A little over a year ago the three person startup launched with a service offering that supplied domestic fire and police departments with their AI software and off the shelf drones to boost their situational awareness during emergencies. After a hackathon sponsored by the National Security Innovation Network in May, the founders decided to get busy designing and manufacturing their own drone.
Christian Johnson, Respond AI CEO
“That spurred us into a new direction and exposed us to more of the (Department of Defense) organizations,” Respond AI CEO Christian Johnson told the 4thEst8. “The solution we came up with they really liked, and we started meeting with other DOD organizations about remote sensing and (the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency) – so this is picking up steam. We picked up three requests for proposal that are in the pipeline.”
They’ve already started working on an autonomous drone prototype, that might take a year or so to fully develop. Along with the hardware, the company is building out functionality for its existing AI software platform to include 3D scanning and WIFI sniffers to be able to triangulate the location of an individual in a building – and learn about the environment from every mission.
Johnson says the DOD has a real need to aid special forces and frontline warriors get information about an environment. Situational awareness is vital when moving into a dense environment, and his platform and future drones will help map out buildings and areas in real time. Funding this development will take money, but Johnson hopes to get it from the government.
“The government really wants to help you develop” the solutions they need, he said. Either directly from a contract and “We are also hoping to land (Small Business Innovation Research) grants. We could fully develop this without giving up any equity.”
The companies existing customers, in the private sector, will be able to buy the more robust unmanned aerial vehicle as well. Something Johnson says he looks forward to offering them.
Note: In Sept. 2021 the 4thEst8 delisted this company from its ecosystem list.
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