(US and Canada) Scientific Systems Company Inc. (SSCI), an industry leader in advanced autonomy solutions, has appointed Tom Frost as Sr. Vice President of the Products Division. Frost has a long record of hardening cutting-edge robotics technology for battlefield deployment worldwide. He will oversee the Product Division’s daily operations and strategic growth.

Frost, an early member of the iRobot team, helped develop and transition the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) PackBot robot from a prototype to full-rate production and battlefield deployment. Working search and rescue with the Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue (CRASAR), he brought PackBots to their first real-world fielding on Sept. 11 at the World Trade Center Disaster site. Soon after that, Frost deployed with the U.S. Army Rapid Equipping Force (REF), using PackBots to search ‌caves and bunkers in the mountains of Afghanistan. Today, thousands of PackBots are deployed worldwide, saving countless lives with counter-Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), recon, and hazmat operations.

After serving as iRobot’s General Manager for Defense, Frost became the President of Endeavor Robotics. His team successfully captured multiple Programs of Record and delivered thousands more robots to the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps. After Endeavor Robotics was acquired by FLIR and, subsequently, FLIR by Teledyne, Frost served as General Manager of the Unmanned Ground Systems business unit.

"Today, the U.S. and our allies are faced with new threats from near peers that render existing systems and approaches obsolete," says Scientific Systems President Kunal Mehra. "We are at the dawn of a new era for unmanned systems where artificial intelligence deployed at the edge will enable these systems to operate at ‘machine speed’ in highly contested environments with minimal operator workload. 

"Scientific Systems is leading this revolution with innovations in AI, autonomy, and machine learning,” Mehra continues. “Today, we are beginning to transition these advanced capabilities to the warfighter across each of the Department of Defense services. Tom’s experience hardening cutting-edge technology for deployment is a perfect fit."  

"The future of the battlefield is undeniably unmanned," says Frost. "The autonomy and AI technology that the engineers at SSCI are developing is not only impressive, it is the critical enabling technology that will make unmanned systems an overmatch capability. I came to SSCI because they are best in class. We need to get this to the warfighter as quickly as possible."

Frost holds a Master of Science in Computer Engineering from Lehigh University and an MBA. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.