Project Grant 1853206

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project, awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP) program (CFDA 47.084), aims to advance generative AI technologies for robotic control and automation. The $275,000 award to Sufficiently Advanced, Inc. will focus on developing new AI-based solutions to address challenges with non-rigid materials and environments, an underserved area in current robotic technologies. The proposed...

The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $275,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project grant to Crabline Robotics LLC, a woman-owned small business, to develop a dexterous, crab-like aquatic robot platform for underwater construction and decommissioning of structures. The project seeks to create a new class of aquatic robotics capable of stabilizing around a target and precisely delivering tools, such as exothermic cutting rods, to underwater structures. This...

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) Project Grant award, totaling $599,821, supports research to enable new capabilities for a type of robot called a serial chain manipulator. The goal is to create robots with up to 100 segments, more than doubling the current state of the art. This would increase the number and complexity of shapes the robot can form, enabling applications like inspecting confined spaces in manufacturing or accessing locations inside the...

This EAGER (Early-concept Grants for Exploratory Research) Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) aims to advance dexterous teleoperation and human-robot collaboration technologies. The $160,000 award supports research to develop a learning-based robot control policy, a safety-aware multi-modal perception system, and integrated control and feedback mechanisms for intuitive and precise bi-directional human-robot interactions. The project...

This National Science Foundation Division of Industrial Innovation Project Grant awarded $256,000 to Grain Weevil Corporation of Aurora, Nebraska to develop a remote-controlled grain management and extraction robot. The 11-month project, which runs from March 2022 through December 2022, seeks to demonstrate the technical feasibility of a mobile robot for improving farmer safety and grain storage efficiencies. Key deliverables include classifying grain surface variables that impact robotic...

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (CFDA 47.084) Project Grant award of $304,952 provides funding to Sol Robotics, Inc. to develop a novel robotic arm architecture designed to overcome limitations of traditional robot arms. The project aims to create a cost-effective, high-performance robotic arm capable of heavy payloads and extended reach, enabling automation of physically demanding tasks in industries such as agriculture, construction, and...

The National Science Foundation Division of Industrial Innovation awarded Cambrian Works, Inc. a $255,941 Project Grant under the Engineering federal grant program (CFDA 47.041) to support the development of a generalized approach to robotic thermal management. The grant period runs from January 1, 2022 through October 31, 2022. Under this award, Cambrian Works will leverage its expertise in technology and communication solutions to advance resilient multi-mode prototypes and dual-mode optical...

This National Science Foundation (NSF) project grant under the Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) aims to develop the world's smallest functional bipedal robot, multi-legged robot, and wheeled robot, each approximately 100 times smaller than the current state-of-the-art. The $854,461 award to Carnegie Mellon University, spanning from September 1, 2024 to August 31, 2027, will establish scaling laws to understand how actuation, joint losses, and contact properties change at smaller scales. This...

This Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships program (NSF TIP, CFDA 47.084) totaling $274,746 provides funding for the development of modular and updatable artificial intelligence capabilities for robotics. Optimizing Mind Inc. will utilize the award to create a novel computer vision architecture allowing robots to learn without rehearsal through corrections for real-world environmental details not present in training. This flexible...

This $900,000 National Science Foundation Project Grant supports research towards developing the first swarm of 10,000 electronically controlled, programmable robots no larger than a few hundred microns. Funded through the Engineering (47.041) program, this three-year award to The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania aims to significantly advance microrobotics by shrinking robot size tenfold and increasing swarm size ten times over the current state of the art. Key innovations include...