XTEND, the developer of XOS, a revolutionary semi-autonomous human-guided operating system, has appointed Jim Michel as Director of Business Development for Public Safety. Michel will lead the development of XTEND’s civilian business in the United States and drive future applications of XTEND’s technology and its scalable and infinitely flexible XOS operating system, in public safety, security, inspection and other civilian markets.
XTEND’s XOS operating system allows anyone to easily connect and interact in remote environments using drones and other smart machines, without the need for prior knowledge or training. This allows operators to move, view, interact and run third-party applications on remote machines in a precise, intuitive and immersive way, using a mix of augmented reality, virtual reality, robotics and AI. This makes XOS perfectly suited for operating devices in civilian scenarios, providing a new way for humans to virtually interact with machines.
“After three years of live operations, XTEND is ready to expand into new markets to ensure interactive remote operations are accessible to everyone,” said Aviv Shapira, co-founder and CEO of XTEND. “Our goal is to make XOS the operating system of choice in a range of scenarios. Enable professionals to remotely control drones and smart machines and perform complex tasks that require human interaction and remote decision-making. Our goal is to start revolutionizing operations in law enforcement, commercial security, inspection, manufacturing, travel and entertainment very soon.
Michel brings over 20 years of experience to XTEND, with a background in remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), and technology expansion in government and utility ecosystems. He has held leadership positions in the remote sensing and GIS industry for 20 years, most recently leading the 3D business of Skyline Software Systems. He holds a degree in Imaging Science and Remote Sensing from the Rochester Institute of Technology and began his career at Eastman Kodak, designing space and aerial imaging systems, as well as processing and manipulating pictures.
XTEND recently won several multi-million dollar contracts with the US Department of Defense and MAFAT, the Research and Development Directorate of the Israeli Ministry of Defense, to modernize their use of drone technology. Either way, XOS already allows military drone operators to interactively operate multiple smart machines remotely and from a standoff, without any training.