Sentient and Shield AI sign agreement to integrate next generation ViDAR onto V-Bat

Australia’s Sentient Vision and US-based Shield AI will develop a next-generation wide-area motion imagery (WAMI) solution which will see Sentient’s ViDAR system integrated onto the US company’s V-Bat VTOL UAS under an agreement signed on 23 October.

The multi-year, multi-unit agreement will lead to deliveries beginning next year. It follows a previous joint development announcement over the integration of a ViDAR-enabled, wide-area-search capability onto Shield AI’s V-Bat unmanned aircraft, which has enabled Shield AI’s V-Bat to intelligently classify, track and read-and-react to targets in dynamic missions.

According to the companies, the agreement reflected a wider strategic objective within the tri-nation AUKUS agreement, particularly as it relates to the field of AI.

Sentient CEO Mark Palmer said: ‘The confirmation of our long-term relationship absolutely reflects the AI technology workstream that is underlined in the AUKUS Pillar 2. Innovation stemmed from our computer vision AI-enabled ViDAR and Shield AI’s Hivemind will provide commanders with immediate situational awareness and survivability of our warfighters.’

ViDAR, Sentient’s AI system, uses an EO/IR sensor to detect and classify targets in the imagery stream that would be invisible to a human operator or to a conventional radar.