Shield AI, a US-based company specializing in AI-piloted technologies for defense applications, has agreed to acquire Sentient Vision Systems, an Australian company specializing in AI-enabled real-time situational awareness. The acquisition is pending regulatory approval and customary closing conditions.
The collaboration between Shield AI and Sentient has already yielded promising results. In August 2023, the companies unveiled their joint endeavor, the “Sentient Observer,” a wide area motion imagery (WAMI) solution using ViDAR, Sentient’s AI system. Shield AI intends to deploy the Sentient Observer by the end of 2024.
The joint effort aims to provide land and maritime domain awareness at a fraction of the cost of current solutions such as the MQ-9 Reaper, RQ-4 Global Hawk, MQ-4C Triton drones, or the P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft.
“The combination of AI pilots, Sentient Observer, and teams of affordable drones like the MQ-35 VBAT will provide the same land and maritime domain awareness that today’s $40M and $180M Group 5 drones and crewed aircraft like the P-8 provide at a fraction of the price,” said Shield AI’s President and co-founder Brandon Tseng. “The DoD can begin augmenting and replacing their legacy solutions for a distributed, low cost, low risk solution that doesn’t break the bank if an aircraft is shot down.”
“The innovation breakthrough combining our computer vision AI-enabled ViDAR and Shield AI’s Hivemind will increase situational awareness, enabling quicker more effective decision making and help to save lives,” said Sentient’s CEO, Mark Palmer.
ViDAR, Sentient’s AI system, is equipped with an Electro-Optic or Infrared (EO/IR) sensor. This sensor helps detect and classify targets in the imagery stream that would be invisible to a human operator or conventional radar.
Shield AI’s flagship product, Hivemind, is an AI pilot that facilitates teams of intelligent aircraft to operate and complete missions autonomously in high-threat environments. It eliminates the need for remote operators or GPS.
In August 2023, Shield AI completed a demonstration for the US Air Force Research Laboratory showcasing the coordination and teamwork of three V-BAT Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) using its Hivemind AI pilot.
