Blacksky
Blacksky Project Portfolio
Summary
Blacksky LLC builds production AI systems, swarm robotics, hardware products, and enterprise platforms. Founded by Mario Moorhead, the company holds a provisional patent for biomimetic civic infrastructure and operates across AI engineering, IoT, education, and federal technology.
- Patent filed: BSM Provisional Patent App #63/989,974 (Feb 2026) — biomimetic infrastructure system
- Federal agencies served: Treasury, DOT, NIH, FDA, OSHA, SEC, FSIS, HHS, USAID, Department of Education
- Fortune 500 clients: Vanguard, Mastercard, Blue Cross Blue Shield
- Platform migrations led: 15+
- Users served: 50M+
- Security clearances: Active, including NIH background check
AI Projects (Current)
Maurice, first generation (2024 to 2026, rebuilt)
The first Maurice was Blacksky's AI sales assistant: a conversational AI that qualified leads, answered questions about services, and captured prospect information through natural dialogue, on blackskymedia.org and by phone. In 2026 he was rebuilt from scratch on AgentOS. Today's Maurice answers +1 410 816 9713 and the chat on blackskymedia.org.
Key features:
- Streaming responses with real-time typing
- RAG retrieval for accurate information from knowledge base
- Lead scoring — automatically classifies visitors as hot, warm, or cool
- User memory — recognizes returning visitors
- Semantic fact extraction from conversations
- Phone-based voice AI with real-time speech and ambient audio
Technologies: Python, FastAPI, Llama 3.1 70B (Together AI), Sentence Transformers, Pinecone, PostgreSQL, Railway
Maurice VOIP, first generation (replaced by Dewey)
Voice AI bridge that connects Maurice to real phone calls via Telnyx. Callers dial a real phone number and talk to Maurice with his full personality and knowledge base, optimized for voice conversation.
Key features:
- Whisper speech-to-text for real-time voice transcription
- Sentence-level TTS streaming with overlapping generation and playback
- Always-on ambient audio mixer with smooth volume ramping between idle, thinking, and speaking states
- Pre-cached greeting and thinking sounds for zero dead air
- Phone number as persistent identity — same caller recognized across all calls
- Custom ITU G.711 mu-law encoder for Telnyx audio format
- Quick response pattern matching for common phrases
Technologies: Python, FastAPI, Telnyx TeXML, faster-whisper, Edge TTS, numpy, WebSockets, Railway
Maurice SaaS, multi-tenant AI platform (retired)
A SaaS version of the first Maurice, now retired, where each customer got their own isolated workspace with custom system prompts, embeddable chatbot widgets, and RAG document upload for custom knowledge bases.
Technologies: FastAPI, PostgreSQL, Qdrant, OpenAI, JWT auth, Docker
Symphony — AI Image Generator
Local AI image generation using a two-step "Brain and Brush" pipeline. A vision language model expands simple user prompts into detailed descriptions, then a diffusion model generates high-fidelity images.
Key features:
- Brain: Llama 3.2 Vision via Ollama expands prompts
- Brush: FLUX.1-schnell diffusion model synthesizes images
- Fully local on Apple Silicon — no cloud API required
- Web interface with Flask backend
Technologies: Python, Flask, Ollama, FLUX.1-schnell, PyTorch
Ife — AI Coding Intelligence
Blacksky's private RAG-based coding assistant. Knows the entire Blacksky codebase, conventions, and architecture. Also pioneered LLM-to-LLM testing methodology where Ife validates Maurice's outputs at scale.
Technologies: Local LLM (Llama-based), Custom RAG pipeline, ChromaDB, Python
Spanish Tutor — Voice AI Language Learning
Real-time conversational Spanish tutor using WebSocket streaming for low-latency voice interaction. Optimized for small models (1B-3B parameters) with specific prompt engineering for TTS-friendly output.
Key features:
- WebSocket-based real-time voice conversation
- faster-whisper STT + llama-cpp-python LLM + Edge TTS pipeline
- System prompt optimized for small models and voice output (no markdown, no emojis, brief responses)
- 80/20 language rule — responds mostly in English when student speaks English, mostly in Spanish when student speaks Spanish
Technologies: Python, FastAPI, faster-whisper, llama-cpp-python, Edge TTS, WebSockets
Blacksky Agent Platform
Cloud-based multi-agent system with specialized AI agents. First agent: Research Agent for B2B lead research and company analysis for sales outreach.
Key features:
- Modular agent architecture with shared base logic
- Single Claude API connection shared across all agents for cost efficiency
- Research Agent capabilities: company analysis, decision-maker identification, technology stack assessment, pain point mapping
Technologies: Python, FastAPI, Anthropic Claude API, Railway
Seth — Privacy-Preserving Therapy LLM (Beta)
Privacy-preserving therapy LLM that learns from conversations while keeping user data private through blockchain-based anonymization. Mental health support that improves through use — without surveillance.
Technologies: Custom LLM architecture, Ethereum network protocols, Python
KnowGov, civic intelligence platform (Live)
Free, nonpartisan civic intelligence at knowgov.info: officials, bills, votes and elections from official sources, starting from a ZIP code. KnowGov grew out of Poly Sci Fi, Blacksky's earlier congressional tracking platform. See KnowGov.
Hardware & Robotics Projects
BSM — Biomimetic Infrastructure System (Provisional Patent Filed)
A self-sustaining biomimetic infrastructure node modeled on a living tree. Not a device that looks like a tree — a system that behaves like one. Produces energy, provides shelter, communicates, senses its environment, protects itself, and sustains the ecosystem around it.
