A robot that…surveills, relentlessly monitors the country’s borders, coastline and critical infrastructures 24 hours a day and recognizes fires and any threats in real time, is being developed in Greece by startup Lambda Automata, trying to break into the highly competitive defense sector industry. The “key” to it?

Its autonomous observation towers run, which are located in remote areas and, using artificial intelligence algorithms, detect events (columns of smoke, people), extract the coordinates of the area where the event was recorded, and notify the competent authority with an electronic message about the detected. “Malicious threats are growing faster than existing defenses in critical infrastructure such as data centers, airports, refineries, pipelines and even railroads. We need to fill the security gap,” says Lambda Automata founder Dimitris Kottas, a former Apple engineer in California, USA, where he worked on machine learning algorithms for autonomous systems.

Relying on automated security systems to monitor these infrastructures and prevent even fatal human error is practically a one-way street today. This work can be done by intelligent robots, recording and analyzing threats such as human trafficking, fires, theft of critical infrastructure materials, drone detection and shooting, etc.

The startup system can be mass-produced and costs 5-10 times less than American counterparts.

“What soldiers do on sentinels or lookouts is tedious, dangerous and boring, we do more efficiently, fully automatically, by recording and processing data from smart cameras installed in watchtowers,” he explains. Mr. Kottas talking about Lambda Automata technology. He emphasizes that observation towers are quick and easy to install, and they are made from inexpensive materials, so they can be mass-produced. In fact, they do not require a power source, as they are connected to photovoltaics. “Therefore, if we need to install several observation towers at the border, we can do it within a few months.

The difference lies in the computer, that is, in the software that is built into and through the camera. technologies her artificial intelligence detects smoke, people and vehicles, generates a summary and can notify the appropriate operations center. In addition, smart cameras pinpoint when there is a problem, so the notification is not meaningless,” he notes, adding that his technology can detect, for example, places where human trafficking occurs in the Aegean Sea or at land borders. The system is available in two versions.

The first costs about 30,000 euros in the first year and can detect smoke up to 5 km from the installation site. Another version with additional features costs up to 100,000 euros. “Equivalent systems in the US cost 5 to 10 times more when initially installed,” he notes.

“There are technologies, drones, radars that require the presence of a person, since someone is needed to control the camera, to inform the competent services (for example, civil defense, fire protection, the Ministry of Defense), to extract coordinates, etc. We do this automatically and no one can interfere with the recording of the event.” explains “K”.

The company was founded in September 2021 by a group of Greek repatriates. In addition to Mr. Kotta, the founding team is complemented by Giorgos Kontoyannis, a former developer at Palantir Technologies and Bloomberg in London, and Ioannis Souriadakis. “We have raised 1.1 million euros from the Greek fund Marathon Venture Capital and angel investors, i.e. Uber and Facebook executives,” he says, adding that the system is installed as a pilot project in Epirus for fire detection and fire fighting applications. protection. “The system is being developed at our headquarters in Paania and has already been installed in Metsovo, Ioannina, the Aoos Gorge and the ski resort of Anilio.”

The team wants to integrate the software into any moving camera platform, “be it a drone or a soldier’s helmet camera, etc.,” while it is negotiating with overseas venture capitals to raise additional capital. “There is a lively interest,” comments Mr. Kottas, who expresses a desire for the company to participate in Diana, a NATO incubator that will “manage” EKEFE’s “Demokritos” in Greece, potentially gaining access to $1 billion in funds. which NATO has activated through the Innovation Fund.

“We need a renaissance of the European defense industry, and the solution to this problem is the use of new technologies. That’s why small startups like ours need to be allowed to thrive,” he says. “The defense industry also stood out for its innovation,” he says, pointing out that a number of technologies, such as GPS and the Internet, have their roots in the defense industry.