Jacksonville AI security firm expands weapons detection tech for hospitals and schools (Courtesy of the Jacksonville Business Journal) — People want to avoid feeling scared when walking into a school or hospital, and maintaining that feeling is a delicate balance.
Athena Security, a developer of artificial intelligence security screening platforms, is growing its suite of safety devices using sophisticated software to detect weapons, prohibited items and other safety risks.
The company offers a suite of detection systems designed to use different waves such as x-rays and millimeter monitoring along Athena’s AI software to detect anything from guns and knives, down to prohibited devices such as vapes.
While the security equipment supplier has offices in Texas and California, it develops and tests much of its technology in Jacksonville, where it has located one of its offices as a focal point for much of its Southeast market to access a vast array of clients in healthcare and education.
“We really like some of the employees that we had working in Jacksonville, so just kind of expanded from there, and now we have a whole warehouse there, factory, and the Mayo Clinic being there, and it being close to Georgia, the schools in Georgia are rolling out weapon detection, so yeah, all those are factors,” said Athena co-founder and President Lisa Falzone.
For Athena, catering to a diverse array of clients requires juggling an advanced surveillance apparatus with efficiency, allowing clients to have flexibility on what items to monitor for and to run the technology seamlessly to avoid holdups at places like a hospital or entertainment venue.
Healthcare, however, is one of the most vital verticals to Athena, which has led them to develop innovative devices such as a weapons detection platform at an ambulance bay to detect any guns or knives on incoming patients.
“It’s the missing link with hospitals. They don’t have a way to protect that ambulance bay. We came up with a solution for them,” said Chief Technology Officer Chris Ciabarra. “AI has really come a long way, we went from detecting weapons through a camera, and then pivoting, obviously, later on in the company, doing concealed weapons, and the AI does a lot.”
The device is structured to hang over patients and scan them as they arrive on a stretcher.
Ensuring security for healthcare facilities has become a vital part of the company’s mission.
Though the company was first founded by Falzone, Ciabarra and CEO Michael Green in 2018 following a wave of school shootings, company leaders found weapon detection at medical facilities was just as vital.
“We had no idea that there was so much violence happening in healthcare. I mean, nurses get assaulted more on a daily basis than police officers,” Falzone said. “So it’s an everyday problem. People bring in weapons into emergency rooms, and so it’s just really about need, and so we wanted to help also protect the healthcare workers.”
The solution Athena offers is running devices like the AI-powered Apollo 500 system to detect and identify possible prohibited weapons and items at a streamlined rate.“You have to look at speed versus security, and this is what we pitch to all of our clients,” Ciabarra said. “If you want speed, you’re gonna hurt on the security side. If you want security, you’re gonna hurt on the speed side, right? So that’s the dilemma with a walkthrough detector, no matter who you go with.”
Using scanning technology and AI, the system screens people walking through it and identifies items by shape instead of solely beeping with any presence of metal.
The detectors are also designed to be more aesthetically pleasing to blend in better with each environment and Athena’s software is capable of collecting data on weapons found or persons with certain red flags.
But what’s key is efficiency, ensuring thousands of people can move through an entrance while maintaining thorough security checks. That’s where the AI comes in, Ciabarra said.
“…you don’t have as many people dealing with the entryway, trying to deal with an x-ray system, the weapon system, everything goes into one console, they see everything at once, the AI takes over and does most of the work for them,” Ciabarra said.