Sentient showcases its ‘ViDAR’ vision systems at White House event with President Biden and Australian PM

Sentient Vision Systems’ newly appointed CEO, Mark Palmer, was invited to attend a reception in Washington to mark Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s first official visit to Washington, hosted by President Joe Biden.

In a press release, Sentient says the Australia-US relationship marks “more than 100 years in partnership” and presents an important opportunity for discussion about “Clean, Green & Critical” technologies that contribute to the security of Indo-Pacific.

The reception – a key part of the three-day official Visit by PM Albanese that started on October 23rd – was also attended by senior US Department of Defense representatives and Whitehouse staff.

Australia’s PM Albanese, was accompanied by the Australian Ambassador to the United States, H.E. The Hon Dr Kevin Rudd AC and Australian embassy attachés.

Prime Minister Albanese said: “My visit is an important opportunity to discuss our ambitious climate and clean energy transition, and shared goal of a strong, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific.”

The White House has issued a statement that during this first official visit President Biden and Prime Minister Albanese will discuss strengthening collaboration on critical issues for both nations to ensure the Alliance is well equipped to respond to ever-evolving regional and global challenges.

Mark Palmer, Sentient’s CEO, said: “It is an honour, for Sentient to have been invited by Ambassador Rudd to meet the PM.

“We have achieved leadership in enhanced situational awareness for our customers with computer vision, AI, and edge processed optical detection.

“Our unparalleled experience places Sentient in pole position for the Search and Rescue industry as well as growing our force-multiplier applications in Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions worldwide.”

ViDAR (Visual Detection and Ranging) – developed as “the world’s first passive optical search system” – is an AI-enabled onboard processed solution deployed with electro-optic and infrared wide area sensors to detect and classify small objects that would be hard to spot by the human eye or a conventional radar.

Announcements made by Sentient during PM Albanese’s visit included:

• Multi-year agreement with Shield AI to integrate ViDAR on the V-BAT UAS (Uncrewed aerial system)
• Successful completion of ViDAR integration and evaluation on a Group 2 UAS under US Marine Corps FCT (Foreign Comparative Testing)

“Our mission mirrors that of Australia, collaborating internationally on the responsible use and development of AI, and is absolutely aligned with the AUKUS security partnership’s focus on artificial intelligence and autonomy under Pillar 2,” said Mark Palmer.

Sentient says the Australian PM’s official visit to the US “underlines the strategic relationship between the US and Australia, in addition to other partners to safeguard the Indo-Pacific region”.

With close to 4,500 systems deployed, Sentient customers include United States Marine Corps, United States Coast Guard, UK National Police Air Service, Canadian DFO, Mexican Navy, the Australian Defence Force, Australian Maritime Safety Authority, Netherlands Coast Guard, militaries, police, border patrol, security agencies, and “forces worldwide”, says the company.