Australian-based computer start-up Visionary Machines has appointed former Collins Aerospace Managing Director Sonny Foster to the role of Chief Executive Officer.
Nick Gibbs has also joined the Visionary Machines team as Chief Operating Officer from Collins Aerospace, where he held the role of Vice President — Australian Programs.
The company is working on Pandion, an automated vision-based perception system used for navigation and surveillance that uses camera-based 3D perception to allow machines to see and understand their environment.
“The sensor system is robust, increasingly compact and has multispectral vision, meaning that unlike other sensor modalities it can see in all weather and lighting conditions. Combined with the increasingly urgent need for passive sensor systems, Visionary Machines is in a unique position and one that we will be looking to rapidly capitalise on,” said Sonny Foster, newly appointed Chief Executive Officer.
"Nick and I have been impressed with the technology, the team, and are excited by the opportunity to take Visionary Machines forward as the global leader in computer vision.”
The new appointments coincide with a transition to a commercial focus for Visionary Machines, with Foster and Gibbs aiming to drive deeper engagement with customers and the company’s initial target markets including defence, emergency services, mining and logistics.
“We are extremely excited to have Sonny and Nick join Visionary Machines,” says current CEO and co-founder Gary Aitchison.
“To attract this kind of talent at this stage of the business development is a great barometer of the potential of our product. Any machine that wants to act autonomously needs to know the world around it and that’s the solution we’ve developed.
“Our product, together with the combined business acumen and proven ability of both these executives to successfully take industry leading technologies to market will enable Visionary Machines to capitalise on the significant research and development investment and pursue opportunities in the defence and commercial industries,” he said.