Red Cat Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: RCAT) has completed the second phase of the firm’s artificial intelligence (AI) and computer-vision partnership with Athena AI.
Athena was first announced as a partner for Red Cat’s Teal 2 military-grade drone in March of this year. Now, by processing video that the Teal 2’s thermal-imaging sensor recorded during a nighttime test flight, Athena’s technology has successfully performed target recognition and battle tracking. This capability allows commanders fast decision-making on the battlefield with artificial intelligence assistance.
Australia-based Athena, an AI-enabled military decision-support company, has licensed to Red Cat its proprietary computer-vision architecture, which allows high-speed tracking of objects and, at slower speeds, in-depth data exploitation. Athena’s solution can identify weapons, humans and other targets at night, as well as Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) markers, such as Cyalume HALOs and IR beacons.
Officially launched in April, the Teal 2 is designed to Dominate the Night™ and arrives as an sUAS for night ops. The Teal 2 is the first sUAS to be equipped with Teledyne FLIR’s new Hadron 640R sensor, providing end users with the highest resolution thermal imaging in a small form factor.
The Teal 2 also offers the latest intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) technology, delivering time-critical information and enabling operators to make faster, smarter decisions. The Teal 2 airframe has been designed as an open platform that can add software features such as Athena AI, and those combined products improve Red Cat’s gross margins.
“Nighttime computer-vision capability is a Teal 2 add-on we support for users who need high-value data at night. The images and insights that Athena’s technology deliver are outstanding. Athena’s battle-tracking capabilities and artificial intelligence, combined with Teal’s best-in-class drone, give warfighters the unfair advantage.” — George Matus, Founder and CEO, of Red Cat subsidiary Teal Drones
“Unlike a lot of other drones in the sUAS quad space that aren’t MISB-compliant, the Teal 2’s KLV metadata unlocks the full decision-suite support of Athena AI. This combination of a nighttime sUAS with live-vehicle metadata allows for real-time situational awareness to support battle tracking, common operational picture (COP) at higher echelons of command, and accurate targeting.” — Stephen Bornstein, CEO, Athena