Patent: App #63/989,974, filed February 2026. 10 claims covering hierarchical ganglion processing, Bio-Bus open ecosystem interface, privacy-preserving surveillance, autonomous drone habitat, predictive mode state machine, and distributed weather intelligence.
Core innovation: NLM (No Language Model) architecture — emergent intelligence from populations of simple agents following minimal rules, rather than a centralized AI brain. The opposite of LLM. Intelligence emerges from relationships between components, like a biological nervous system.
Product lines derived from the patent:
BETree — Solar Tracking Consumer Device
Consumer-scale solar-tracking bonsai tree. Servo-driven branches follow the sun via light sensors. Charges devices via USB. Two models: Bonsai (6-8" desk) and Mini (12-18" windowsill). Full product suite with BOM configurator and power calculator built.
Xyte — Privacy-Native Surveillance Cameras
Camera line built on patented blur-first, classify-second architecture. On-device ML classifies subjects as man/animal/machine, then immediately destroys raw visual data. No identifiable footage is ever stored or transmitted. Five camera models: Door Cam, Garden Cam, Trail Cam, Warehouse Cam, Public Cam.
AL — Artificial Life Terrarium
Physical robotic ant colony you can buy, program, and watch build its own terrarium. Five rover types (Queen, Builder, Scout, Drone, Predator) running NLM rule sets. An app lets you swap behavior patterns and watch the colony reorganize in real time. Consumer expression of SlimeHive swarm technology.
SlimeHive — Swarm Robotics Platform
Open-source experimental framework for controlling and visualizing decentralized drone swarms. Inspired by slime mold and ant colony optimization. Uses a pheromone grid to create shared memory enabling emergent behavior in simple agents.
Architecture:
- Queen Brain: Central cortex running physics loop, pheromone decay, state management
- The Ears: Distributed BLE sensor nodes listening for drone signals via MQTT
- The Eyes: Flask-based HUD with real-time visualization, flight trails, and ghost fog history
- The Scribe: CSV flight log recorder for every heartbeat and position
Key features:
- Hybrid swarms mixing real physical drones (Pi Zero/Pico) with virtual drones
- Gravity-based positioning using BLE RSSI signal strength (no GPS)
- Biomimetic mood system responding to environmental light (Sleep/Frenzy modes)
- Session archiving with full replay capability
Technologies: Python, MQTT, Raspberry Pi, BLE mesh, Flask, numpy, scipy
Education Projects
Blacksky Up — Apprenticeship Program
Free community apprenticeship program spanning four pillars: Media & Content Creation, Technology & Coding, Business & Entrepreneurship, and Arts & Design. Project-based from day one. Open to all ages and experience levels.
Includes structured courses:
- LLM 101: Language Models & You — 2-week intro, students build a no-code RAG chatbot
- NLM 101: Intelligence Without Words — 2-week course on emergent intelligence using SlimeHive simulation
Platform: Web-based with Directus backend, community board, connections, direct messaging between students and mentors
Hip-Hop Voice AI — Cultural Preservation
Voice-cloned conversational AI preserving the voice, personality, and cultural knowledge of a legendary hip-hop figure. Combines RAG with voice synthesis for interactive cultural archiving.
Technologies: Llama 3 via Ollama, LanceDB, Coqui XTTS v2, OpenAI Whisper, Python, FastAPI
Federal Agency Projects (Selected)
Production AI Translation API — USDA FSIS (2024)
Architected custom RESTful API connecting to Azure AI Translation Services for real-time multilingual content delivery across 5 languages. Deployed on Azure Kubernetes Service with Redis Cluster caching. Sub-second translation response times. FISMA-compliant.
USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (2024-Present)
Led enterprise-scale platform modernization. Redis Cluster architecture improving response times by 70%. AI-powered translation service for 15+ languages. Kubernetes deployment pipeline reducing infrastructure costs by 40%.
National Gallery of Art (2024)
Complete platform migration from legacy Adobe CMS. Migration of 10,000+ art collection records with 99% data fidelity. Enhanced search with Apache Solr faceted browsing.
USAID Environmental Database (2022-2023)
7 months solo reverse engineering of undocumented legacy PHP application. Microservices-based integration layer reducing data latency by 75%. Apache Solr search across 50,000+ records.
U.S. Department of Treasury (2020)
9-month engagement migrating 6 legacy SharePoint sites to unified platform. 15,000+ documents migrated. 200+ content creators configured. 92% reduction in deployment time.
U.S. Department of Transportation (2019-2020)
11-month engagement modernizing the Office of the Secretary permitting dashboard. ARCGIS integration visualizing 500+ infrastructure projects on interactive maps.
Fortune 500 Projects (Selected)
Vanguard Financial Services (2020-2021)
Led technical transformation to headless architecture with RESTful API layer.
Mastercard (2021-2022)
Built custom bulk upload system for efficient file processing.
Blue Cross Blue Shield (2022)
Designed real-time notification and alert system for BCBS Connect member portal.
Billboard.com (2013-2014)
Led initiative bringing Billboard.com in-house. Serving 5M+ monthly visitors. Improved site performance by 65%.
Media & Creative Projects
The Afro-pean (In Progress)
Book project exploring the African diaspora experience in Europe. Multiple draft versions in development.
Blacksky Labs
YouTube channel documenting experimental projects, technical explorations, and the creative process behind building complex AI and robotics systems.