Percepto Launches Axion, a Hardware-Agnostic Physical AI Platform

Percepto launched Axion on October 27, 2026, a hardware-agnostic Physical AI platform available at launch as a software-as-a-service offering for operators of power grids, oil and gas facilities, and industrial sites. In its launch announcement, the Austin, Texas-based company said Axion works with existing or new drone fleets, third-party sensors, and other data collection channels, and it described the launch as a major expansion of its business.

Percepto said the platform is designed to give mission-critical operators a continuously updated understanding of their infrastructure and the knowledge to act before problems escalate. The announcement frames Axion as the foundation of a software-first strategy and a broader Physical AI vision: connecting AI with a centralized source of truth that observes the physical world, so operators can understand how assets and infrastructure are changing and where intervention is needed. According to the company, the strategy builds on its established customer relationships while extending its reach into the broader market for AI-powered infrastructure inspection and asset management.

Inside the Axion Platform

Percepto said Axion puts more than 160 specialized AI models to work for operators, trained on more than 100,000 hours of real-world autonomous inspection data gathered over more than a decade. The platform combines those models with asset context, historical trends, and expert-backed workflows, organizing inspection data by asset. It ingests data from supported third-party drone platforms, fixed and mobile sensors, and existing inspection archives, so operators are not tied to a single hardware provider. Percepto characterized the result as turning raw inspection data into actionable intelligence.

According to the company, the models read equipment in context. Axion can identify a downed wire by its relationship to surrounding components, or evaluate a thermal anomaly against expected asset behavior and current environmental conditions. Each finding is backed by inspection history and expert validation, which Percepto said gives teams confidence in what needs attention. The platform also lets operators ask questions about their assets and inspection findings in plain language, with its AI delivering answers and recommendations drawn from data within the platform — an approach the company said helps teams investigate issues and prioritize maintenance without piecing together separate reports.

Operators can start with the inspection data they already have and add Percepto’s autonomous systems wherever more frequent coverage is needed. The company’s Ranger drone portfolio and Harbor autonomous station collect fresh data for Axion, supported by managed remote operations.

Why Percepto Is Going Software-First

In a first-person post published the same day, CEO Julien Bellanger said he joined Percepto to lead this stage of the company after a career spent building businesses where software meets the physical world, first in cybersecurity and then in IoT and Physical AI. For most of Percepto’s history, he wrote, its AI was delivered through its own drones and stations, which made sense when collecting data was the hardest problem. Most operators now run drone programs, sensor networks, and inspection contracts, and the bottleneck has moved to review: someone still has to look through thousands of images, connect them to the right asset, and decide what needs a crew. With an aging workforce and fewer experienced reviewers, he added, that bottleneck grows every year.

For operators, Bellanger wrote, the goal is that “nothing changes on their assets without them knowing first.” He said Percepto’s hardware remains a core part of the business but is now one of several ways into the platform, with Ranger drones and Harbor stations adding fresh data wherever operators need frequent coverage. Over the coming year, he wrote, Percepto plans to work with customers in the field to expand the assets and use cases Axion covers, connect more data sources, and build further into the workflows that maintenance and reliability teams already run.

New Leadership and a Transmission Contract

To lead the software-first expansion, Percepto assembled a leadership team headed by Bellanger, joined by Chief Revenue Officer Kurt Nantkes and Chief Marketing Officer Amir Khoshniyati. The company said the three bring decades of experience spanning robotics, sensors, IoT, Physical AI, and cybersecurity.

“The infrastructure powering our economy should benefit from the same advances in AI that are transforming the digital world,” Bellanger said in the announcement. He described Axion as the first step in a next chapter that opens Percepto’s technology to more operators and puts their existing inspection investments to work.

Percepto also disclosed that it has been awarded a multi-year contract by what it called a leading U.S. energy company to support a transmission line inspection program, extending a long-standing partnership. Under the agreement, Percepto will provide aerial data collection and AI-powered inspection analytics across the customer’s transmission network, with the goal of helping teams identify issues earlier, prioritize maintenance, and strengthen grid reliability.

Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, Percepto operates under a nationwide FAA waiver covering beyond visual line of sight drone flights, and the company said it serves Fortune 500 organizations across the power, oil and gas, and industrial sectors. Alongside its existing U.S. remote operations, Percepto is consolidating its engineering, manufacturing, and assembly in the United States, an effort the company said is already underway.