Robert Schmidt founded Orbital Research Inc. (ORI) in 1990 and is currently the chairman of ORI. He holds a BS in mechanical engineering, and MS, MBA, JD degrees. He is an attorney, patent attorney, and professional engineer.  Prior to starting this company, Mr. Schmidt worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Davy McKee Corporation, Life Systems Inc., and the Center for Materials for Space Structures, a NASA Center at Case Western Reserve University.  He holds 30 United States patents in sleep diagnosis, physiological recording devices, electrodes, flight control, radio design, electrophysiology, pressure sore prevention, chemical defense, and Braille displays.  Mr. Schmidt has been repeatedly honored for his innovations through awards in biotechnology and entrepreneurial endeavors.  He has been a driving force in revolutionizing the wireless technologies that have inspired medical device growth in our industry, and led the team that developed the world’s first digital wireless EEG machine. For more information, you can find Mr. Schmidt on Linked-In.

Dr. Kolkowski serves as general counsel for Orbital Research Inc.  He brings over 25 years of corporate and law firm experience with a particular emphasis in the areas of intellectual property protection, technology transfer, mergers/acquisitions, and manages ORI's general legal tasks which includes intellectual property work as well as working with ORI's many strategic partners in  government, military and academia.  Previously, Dr. Kolkowski represented a number of Fortune 500 companies as their senior counsel, and as an officer, and has been directly involved in technology startups.  

Dr. Kolkowski holds a PhD in Engineering from Case Western Reserve University and a JD from the University of Toledo-College of Law.  Dr. Kolkowski is a licensed Patent Attorney who practices extensively before the United States Patent and Trademark Office as well as in many state and federal courts.  As an Orbital Research board member and officer, he is routinely called upon to draw from his background expertise in engineering, manufacturing and the law.

Senior Principal Engineer, Alex Erdman, brings over a decade of expertise in product architecture and electro-mechanical systems to Orbital Research Inc.  As the head of Orbital’s Mechanical Engineering Team, Mr. Erdman drives the innovation and development of advanced payload release systems for uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) and leads the design of cutting-edge releasable munitions with interchangeable warheads.   He currently manages all integration efforts for the weaponization of Short Range Reconnaissance (SRR), Mid Range Reconnaissance (MRR) and Long Range Reconnaissance (LRR) autonomous aircraft platforms. His efforts have led to the implementation of live fire proven deployment mechanisms for both fixed wing and multi-rotor systems.  Mr. Erdman's mechanical, thermal/fluidic, and electro-mechanical  expertise has been a vital part in defining system requirements and delivering field-ready hardware to our military and industry partners.   Mr. Erdman holds a Bachelor of  Mechanical Engineering from the University of Dayton.