Practical autonomous systems for search and rescue.
xSAR is an independent philanthropic engineering project based in Toowoomba. We research drones, sensors, positioning, communications and open-source tools that may help emergency responders work with better information and less avoidable risk. Human oversight remains central.
Current focus · October 2026
A bench demonstration of a small engine-driven generator, not a flight unit: a 3.3 cubic centimetre engine, a flywheel clutch and a gearbox geared down to 7800 rpm, aimed at 14.4 V AC. Work is dated and published as it becomes useful, reproducible and documented.
How the work is organised
Development journey
Dated milestones, current work, lessons learned and what comes next.
Open engineering
Rust utilities, Linux tools, embedded firmware, sensors, positioning and communications.
Support xSAR
Infrastructure, equipment, specialist advice, introductions, testing, funding and encouragement all help.
Follow the engineering as it happens
Shorter updates, hardware milestones, experiments and repository releases are shared on X @xSAR_Research.
Articles
Longer pieces published as X Articles on @xSAR_Research.
- Google AX: Turn Promising AI Agents into Practical Automation (17 October 2026)
- A Training-Free Context Proxy Cuts Billed Tokens by 31–54% While Holding a 94% Prefix-Cache Hit Rate (14 October 2026)
- Building Adobe Without Adobe: How Rust + Clean Room Engineering Liberates Designers from Vendor Lock (9 October 2026)
Supported by people who want practical technology to help
xSAR is self-funded and grateful for every useful contribution. Meet the organisations and people supporting the work, including Migadu, which provides private email hosting under the xSAR domain.
Last updated: 17 October 2026