Conshohocken-based ZeroEyes has received two separate grants totaling nearly $2 million from the U.S. Air Force over the past two months to research and develop their gun-detection technology for military use.
The company received a $1.2 million Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant last week to integrate its technology with unmanned ground vehicles at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota. That follows a $750,000 SBIR grant in early June to attach its technology to drones at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota. Both grants will go towards research and development of the product for military use.
ZeroEyes technology is integrated into existing cameras and uses artificial intelligence to detect firearms with the goal of being a deterrent for mass shootings. Once a gun is detected, a team member confirms the presence of a firearm, triggering alerts to security personnel and first responders. The company was founded by Navy SEAL and special operations veterans with the intention of averting mass shootings at locations that have been prone to them, like schools and retail sites.
There have been 449 mass shootings in the U.S. in 2022 as of Aug. 1, according to Mass Shooting Tracker. That includes 15 in Philadelphia. A mass shooting is defined as an incident in which four or more people are shot.
With the military expertise and connections of its founders, ZeroEyes' exploration of military applications is only natural. However, JT Wilkins, the company's vice president of government solutions, said the group hasn't wavered in its goal of using its technology to protect civilians. The new grants are an opportunity to implement ZeroEyes at government sites as well, which have also been prone to mass shootings.
"We're certainly committed to our commercial and education business lines, and that always will be the core focus of the company," Wilkins said. "But the government work is just as important. When you look at the statistics of an active shooter incident, 25% of those active shootings happened on government property. So this is an opportunity for us to really develop that next-generation response capability."
ZeroEyes has big ambitions in the military sector. Wilkins said the goal with grants like these is to secure a government contract and "transition the technology into a full-fledged program inside of the Department of Defense."
Captain Matthew Matuszak, the director of innovation on Minot Air Force Base, said that ZeroEyes "adds an extra layer of protection for our airmen, radically improving our response times and ability to deter a potential attack."
The match between ZeroEyes and the Air Force was not lost on Wilkins. He said that it is "unheard of to see a company really fit so well into the programs and sort of the things that the Air Force is trying to do to solve a really hard problem." He added that ZeroEyes is adaptable to any equipment with a camera, and can be a low-cost option to help save the lives of both civilians and military personnel.
The technology currently operates in 26 states, but Wilkins thinks the company is poised for rapid growth. ZeroEyes raised a $20.9 million Series A funding round a year ago. Since then, the company has more than doubled its headcount to 100 from around 40.
