Project Grant N000142212635

Marine Advanced Robotics, Inc. was awarded a $300,000 Project Grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under the NOAA Small Business Innovation Research Program to further develop collaborative algorithms for autonomous swarming of uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs). The company's Wave Adaptive Modular Vessel technology provides a family of portable, foldable and energy-efficient USVs that can rapidly deploy and map predefined survey areas without existing infrastructure....

This $151,343 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) program will fund research to develop modular robotic swimmers capable of artificial evolution for enhanced mobility in challenging hydrodynamic environments. The project aims to create a "Modular, Mutational, Morphing Underwater Robot (M3UBOT)" design space by drawing inspiration from the evolutionary adaptations of fish. Key objectives include...

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) provides $150,000 to Colorado State University to develop modular robotic swimmers capable of artificial evolution for enhanced mobility in challenging hydrodynamic environments. The project aims to create a "modular, mutational, morphing underwater robot (M3UBOT) design space" that can evolve body morphologies and learn control programs for modular swimming behaviors. This will be enabled...

The Department of the Navy Secretary of the Navy Office of Naval Research awarded a $150,000 Project Grant to Robonation Inc. under the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education, Outreach and Workforce Program (CFDA 12.330). The grant will support Robonation Inc.'s delivery of the 25th Anniversary Robosub Competition from October 1, 2022 through March 31, 2023. The STEM Education, Outreach and Workforce Program aims to support educational programs in STEM fields. The...

This $256,000 National Science Foundation Project Grant supports the development of collision regulations-aware autonomy systems and software for safe interactions between crewed and uncrewed vessels. Funded under the NSF Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships program, the awardee will design and simulate autonomous systems capable of complying with International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea. This includes maintaining compliance within documented operating conditions. The...

This National Science Foundation Project Grant of $256,000 awarded on March 15, 2022 will fund Ladon Robotics LLC to develop autonomous, ocean-going cargo vessels powered by wind and solar energy under the NSF Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships program (CFDA 47.084). The small business aims to integrate existing robotic and energy capture technologies with new wind/solar energy optimization software and autonomous contingency management systems. This has the potential to lower operating...

This $196,007 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) supports the development of an innovative underwater robot testing facility at the Kilo Nalu Natural Coastal Marine Observatory off the coast of O'ahu, Hawaii. The award to the University of Hawaii at Manoa will fund the acquisition of acoustic modems, an acoustic localization system, and an autonomous underwater vehicle to create a mobile robot testing and training platform. Integrated with...

This Project Grant award, valued at $146,239.00, was provided by the National Science Foundation's Polar Programs (CFDA 47.078) to Arizona State University (ASU) to develop a proof-of-concept "mothership-and-passenger" system for autonomous underwater exploration under ice shelves. The project aims to innovate in three main areas: 1) passenger robot design, 2) acoustic communication protocols and hardware, and 3) mothership-and-passenger coordination algorithms. The goal is to create a...

This $818,396 Project Grant awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the Integrative Activities program (CFDA 47.083) will develop a multi-agent AI system of three bio-inspired underwater vessels and a control buoy. The goal is to enhance understanding of hydrodynamics and control of multi-swimmer systems, advance the theory and practice of programmable underwater networks, and enable effective survey of coastal zones. Key deliverables include: (A) three bio-inspired robotic fish...

This $122,196 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) program supports research by Florida Atlantic University to develop an autonomous robotic system for energy-efficient, time-sensitive navigation in unstructured environments. The research advances focus on three key areas: (1) building energy-cost maps for large, uneven terrains using multi-modal machine learning models; (2) designing time- and energy-aware path...