This year’s conference theme was ‘One Giant Leap’ and focused on the role that both technology and those who are leveraging it can help us take giant leaps into the future to continue delivering in public safety and be a force for good. With this in mind, Axon’s moonshot goal, to cut gun-related deaths between police and the public by 50% in 10 years, was buzzing through the halls of the Phoenix Convention Center. Over the course of three days, we engaged in conversations with public safety professionals, partner technology companies, and Axon team members on how to achieve this goal, and what strategic technology can help.

TASER 10 + OUR MOONSHOT

One technology that was buzzing, quite literally, through the hallways of Accelerate was our latest energy weapon technology, TASER 10, which was just launched in January 2023.

TASER 10 is the first major step toward achieving our moonshot goal, and will be one of the most critical components in making our ambition to cut-gun related deaths between police and the public a reality. Creating a device as sophisticated as TASER 10 was no small engineering feat. From effectively waterproofing 19 ingress paths to managing high-impact loads, there were a lot of exciting but time-consuming undertakings the team needed to successfully complete.

We chatted with key members of the Axon engineering team, who took on these challenges.

“The development of TASER 10 introduced numerous engineering challenges,” explained Michael Roberts, Principal Mechanical Design Engineer. In chatting with Michael, he emphasized that the first challenge was accuracy. “TASER 10 was designed from the ground up to be the most accurate TASER energy weapon ever.”

Michael and his team shared how meticulous attention was paid to the alignment scheme that goes from ensuring the LASER is precisely lined up to the handle, the handle to the magazine, and the magazine to the cartridge. They shared that, “this precision allows us to deploy probes more accurately at 45' than previous weapons could do at half that distance.”

Of course, there were some engineering constraints that fell away as the team moved into this this next level innovation. We tapped Sam Driscoll, Mechanical Lead on the TASER 10 cartridge design to understand this further.

“Since TASER 10 operates at a lower voltage than legacy products, many design constraints no longer applied. The high voltage components on the handle no longer needed to be completely encapsulated in epoxy because arcing is not possible. This also allowed for a thinner wire with less insulation to be used in the cartridge. We can now fit more than 45 feet of wire in a smaller, lighter package, compared to TASER 7. The result is a probe with higher velocity, increased distance, and improved accuracy.”

Sam and Michael also shared with us the many months of work spent on non-probe features of the TASER 10, including the trigger and safety, highlighting that the engineering team worked tirelessly to make the TASER 10 more user friendly, with fewer buttons and switches for users to engage with during in-the-field situations.

The TASER engineering team was determined to overcome any obstacle to bring this force multiplier to market and with hard work and dedication, they made it happen. Hear more about their journey to bring TASER 10 to market in this video.

Want to be a part of this team’s journey? We are hiring for several roles that can help us advance our TASER technologies.

JOIN THE TASER ENGINEERING TEAM

REDUCED RESPONSE TIMES + CONNECTED DEVICES

We also introduced the Axon Body 4 with bi-directional communication. With the Axon Body 4, officers and remote support teams can now communicate directly with one another in real time through Axon body-worn cameras, closing the loop with two-way voice and allowing faster and more effective response to scenarios in the field.

We sat down with Marcus Coulter, Software Training Specialist at Axon, who was a former dispatcher himself. Marcus had the opportunity to join CEO, Rick Smith, on stage during the keynote to highlight these features further and share the value that Axon Body 4 can bring to his former field.

“Decreased response times are just the beginning of a long list of ways the bi-directional communication abilities in the AB4 will have a positive impact on outcomes in the field. A Mental Health Officer can immediately talk directly to a patient or advise the responding officer, without even being on scene,” Marcus points out as we discuss use cases for bi-directional capabilities.

“Officers can advise each other on a call for service without tying up radio airtime. If an officer loses his radio during a foot pursuit, or is out of radio range, the AB4 keeps the officer connected. It all adds up to officers who are safer and citizens who are better served. The uses of the AB4 are endless.”

Marcus shared his excitement for having the opportunity to showcase this feature to key industry professionals, as his fellow colleagues did throughout the week in a series of additional employee-led sessions. The discussion and value of body cameras expands all three of our pillars within the moonshot, from advancing technology like the new features of the Axon Body 4, to providing footage that can advance training and ultimately the role that they play in building trust through transparency and evidence. Want to be part of the discussion, or better yet the solution? We are currently hiring software energy engineers globally to help us design the future of public safety technology.

JOIN THE SOFTWARE ENGINEERING TEAM

SALES ENGINEERING + CUSTOMER SERVICE

Another vital piece of achieving any goal, including one as critical as reducing gun-related deaths, is education and continued learning. During Axon Accelerate 2023, Axon sales engineers hosted a candid Q+A session with users where they addressed user pain points, questions and concerns with current Axon technology.

“Axon's Pre-Sales System Engineers, or SEs, serve as the connective tissue between the technical needs of Axon's customers and Axon's product and development teams” explains Uri Halioua, Director of National Sales Engineering at Axon. “These needs cover a wide spectrum, which requires Sales Engineers who are subject matter experts in all things Axon: basic technical questions like how waterproof is an Axon camera, to the design of complex integrations or the replacement of legacy systems with Axon solutions.”

“Pop the Question: Q&A with Axon Sales Engineers sessions allowed IT managers, CTOs and CIOs to discuss lingering or long term challenges have been trying to resolve.” These sessions also gave the Axon team a chance to “capture some of the frequent problems being faced by agencies that might be resolved by improved workflows or technical solutions.”

Axon professional services team members are mission critical and essential to customer service and seamless software implementation for public safety organizations. We are currently hiring for sales professionals of all experience levels, as well as the professional services roles required to support them. This includes business analysts, data solutions engineers, solutions architects, data integration architects and more.

JOIN THE SALES TEAM

Our mission to protect life and reduce gun-related deaths is certainly one each and every Axon employee has rallied behind. As our CEO and Founder outlined during his keynote at Accelerate, “We believe people do their best work when they are a part of a mission they are proud of.”

Join us in this mission.

“We look for people who aren't just searching for their next job, but for passionate individuals who want to solve some of society's biggest challenges.” — Elizabeth Hart, EVP of People, Axon

Accelerate your career

We believe you don’t run away from challenges, you run towards them. Axon is on a mission to protect life. Join us and discover how you can help us make One Giant Leap towards improving public safety across the globe.

If you’re convinced this sounds like a mission you would like to be a part of, check out our resources below:

• Follow us on LinkedIn.
• Read more about Axon careers
• Explore our benefits.
• Search for open positions.