre explained.
Counter-UAS and Energy Security Go “From Low Boil to Boiling”
If AI is one pillar of mid‑2026 energy autonomy, counter-UAS is the other. The tenor of the conversation over the past year has changed dramatically in the energy sector. A year ago, Guerre said, counter-UAS in the energy context was still at a “low boiling point.” There were questions and a handful of sessions at the summit, along with a few stories in the weekly newsletter about surveillance incidents at substations and other critical sites. Since then, the landscape has shifted sharply. “Now it’s boiling. It’s hot,” he said.
Several drivers have pushed that change. The conflict in Europe exposed the vulnerability of energy assets to drone-enabled attacks. More recently, events in the Middle East have brought direct strikes on pipelines, petrochemical facilities, loading and unloading infrastructure and data centers into the spotlight. Many of those assets involve joint ventures between national oil companies and supermajors, which puts EDRC advisory board members and community members assets directly in the line of fire.
At the same time, the United States has seen what he characterized as “testing” behaviors, including drone surveillance around transmission substations, petrochemical plants, Air Force facilities and other critical infrastructure. The regulatory environment is also shifting, with warnings from federal agencies and NPRMs exploring movement beyond detection into mitigation, as well as new thinking about what critical infrastructure owners may be allowed to do to monitor and protect airspace.
All of that has combined into a surge of interest. Guerre estimates that in just the first half of 2026, EDRC has already run 10 to 15 stories on counter-UAS and energy security, and he does not expect that pace to slow. EDRC also added a new Energy Security and Counter UAS Forum, a co-located full-day focus area, to the Summit. Guerre said he had to move it to the largest available room to handle expected demand.
Humanoids on the Show Floor and Offshore Platforms
Besides AI and counter-UAS, the buzz around using humanoids in energy has also increased. Humanoids can provide potential solutions for repetitive, high-risk jobs in hazardous environments, with human technicians supervising and validating their work.
Guerre sees humanoids as one of the “best ways of deploying AI as the brain of a robot,” alongside quadrupeds like Spot and other legged platforms. In his view, humanoids can operate in energy environments designed for humans, using existing stairs, ladders, valves and tools without requiring a full redesign of the physical plant.
EDRC’s summit has featured humanoid robots for the last several years, well ahead of many other sector events. Looking ahead to this year’s 10th-anniversary summit, he predicted that humanoids will be out in even greater force than in prior years. “I think you’re going to see quite a few humanoids this year,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of good use cases that are coming about on offshore platforms, such as welding with humanoids. So I think that’s going to be an exciting aspect as well.”
Supply Chain, FCC Lists and the Robotics Gap
Moving away from software and hardware, Guerre highlighted supply chain and regulatory pressure, particularly around foreign-made platforms and components, as another major theme for the energy crowd.
“Supply chain has become a big, I would say, gap,” Guerre said. He noted that concerns started bubbling up at last year’s Summit and have only intensified. In the U.S., the FCC’s covered list has already affected what can be purchased, integrated and maintained. EDRC members continue to work through complex questions, such as which platforms remain viable, how long they will be supported, and what it will cost to transition large fleets to new vendors if required.
Guerre said energy companies are asking two main questions. First, how to adapt long-term fleet procurement and maintenance strategies to mitigate supply chain disruptions in drones and robots. Second, what credible alternatives exist in terms of cost and performance. Those questions are driving a noticeable increase in the number and diversity of platforms exhibiting at EDRC events, including at the upcoming summit.
The 10th Anniversary Summit as 2026’s Midyear Checkpoint
All of these hot topics will converge at this year’s 10th anniversary Energy Drone & Robotics Summit in Houston. Last year’s event brought nearly 1,400 attendees and around 90 exhibiting companies. This year, Guerre expects close to 2,000 people and about 130 exhibitors, with the floor virtually sold out. (See prior AG coverage of the 2026 EDRC Summit).
The summit now sits at the center of a broader Innovate Energy Week that also includes an industrial AI group and an industrial digital reality track covering digital twins, spatial intelligence, geospatial and geo-AI. “All that data talk now has its own track that runs just as much as the energy drone and robotics does,” he said.
For Guerre, the timing is ideal. “Everybody should look at it as that halfway checkpoint. People can take a look at what they thought was going to be happening the first half of the year, and then take a look at what’s going to happen next.”
It is a particularly consequential midyear reflection. Comment periods for Part 108 have closed. Proposals around foreign-made robotics and supply chains are gaining traction. Counter-UAS policy is evolving. AI is moving from experiment to production. And new hardware, from hydrogen-powered inspection platforms in markets like Japan to humanoids welding on offshore platforms, is forcing energy operators to rethink what is possible and what is practical.
“The energy asset owners are ready to adopt technology at a rapid pace,” Guerre said, noting that many are moving drones and robotics out of R&D and into OpEx and CapEx budgets as part of their core maintenance plans.
For OEMs and startups, Guerre’s closing advice is to understand the business problems, embrace the crawl-walk-run progression from pilots to production, and be prepared to compete for budget by solving real challenges like fabric maintenance, energy security and data-driven decision support.
As 2026 moves into its second half, it appears the era of isolated pilots is over. Energy autonomy now lives in large fleets, integrated data pipelines, AI-augmented maintenance, serious counter-UAS strategies and a new generation of robots, including humanoids, that are stepping into some of the hardest jobs in the world’s most critical infrastructure environments.
Learn more about the EDRC Summit at http://www.edrcoalition.com/2026-energy-drone-robotics-summit