Palladyne AI (NASDAQ: PDYN) announced that the U.S. Air Force has exercised a contract option under its STRATFI (Strategic Funding Increase) program, adding $2.9 million in funding and bringing the total contract value to over $10.6 million.

The contract, formally titled "Cybernetic Training for Autonomous Robots – Human Augmentation via Generalizable Mobile Autonomous Robot Dexterity (C-H)," was originally awarded in September 2023. The Air Force completed the first phase in October 2024 and provided additional funding in April 2025 before exercising this latest option.

The newly obligated funds will cover demonstration milestones including human-guided machine learning on robotic platforms, mixed-reality teleoperation between human operators and remote subject matter experts, and autonomous task execution in Air Force-relevant mission scenarios.

The contract centers on Palladyne IQ, the company's embodied AI platform designed for robotic systems operating in dynamic and contested environments. According to the company, the platform enables robots to learn from as few as one to five human demonstrations and execute tasks autonomously without cloud connectivity.

Ben Wolff, President and Chief Executive Officer of Palladyne AI, said: "When a customer like the U.S. Air Force commits nearly $3 million more after seeing your technology perform, that is an unambiguous signal."

The information in this article is based on a press release issued by Palladyne AI.