POST-QUANTUM SECURITY SUITE · ROBOTS · DRONES · AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS
THE PROBLEM
SHOR'S ALGORITHM · RSA / ECC
Nearly all robots and drones secure their communications, software updates and identity using RSA and elliptic-curve cryptography (ECC). A sufficiently powerful quantum computer running Shor's algorithm breaks both. Quantinuum, IBM and Google all publish roadmaps targeting fault-tolerant quantum machines around 2030.
RECORDED TODAY · UNLOCKED LATER
Adversaries do not need a quantum computer today. They can record encrypted robot telemetry, video feeds, maps of secure facilities and command traffic now, and decrypt everything once quantum hardware matures. For defense drones, warehouse robots inside critical infrastructure and medical robots handling patient data, this is a present-day breach in slow motion.
SOLD 2026 · IN SERVICE 2040
A drone or industrial robot sold in 2026 typically operates 10–20 years. Unlike a website, its cryptography is baked into constrained embedded hardware. Retrofitting security after deployment is expensive or impossible. OEMs must ship quantum-safe machines now.
A machine sold in 2026 will still be in service in 2040.
FIPS 203 / 204 / 205 · CNSA 2.0 · EO 2026
The compliance clock is running. NIST published FIPS 203 (ML-KEM), FIPS 204 (ML-DSA) and FIPS 205 (SLH-DSA) in August 2024. A June 2026 US Executive Order sets federal deadlines. NSA CNSA 2.0 requires PQC in new national-security acquisitions from 2027. Federal contractors — including robotics suppliers — will be required to comply.
THE COMPLIANCE CLOCK
Aug 2024
NIST FIPS 203 / 204 / 205 published
June 2026
US Executive Order sets federal deadlines
2027
CNSA 2.0 requires PQC in new national-security acquisitions
2030
Federal PQC key establishment deadline; RSA/ECC deprecated
2031
Federal PQC digital signatures deadline
2035
RSA/ECC disallowed for US federal use
THE GAP
No incumbent PQC vendor is robotics-native. Nothing plugs into ROS 2, MAVLink or DDS out of the box; nothing manages keys across a 500-robot fleet; nothing signs robot firmware with quantum-safe signatures from one dashboard.
THE SUITE
Qubotix is a three-layer product. Each layer can be sold separately, but together they cover a robot fleet end to end.
Embedded quantum-safe engine
A lightweight, memory-efficient cryptographic library built on the NIST-standardized algorithms ML-KEM / Kyber, ML-DSA / Dilithium and SLH-DSA / SPHINCS+. Runs on robot compute boards — from powerful NVIDIA Jetson modules down to constrained ARM Cortex-M microcontrollers used in drones.
Ships as a drop-in module for ROS 2 (DDS security plugin), MAVLink and plain C/Rust APIs — so OEM engineers integrate quantum-safe crypto in days, not months, without needing cryptographers.
NINE COORDINATED PROCESSES
Nine coordinated processes run across the robot (edge) and the cloud dashboard.
Process 01 · Robot (edge)
At manufacture, each robot receives a unique quantum-safe identity certificate (ML-DSA keypair), anchored in the device's secure element / TPM where available.
HYBRID HANDSHAKE
Classical and post-quantum together during the migration era — an attacker must break both simultaneously.
QUBOTIX COMMAND
Which algorithms each robot runs, key ages, firmware signature status and compliance posture against NIST / CNSA 2.0 deadlines — with one-click fleet-wide key rotation and a hash-chained audit trail.
Qubotix Command · Fleet overview
| Device | Class | KEM | Signature | Key age | Firmware sig | Compliance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UAV-0142 | Cortex-M | ML-KEM-768 | ML-DSA-65 | 6h | SLH-DSA ✓ | Compliant |
| UAV-0143 | Cortex-M | ML-KEM-768 | ML-DSA-65 | 6h | SLH-DSA ✓ | Compliant |
| AMR-0201 | Jetson | ML-KEM-1024 | ML-DSA-87 | 19h | SLH-DSA ✓ | Compliant |
| AMR-0202 | Jetson | ML-KEM-1024 | ML-DSA-87 | 22h | SLH-DSA ✓ | Attention |
| AMR-0207 | Jetson | ML-KEM-1024 | ML-DSA-87 | 3h | SLH-DSA ✓ | Compliant |
| INSP-0031 | Jetson | ML-KEM-768 | ML-DSA-65 | 11h | SLH-DSA ✓ | Compliant |
| UAV-0150 | Cortex-M | ML-KEM-512 | ML-DSA-44 | 31h | PENDING | Attention |
| SRG-0008 | Jetson | ML-KEM-1024 | ML-DSA-87 | 2h | SLH-DSA ✓ | Compliant |
| AV-0410 | Jetson | ML-KEM-1024 | ML-DSA-87 | 8h | SLH-DSA ✓ | Compliant |
| UAV-0161 | Cortex-M | ECDH only | ECDSA | 94h | UNSIGNED | Non-compliant |
Compliance posture
NIST key establishment 2030
NIST signatures 2031
CNSA 2.0 2027
Handshakes / min
1 284
Key rotation · fleet-a
9 / 10
Audit log · hash-chained
BUILT FOR MACHINES THAT MOVE
Qubotix is a B2B and B2G product. End consumers never buy it directly; it ships inside machines or protects fleets.
Commercial & defense UAV makers
Why they payDefense contracts require CNSA 2.0 PQC from 2027; export credibility.
Primes and tier-1 suppliers of unmanned systems
Why they payHard regulatory mandate; large compliance budgets.
