Shield AI to Acquire Australia-Based Sentient Vision Systems

Shield AI has announced its intent to acquire Sentient Vision Systems (Sentient), an Australia-based firm specializing in AI-enabled real-time situational awareness.

The companies will merge their AI expertise and operational understanding to deliver intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities. In August 2023, the companies announced the joint development of a ViDAR-enabled wide area motion imagery (WAMI) solution called “Sentient Observer,” which Shield AI plans to deploy this year.

The combination of AI pilots, Sentient Observer, and drones like the MQ-35 VBAT can deliver comparable land and maritime domain awareness to that provided by $40M and $180M Group 5 drones and crewed aircraft like the P-8, but at a lower cost. The Department of Defense (DoD) requires continuous surveillance over vast areas without relying on GPS or communication links. “Sentient Observer is regarded as the final piece of this puzzle for Shield AI, offering a distributed, cost-effective, and low-risk solution,” according to Brandon Tseng, President, Co-founder, and former Navy SEAL of Shield AI.

This acquisition unites Sentient’s ViDAR and Shield AI’s Hivemind AI pilot, creating an AI-piloted ISR sensor package.

“The integration of WAMI on V-BAT will revolutionize our offering, enabling Group 3-sized aircraft to perform tasks that previously required larger, costlier aircraft, significantly enhancing our customers’ operational capabilities,” said Ryan Tseng, CEO and Co-founder of Shield AI.

In February, V-BAT received certification for Australian operations from Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA). Shortly thereafter, in partnership with Shield AI’s Australian partner, Toll Aviation, the companies launched the inaugural Australian V-BAT training course.

“Shield AI is the only company in the world with an operational AI pilot, and therefore has the technological expertise and maturity to deliver on the AI technology workstream highlighted in AUKUS Pillar 2. The breakthrough combining our computer vision AI-enabled ViDAR and Shield AI’s Hivemind will increase situational awareness, enabling quicker and more effective decision-making and helping to save lives,” said Sentient’s CEO, Mark Palmer.

ViDAR is Sentient’s AI system, which uses an Electro-Optic or Infrared (EO/IR) sensor to 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 enables teams of intelligent aircraft to operate and complete missions autonomously in high-threat environments, without the need for remote operators or GPS. Hivemind is an aircraft-agnostic autonomy stack similar to the self-driving technology found in cars. It has flown six aircraft, including quadcopters, the MQ-35A V-BAT, the F-16, and Kratos MQM-178 Firejet. Later this year, it will fly Kratos’ XQ-58 Valkyrie. Shield AI has accumulated more autonomous flight hours executing fighter jet maneuvers, like dogfighting, than any other company in the world.