XTEND, the company behind XOS (an AI-driven operating system transforming the way humans interact with drones and robots) announced a $40 million Series B round, led by Chartered Group, with participation from its existing and new strategic investors, including Clal-Tech.
This new funding will further drive XTEND’s proprietary XOS operating system and its application worldwide in various time-consuming, dangerous enterprise and security scenarios. And XTEND will also ramp up global sales of its drones and robotics products.
XTEND offers a transformative human-supervised, AI-driven drone and robot operating system that enables operators to perform complex and dynamic missions in any environment with minimal training. When drones and robots are utilized by XTEND’s patented XOS operating system, it offers a new way for logistics, public safety, inspection, defense, and security professionals to interact with machines effectively from a safe distance.
XTEND’s team believes that as drones and robots become more prevalent, professional human oversight remains crucial. So developing a seamless collaboration between humans and AI (where each plays to their strengths for optimal results) is important.
Hundreds of XTEND’s drone and robotics systems are already operationally deployed worldwide, and the company is continuously developing its XOS operating system and those platforms to deliver the future of human-machine teaming. XOS is hardware agnostic, which enables it to control all sorts of platforms, including third-party devices, complement existing technology, or create entirely new systems from scratch. XOS’s open architecture means that it can host applications developed by other companies.
XOS was developed for multiple markets, including logistics, public safety, inspection, and security. And the U.S. Department of Defense Special Forces and Israel’s Ministry of Defense tier-1 units have also chosen XTEND for multiple multi-million-dollar programs to develop and deliver its systems for operational evaluation, so the company’s technology is already being used by some of the best in the business.
KEY QUOTES:
“Robots and drones promise to transform everything from factories to our homes. However, a significant hurdle remains – equipping them with the common-sense abilities to deal with the unpredictable nature of real-world situations, understand their surroundings, and make decisions based on that information. XOS uses AI to enable robots to learn from data and experience. Training them to identify objects, navigate complex environments, and interact with humans safely. We are unlocking the true potential of robotics in complex scenarios, including first response, search and rescue, logistics, critical infrastructure inspection, defense, and security.”
“Our XOS operating system is based on ‘Practical Human Supervised Autonomy,’ which empowers drones and robots to handle specific tasks autonomously – entering buildings, scanning floors, or even pursuing suspects. However, crucially, it allows the “common sense” decisions – like judging situations or adapting to unforeseen circumstances – to remain in the hands of human supervisors. This human-machine teaming allows our robots to work alongside supervisors, who can manage dozens of robots simultaneously, and learn from that experience. That is why we believe that XOS will become the operating system of choice for anyone looking to maximize their robotic systems’ potential while decreasing the risks posed to their teams’ lives or concerns around lack of human oversight.”
- Aviv Shapira, co-founder, and CEO
“Unlike self-driving cars, which operate in a world with mostly known rules and scenarios, XTEND specializes in enabling operations in ‘hypervariable’ environments. Take a last-mile delivery robot. It can navigate autonomously indoors and outdoors but might need human help finding an office building entrance or understanding floor layouts to reach the elevator or stairway. These environments present limitless situations with the potential for the unexpected, requiring human-level decision-making skills specific to each profession. XTEND’s core technology, XOS, is built around this human-machine partnership. We are continually adding new “AI SKILLS” to our system, and those skills will allow robots to handle a growing portion of missions and tasks, freeing up human supervisors to manage more missions simultaneously, at scale.”
- Matteo Shapira, co-founder, and CXO
“We believe that the companies bringing the value of AI to massive and complex industries, such as robotics and drone operations, will be the tech giants of the 21st century. Having observed XTEND’s remarkable achievements thus far, we truly believe in the company’s potential to become the world leader in robotics and drone operations, and AI.”
- Eyal Agmoni, Founder and Chairman of Chartered Group