Makers of autonomous mobile robots & forklifts
Why they payEnterprise customers demand supply-chain security; fleets of 100s of units.
Energy, ports, pipelines using inspection robots / drones
Why they payHarvest-now-decrypt-later risk on sensitive site data.
Surgical and hospital robot manufacturers
Why they payPatient data protection; decades-long device lifetimes.
AV fleet operators
Why they payVehicle command links are high-value attack targets.
Buyer personas — the sales motion targets all three
HOW WE KEEP IT SECURE
An honest note first: no serious security company claims to be literally “hack-proof,” and buyers distrust vendors who do. Qubotix's promise is defense-in-depth engineered to the highest current standards, so that compromising a fleet requires defeating many independent layers.
ML-KEM (FIPS 203), ML-DSA (FIPS 204), SLH-DSA (FIPS 205). No homemade cryptography, ever.
Classical + post-quantum together during the migration era; an attacker must break both simultaneously.
Keys stored in secure elements / TPMs where the platform provides them; private keys never leave the device.
Every robot authenticates on every connection; no implicit trust inside the network; least-privilege command authorization.
Constant-time code paths building on audited open-source implementations (liboqs / PQClean lineage) to resist timing and power-analysis attacks.
Firmware, configuration and policy updates are all quantum-safe signed; robots reject unsigned or tampered payloads (secure boot chain).
Short-lived session keys, scheduled identity rotation, and instant fleet-wide revocation of compromised devices.
Third-party penetration testing before GA, published SBOM (software bill of materials), a coordinated vulnerability-disclosure program, and a FIPS 140-3 validation path for the crypto module.
Signed reproducible builds, hardened CI/CD, and SOC 2 for the SaaS dashboard, so Qubotix itself is not the weak link in the supply chain.
TECHNOLOGY STACK
| Layer | Technology |
|---|---|
| 01Embedded core | Rust (memory-safe) with C bindings; algorithms from liboqs / PQClean, hardened & optimized for ARM Cortex-M/A and NVIDIA Jetson |
| 02Robot integrations | ROS 2 SROS2 / DDS security plugin; MAVLink 2 signing extension; generic C / Rust / Python SDKs |
| 03Transport security | TLS 1.3 & DTLS 1.3 with hybrid ML-KEM groups; MQTT over quantum-safe TLS for telemetry |
| 04Fleet dashboard | TypeScript / React frontend; Rust / Go backend; PostgreSQL; cloud KMS / HSM integration for root keys |
| 05OTA update system | SLH-DSA-signed firmware packages; The Update Framework (TUF)-style metadata against rollback attacks |
| 06DevOps & assurance | Reproducible builds, fuzzing (cargo-fuzz), static analysis, hardware-in-the-loop test rigs with real Jetson / Pixhawk boards |
MARKET OPPORTUNITY
USD 20B+
Post-quantum cryptography market by 2033 (~38% CAGR)
Grand View Research; MarketsandMarkets projects USD 2.84B by 2030
30–40B
Connected IoT / embedded devices by 2030, all requiring PQC migration
Robots are the highest-value, longest-lived subset
2027–2035
The regulatory window: CNSA 2.0 from 2027, federal deadlines 2030/2031, RSA/ECC disallowed after 2035
NIST · NSA CNSA 2.0 · June 2026 Executive Order
Post-quantum cryptography market: ~USD 1.1–1.6B (2025/26) growing to USD 20B+ by 2033 at ~38% CAGR.
Industrial robotics market on track for ~USD 80B by 2029; service robots toward ~USD 85B by 2028 — every unit is a future Qubotix endpoint.
COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE
| Player | What they do | Qubotix advantage |
|---|---|---|
| PQShield | PQC chips & general libraries | Not robotics-native; no fleet management |
| SandboxAQ | Enterprise crypto-agility platforms | Focused on IT networks, not embedded robots |
| ISARA | PQC toolkits & PKI migration | No ROS 2 / MAVLink integration or OTA signing |
| QNu Labs | QKD & quantum-secure comms | QKD needs special hardware; Qubotix is software-only |
| In-house OEM teams | Build-it-yourself migration | Rare crypto expertise; Qubotix is faster & audited |
| Qubotix |
| |
Qubotix's defensible wedge: robotics-native integrations (ROS 2, MAVLink, DDS), fleet-scale key management, and compliance reporting in one product.
The window to own this niche is roughly 2026–2028, before generalist PQC vendors move down-market into robotics.
DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Phase 0 — Validate
Months 0–2
CurrentPhase 1 — MVP
Months 3–6
Phase 2 — Pilot
Months 7–12
Phase 3 — Harden & launch
Months 13–18
Phase 4 — Scale
Months 19–24
Team required at start
External: cryptography audit firm (contracted).
Estimated 24-month budget: USD 1.5–2.5M (or leaner with grant funding).
BUSINESS MODEL
The model combines recurring SaaS revenue (dashboard) with royalty revenue that scales automatically as customers ship more robots.
Per-device royalty license to OEMs
$3–15
per device
Depending on volume
Annual SaaS subscription per fleet
$20K–150K
per year
By fleet size & tier
Fixed-scope engineering engagements
$25K–100K
per integration
Fixed scope
Audit reports, FIPS documentation add-on
$10K–40K
per year
Add-on
DESIGN-PARTNER PROGRAM
Discounted pricing in exchange for case studies and product feedback.
RISKS & MITIGATION
Mitigation
Sell to regulation (deadlines are fixed regardless of hardware progress); hybrid crypto has value today.
Answer with one line: We run Qubotix.
