Project Grant 2433150
- This Project Grant award, valued at $325,097 and effective April 1, 2025 through March 31, 2030, was provided by the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) to the University of Colorado (CU). The funding will support research to enable transformative locomotion in insect-scale robots through the development of shape-shifting capabilities for agile and adaptable movement in complex, confined environments. Key research objectives include designing body articulation...
- This National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Program (CFDA 47.041) project grant, awarded on January 1, 2025 for $325,497.00, supports research to enable insect-scale legged robots with the capability to climb on inverted surfaces and grasp irregularly shaped objects. The key goals are to investigate fundamental principles of adhesion and lubrication, construct new adhesion mechanisms, design climbing gaits and grasping modalities, and develop control methods. The project will provide...
- 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 award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) supports research at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) to develop simulation tools and control methods that enable robots to reliably navigate and manipulate complex environments. The $600,000 award, running from October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2030, focuses on two key technical goals: 1) creating multi-physics simulation capabilities for emerging applications like space and underwater...
- This federal Project Grant award, provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Program (CFDA 47.041), supports research to advance robot mobility in challenging natural environments where land meets water, such as wetlands, mudflats, and tidal zones. The $400,000 award to the University of Southern California (USC) aims to create a bio-inspired robot capable of reliably traversing these complex, wet and flowable substrates by sensing and responding to the terrain conditions,...
- The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $618,369 project grant under the Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) to North Carolina State University (NC State). The grant will support research on developing new methods for embodying intelligence in millimeter- to centimeter-scale soft robots. The project will explore how configuring different regions of a flexible piezoelectric polymer layer as sensors or actuators, and interconnecting those regions through customized circuits, can cause...
- This federal Project Grant award of $350,000 from the National Science Foundation's Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) supports the development of a hybrid aerial-hexapod robot for autonomous roof inspection. The primary goals of this 3-year collaborative research project are to: 1) develop an integrated robot platform with dual-mode mobility (flight and legged) and multimodal perception capabilities; and 2) design algorithms to interpret sensory data for autonomous navigation and anomaly...
- This Project Grant award of $560,532, awarded by the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Engineering program (CFDA 47.041), supports fundamental research into the fluid dynamics underlying the multi-modal autonomous operation of the aquatic whirligig beetle. The primary research objectives are to experimentally investigate the beetle's propulsion on the water surface and underwater, its diving behavior, and its use of surface ripples to detect food particles. The findings could lead to the...
- This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) will support $300,000 in research towards the development of millimeter-scale flying robots capable of controlled operation without a physical connection for power or data. The project aims to create robots powered and controlled remotely by a single-axis alternating magnetic field, with careful design of the flying structures to provide passive aerodynamic and gyroscopic stability. The...
- This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) provides $331,272 to the University of Illinois to develop new legged robots that combine agility over rough terrain with speed and efficiency. The project aims to create robots that can match human speed, even over long distances, to assist with tasks such as package delivery, emergency response, and scientific exploration. The university will attempt to combine single-degree-of-freedom,...
This Project Grant award, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering program (CFDA 47.041), provides $641,775 to Clemson University to investigate novel robotic locomotion using unbalanced high-speed rotors. The project aims to develop a versatile multi-domain robot capable of rolling, jumping, crawling, climbing, swimming, and flying through specialized control of the rotor spin dynamics. The research will explore how the relationship between rotor imbalance amplitude and spin speed can enable selection between different mobility modes. This approach will be applied to both rigid and soft robotic systems, with the goal of creating inexpensive and mechanically simple robots that can traverse unstructured environments. The project will also leverage these robots for STEM outreach activities with high school students in upstate South Carolina. The award period runs from September 1, 2025, to August 31, 2028.
Mod # | Description | ReasonForModification | Federal Obligation | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Not listed | $641.8k | 8/28/25 |