Artificial intelligence technology company Shield AI has agreed to purchase Plano, Texas-based unmanned aircraft system maker Martin UAV in a strategy to integrate autonomy software into the latter’s vertical takeoff-and-landing platform for air defense applications.
The two companies said Wednesday that Shield AI plans to combine its Hivemind software stack with Martin UAV’s V-BAT, which won the U.S. Navy’s Mi2 Challenge in April following a series of technology demonstration events.
Hivemind is designed to employ planning, mapping, state-estimation and computer vision algorithms to support unmanned vehicle operations in areas where GPS and communications services are limited.
The deal comes a week after Shield AI purchased Heron Systems, an autonomous agent provider that took part in the Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency-hosted AlphaDogfight Trials.
