Octo is committed to developing sophisticated military technology for use from mission planning to execution to make soldiers safer and more effective
OCTO
Octo is committed to developing sophisticated military technology for use from mission planning to execution to make soldiers safer and more effective
“MAKING MILITARY PERSONNEL MORE LETHAL IS VERY COOL , BUT MAKING THEM MORE SURVIVABLE IS JUST AS COOL , IF NOT COOLER ”
ROB ALBRITTON SENIOR DIRECTOR , OLABS AI CENTER OF EXCELLENCE , OCTO
Although Rob Albritton has had an exceptionally varied journey which has taken him all over the world , it appears his path was preordained , leading to his current role as a Senior Director at digital modernisation and tech innovators , Octo . And what a journey it has been .
Having left high school with limited options , he started his career in the US Air Force in 2000 , working at a base in Nebraska for four years , and gaining an exceptional knowledge of the military ’ s highly complex infrastructure in the process .
Needing a departure from the military ’ s unrelenting rules and stifling structure , however , he then attended the University of Maryland , earning a degree in geography and GIS . He followed that up by embarking on an internship which introduced him to the intelligence community at the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency ( NGA ) in Springfield , Virginia .
“ That is where my interest in defence technology was truly sparked ,” remembers Rob . “ I was working with special operations forces on the African continent and became really interested in the sophisticated technologies they were using .”
Inspired by his findings , he went to work for the army and spent eight years building geospatially-enabled and machine learningenabled mission planning tools for US Army Special Forces and other special mission units .
Although he was inspired to make things happen in this arena , Rob became
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