Oct 11 2013
5D Robotics, Inc., a robotics software company that integrates human behaviors with leading robotics hardware, in collaboration with Charles River Analytics, was awarded a $100,000 research and development contract by the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.
The goal of the contract is to create an autonomous robot that can interact with humans as a team member by physically following its teammates and reacting to visual and gestured commands. The project is called "Multinodal Interface for Natural Operator Teaming with Autonomous Robots (Minotaur)."
With the Minotaur project, 5D Robotics will integrate its proprietary 5D Behavior Engine, including its "Follow Me" and "Guarded Motion" capabilities, with Charles River's vision-based tracking and gesture recognition technology to process specific commands. 5D software enables any robot to autonomously follow its teammates through complex environments while avoiding collision with people or objects. Integrating Charles River's visual recognition technology means the robot can now take cues from its human teammates and follow directions autonomously. Similar to how soldiers, police, and firefighters might get visual cues from their teammates via hand signals, the Minotaur project will enable those same recognition and response behaviors in robots.
The success of the project will first impact how war fighters interact with robots on the battlefield. Future commercialization could mean human-robot teams in a variety of sectors including law enforcement and emergency response, with later applications in senior care support and hospitality.
"The Minotaur project is advancing how robots and humans work together," said David Rowe, 5D Robotics CEO. "As U.S. Defense and commercial budgets shrink, robots will be called upon to take on more complex tasks and work in close cooperation with humans. This project is immediately appropriate for our war fighters and future-ready for the commercial sector. The team at Charles River has created software that integrates perfectly with our own, and we believe we'll have a robust, amazingly responsive robotic software within six months."
The SBIR award program encourages companies to engage in federal research and development (R&D) that has the potential for commercialization. The highly competitive program enables businesses like 5D Robotics and Charles River to explore their technological potential through a three-phase process. Minotaur has made it into Phase I, which according to SBIR, is "to establish the technical merit, feasibility, and commercial potential of the proposed R/R&D efforts and to determine the quality of performance of the small business awardee organization prior to providing further Federal support."
5D Robotics has previously taken projects all the way through the SBIR three-phase program in just 18 months, which is highly unusual according to Rowe. "We are extremely optimistic about the Minotaur project at 5D Robotics. Our team anticipates this R&D project to further our progress in developing robots that can safely and effectively work side-by-side with humans in the most dangerous of situations, and also improve productivity in other industries in the future," he said.
Press release avilable from http://www.prnewswire.com/
Source: http://www.5drobotics.com/