Strategic Elements autonomous security vehicle collaboration draws strong attention

Strategic Elements Ltd (ASX:SOR) subsidiary Stealth Technologies is attracting strong attention globally as it collaborates with US Fortune 100 company Honeywell International Inc (NYSE:HON) (LON:HON) to create a fully autonomous security vehicle (ASV) for Eastern Goldfields Regional Prison in Western Australia. The breakthrough partnership is well advanced with the ASV and this week representatives of Stealth, Honeywell Building Technologies (HBT) and the WA Department of Justice made a presentation to a global Honeywell Virtual Technology Conference. Presentation made This presentation disclosed how the parties are collaborating to research and develop a fully autonomous security vehicle to inspect, test and confirm the integrity of the secure perimeter. It also showed how this innovative new technology will enable inspections to be carried out with no human intervention while integrating seamlessly into the existing technology stack in place at the prison. Gaining momentum SOR managing director Charles Murphy said: “Stealth Technologies is really starting to gain momentum and the technical and commercial teams respectively led by Elliot Nicholls and James Hemmings are establishing a level of sophistication capable of operating on a global stage.” Final validation and acceptance testing of the ASV are scheduled to begin next quarter. Potential outcomes of the collaboration work include: Reducing labour intensive tasks to empower prison officers to concentrate on managing the safety, security and rehabilitation of the prisoners; and Providing staff with a greater ability to randomise testing and additional patrols to investigate incidences (especially at night). Integration with Honeywell EBI Development is being conducted to enable real-time integration with Honeywell Enterprise Buildings Integrator (EBI). The EBI helps connect, monitor and manage core building functions, from comfort to security to safety and is a solution with thousands of EBI systems deployed globally. HBT, which is a global business with more than 23,000 employees, creates products, software and technologies found in more than 10 million buildings worldwide. The Honeywell Pacific Apps team is working with Stealth to build an interface between their Security Management System (SMS) and the autonomous security vehicle for: Alarm activation and acknowledgement between the SMS and the vehicle; Streaming live video to the SMS operators and two-way voice communication; and Realtime location and status information of the vehicle providing greater situation awareness. Potential use in other facilities As well as the upcoming acceptance testing, the collaboration will also investigate the potential use in other facilities with some changes, ie using 4 or 5g networks. A video highlighting the collaboration can be viewed at www.stealthtechnologies.com.au. Perimeter security enables the protection of employees and assets from unauthorised intrusion in sensitive areas. The global perimeter security market is forecast to be growing at CAGR of 12% over the forecast period from 2020 to 2026, reaching US$282.26 billion by 2025. “Significant interest” Murphy said: “Our focus in the short term is the successful completion of the autonomous security vehicle with Honeywell, however, the AxV platform is attracting significant interest from industry and research sectors and we look forward to the period ahead.” Although the first release is in the form of the ASV for security, the underlying technology is scalable to a range of vehicle shapes and sizes and custom robotics are adaptable to perform a variety of physical actions and tasks. Further releases from the platform could be deployed for industries such as mining, agriculture and logistics. While the ASV is under collaboration for the correctional sector with Honeywell, under the agreement Stealth can market independently to sectors such as: Transport critical transport services across rail, air, road and sea; Energy critical to the supply of both non-renewable and renewable sources; Defence highest levels of security and surveillance; Government facilities that require the highest levels of security and protection; and Utilities critical services include water, gas and electricity supply. Seeking further partnerships Stealth Technologies is seeking to establish further research and advisory partnerships and alliances across both government and industry. This program is aimed at unlocking and advancing Australian-based automation and robotics technologies and applying this to solving real-world use cases. The company is actively seeking out further research and advisory collaborators in autonomous driving, computer vision, artificial intelligence, robotics and data science. To date, an Electric Drive Systems and Driverless Vehicles collaboration has been formed with The University of Western Australia with approximately $500,0000 in Federal Government funding support.