California-based Shield AI announced on April 4th its acquisition of Australian company Sentient Vision Systems, marking the establishment of Shield AI Australia as part of its strategic expansion efforts in the region.
The collaboration between Shield AI and Sentient Vision Systems has been steadily increasing. In August 2023, the two artificial intelligence companies unveiled their joint project—a ViDAR-enabled wide area motion imagery payload named Sentient Observer, slated for deployment within the year.
Sentient’s ViDAR technology, an AI-powered electro-optic/infrared sensor, is designed to identify and categorize targets within the captured imagery efficiently.
According to Defense News, Sentient expressed its ongoing efforts to integrate ViDAR with Shield AI’s Hivemind autonomy package to enhance operational performance.
Brandon Tseng, the President, and co-founder of Shield AI, emphasized the significance of Sentient Observer in meeting the Department of Defense’s requirements for comprehensive aerial surveillance without reliance on GPS or communication links. Tseng highlighted the synergy between Sentient’s ViDAR and Shield AI’s Hivemind AI pilot in enabling a collaborative fleet of unmanned aircraft for area patrolling.
While both ViDAR and Hivemind are adaptable to various platforms, Shield AI’s acquisition of the V-BAT group 3 unmanned aerial vehicle in 2021 signifies the intention to deploy the ViDAR and Hivemind combination on this vertical-takeoff drone.
Mark Palmer, CEO of Sentient, commended Shield AI for its operational AI pilot, positioning the company uniquely to advance AI technology in alignment with AUKUS Pillar 2—a strategic focus on cutting-edge technologies within the Australia-United Kingdom-United States nuclear-powered submarine collaboration.
The AUKUS initiative aims to facilitate tech-sharing among the three nations, particularly in autonomy, unmanned systems, quantum computing, hypersonic technologies, to bolster operations in the Indo-Pacific region.
The financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed by the companies when queried by Defense News.
Megan Eckstein, the naval warfare reporter at Defense News, brings a wealth of experience in military journalism, specializing in U.S. Navy and Marine Corps operations, acquisition programs, and budgets since 2009. With a background reporting from various naval fleets, Megan’s dedication to covering military news shines through, especially when reporting from naval vessels. Megan is an alumna of the University of Maryland.
