Hidonix Industries announced today that it is making a strategic pivot and evolving to become a defense contractor. The company develops spatial intelligence, human-centric AI, and integrated robotic systems. Going forward, Hidonix said it will focus primarily on dual-use, advanced deep tech for defense and public safety.

This evolution takes the Santa Monica, Calif.-based company from its roots in mobile phone-based spatial intelligence engagements, including museum mapping technology, to mission-critical systems deployed in real-world environments.

The AI-based machine vision and perception algorithms developed in commercial applications provided Hidonix with the data to train its AI models with real-world data. The company will now serve defense operators, emergency response teams, and public safety missions where precision, situational awareness, and reliability are paramount.

“Hidonix is a defense company because that’s where our technology delivers the greatest impact,” said Achille De Pasquale, founder and CEO of Hidonix.

“We solve challenging problems in dynamic environments where information is incomplete and decisions matter,” he added. “Our technologies enable better human decision-making, provide dependable situational awareness, and perform in environments where accuracy, timing, and clarity are critical.”

Hidonix developing a new mobile robot

Hidonix said its AI systems maintain a “human-in-the-loop” approach across its platforms. Its technologies – which are designed to operate in denied, contested, or hard-to-access environments where conventional systems often fall short – emphasize reliability, resilience, and performance in mission-critical contexts.

Pasquale and Karan Rajbir Sarkania, Hidonix head of research and development, spoke with The Robot Report about the strategic pivot and the autonomous mobile robot (AMR) under development.

The company is working on a “rover,” an AMR inspired by the Mars Perseverance rover design. Hidonix said it needs a stable imaging platform to support the mobility of the cameras and other sensors onboard the vehicle.

According to Sarkania, the company initially trialed a quadruped robot, but the results were unsatisfactory. This led the team to design a custom mobile platform capable of climbing stairs and traversing challenging, uncharted terrain.

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Core capabilities serve dual uses

“We are moving to be a defense company, because all the technology that we are building [will remain] dual-use technology and because we really believe that our technology can be helpful in different scenarios,” De Pasquale noted.

“What we always try to do is create something that is very scalable, and it’s possible to use that in different situations,” he added. “So that’s why it’s easy to take the technology we are building for a commercial use, like museums or a stadium or a school, to a defense scenario.”

While De Pasquale and Sarkania did not specify the exact features available for defense contracts, De Pasquale did mention that Hidonix’s core capabilities are capable of being deployed in commercial settings to identify possible threats in the crowd.

Its flagship platform, ION, is an AI-powered indoor-outdoor navigation and spatial intelligence system that is already deployed in hospitals, museums, convention centers, and other large private venues.

Hidonix said the pivot marks the next phase of its evolution, aligning its technology roadmap with defense and public safety. In January, the company unveiled several advancements to its platform at CES, including the next-generation Hido II Rover, two real-time tracking devices, and the ION Content Management System (CMS).

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