Booz Allen corporate venture capital arm, has invested in Scout AI to enhance and modernise robotic capabilities and advance future autonomous defence capabilities.
Scout AI aligns with the strategic goals and requirements of the US Department of Defense (DoD), offering a physical AI system driven by FURY—a specialised Vision-Language-Action (VLA) model designed to elevate uncrewed systems and robotics to the level of intelligent, autonomous agents.
Booz Allen says that Scout AI’s incorporation of AI into military robotics endows a broad array of uncrewed systems with advanced reasoning and control capabilities within terrestrial and aerial combat zones.
The company is poised to extend these advancements into naval and space domains.
According to Booz Allen, such technological progress promises not only to empower the DoD with novel autonomous solutions but also to upgrade numerous pre-existing platforms, bolstering the US armed forces’ ability to execute swift, precise decisions in diverse operational settings.
Scout AI CEO Colby Adcock said: “Our goal is to enable robotic mass for the US military through intelligent AI and cost-effective, high-rate manufactured hardware.
“By combining our cutting-edge VLA system with Booz Allen’s deep expertise in AI and defence, we are paving the way for a new generation of intelligent systems that will enable more effective, adaptable, and real-time decision-making in complex environments.”
The advanced autonomy architecture of Scout AI’s uncrewed ground vehicles (UGVs) and uncrewed aerial vehicles allows for intuitive control using simple human language prompts, enhancing human-machine teaming and potentially offering significant cost savings.
The models developed by Scout AI are designed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of military operations, ensuring that the US maintains a technological edge in autonomous warfare.
Booz Allen Ventures investor James Gadea said: “Scout AI’s ambitious team has a giant vision—develop and deploy physical AI for defence applications. Leveraging vision-language-action models, Scout AI’s approach to autonomy enables versatile robotic systems that better handle the long tail of edge cases present on the battlefield while also offering a more human-centric user experience for robotic control. Service members can use text and voice prompts to command and collaborate with their robotic teammates.
“We invested in Scout AI’s seed round because we believe physical AI is a force multiplier for the DOD and is harkening the future of human-machine teaming.”
