The Hybrid Wireless Link for Operator/Robot Communications project develops an innovative wireless communications link product that appears as a single link to the robot operator but offers seamless switchover between two technologies with complementary capabilities. The hybrid link enhances the strengths of the two technologies while minimizing the effects of their weaknesses. The hybrid link product achieves performance and reliability not possible with a conventional single link technology approach. Other applications for the product include Medical Emergency Services, Public Safety Services, military communications and Homeland Security.

Aethon

Mobile robotic applications need low cost, reliable obstacle detection sensors for successful operation in complex environments. Existing high performance sensing systems are too expensive for broad application, and low performance sensors, while low cost, have various pitfalls in their operation based on technology. This new development will combine several well known, low cost, and "noisy" obstacle sensing technologies, merging the data in such a way as to drastically reduce or eliminate false obstacle indications. This sensor data fusion will effectively use one sensor technology to make up for limitations of another technology. Using well known sensing principles and primarily off the shelf components, will result in a low system cost, allowing wide applicability to the mobile robotics market. A modular architecture, including JAUS compliance, will allow rapid integration onto many robotic vehicles and applications.

"This TTC project funding will allow Aethon to more rapidly penetrate the healthcare delivery robot market, while providing useful base technology to regional autonomous mobile robot partners."

BlueRoof Technologies

The main goal of this project is to further develop the infrastructure by working with a number of TTC member companies to develop and/or incorporate other advanced systems and products into the Smart Cottage. The proposed systems to be integrated into the Blueroof Smart Cottage for this project include: Memory reminder (AT-Sciences), Medical monitoring (Phillips), Quality of Life Sensors (CMU, Pitt, Bodymedia and Bosch) and Advanced Technology System. With the integration of these systems, the Blueroof Smart Cottage will become a premier research lab and demonstration facility for a variety of technologies that will foster the quality of life for seniors and individuals with physical and mental challenges. The second goal of this project is to develop a comprehensive program that will establish the Blueroof Smart Cottage as a world class test facility where TTC member companies and partners can test their products and ideas in a "real-life" environment with, when appropriate, real life "residents."

Bridge Semiconductor

Bridge has designed a new pyroelectric sensor-based thermal imager from the ground up for low manufacturing costs. Bridge's approach utilizes mature high-volume semiconductor manufacturing technologies for producing and integrating a low cost lead zirconium titanate (PZT) sensing layer to very sensitive, DC-coupled signal conditioning electronics through a combined thermal insulating/electrical conduction layer. With this platform, Bridge will radically disrupt the market and unlock latent high volume demand in emerging, price elastic thermal imaging markets, making thermal imaging cameras widely available to a much broader set of users and applications. The purpose of this project is to improve the pyroelectric response and reduce the noise of the PZT sensor material. This project will allow Bridge to accelerate its product introduction for its second generation IR imager by leveraging the world leading materials expertise at Penn State University's Materials Research Laboratory to develop new pyroelectric sensing materials.

Concurrent Design Automation

This grant will fund the development of design automation software tools that will provide quantitative answers for the following questions: "What are the 'key tasks' of my application? How much faster would these tasks be if they were accelerated using an FPGA? Using an ASIC? What would be the resulting application performance?"

We propose to create a set of three tools that will provide quantitative analysis and rapid design of FPGAs and ASICs using only C software tasks. Specifically, the System Profiler will quantify the performance of an entire software system and each of its tasks. The SOC Designer is a graphical design environment for interconnecting multiple C software tasks though pre-built hardware data structures, facilitating hardware acceleration of software. The SOC Analyzer and Accelerator will enable quantitative analysis of the tasks within the SOC Designer tool to accurately estimate their performance in hardware and will automatically convert the tasks into synthesizable hardware.

Freedom Sciences

The Automated Transport and Retrieval System (ATRS) is a revolutionary new concept being introduced to the mobility market. ATRS is designed to provide those with limited abilities an independent means of transportation without significantly modifying a motor vehicle.

ATRS integrates machine vision and robotics technology with existing mobility products into a cost-effective solution for true independent transportation mobility. The system includes a platform lift and dock, an articulating automotive seat, and a set of hardware and software for remote manual and computer assisted control of a power wheelchair. ATRS makes it possible for a limited mobility individual to safely transport their mobility aid into and out of a motor vehicle of their choice without the assistance of a caregiver.

"The funding we are receiving from TTC is instrumental in helping us achieve our commercialization goals for ATRS. In conjunction with Carnegie Mellon University and Lehigh University, we have developed a working proof-of- concept of the product and now have the funding in place to support the engineering efforts needed to harden the technology and bring it to market rapidly," commented Tom Panzarella, Chief Technology Officer, Freedom Sciences, LLC. "We are very excited to collaborate with TTC on this effort."

Intrigue Technologies, Inc.

Under this program we propose to implement the RoboRetina(TM) technology as a processing System-on-a-Chip -- the RoboRetina(TM) processing module. We will develop a visible color camera for surveillance and biometric applications, and work with our partners (DRS and L3) to integrate our RoboRetina(TM) processing module into their infrared (IR) cameras for military and government markets.

The image sensor chip market remains very attractive -- $2.6B in 2004 to grow to $4.1B by 2008. Eight million CCTV cameras were sold in 2004 and CCTV systems are projected to grow at 12.9% to $2.9B by 2008. The global infrared camera market was $1.3B in 2005, out of which the security and surveillance segment alone is projected to grow at 20% annually to 1.1B by 2008. These growth opportunities attract many competitors. However the vast majority of players are competing in a commodity, technologically-undifferentiated and price-sensitive arena. Our acute understanding of multidisciplinary issues in robotics and computer vision enabled us to "think outside of the box" and create a series of innovations that are necessary to make visual perception work for future machine vision applications.

NanoLambda

NanoLambda is developing Spectrum Sensor(TM) chip, an ultra compact Spectrometer-on-a-Chip. Each pixel of the Spectrum Sensor(TM) chip detects a pre-defined wavelength of light. In contrast to the conventional bulky and expensive solutions, NanoLambda's Spectrum Sensor(TM) chip can be as small as a few mm x mm, and the cost is also lower than one tenth of conventional solutions cost. This not only enables non-invasive "mobile/wearable" health monitoring devices, but also enables miniaturized optical sensor devices for on-site, real time detection of multiple toxic gases and hazardous materials.

RedZone Robotics

RedZone Robotics, Inc. has a storied history of innovation in the industrial, nuclear, and defense markets. RedZone is currently developing and employing a suite of robotic inspection, cleaning, and rehabilitation systems within the water and wastewater market segments. RedZone's flagship product line, Responder, offers inspection and cleaning services in large diameter pipes.

With this award, RedZone will develop a new product line focused on supporting the needs of small mobile robots. RedZone will feature this technology in its small pipe inspection robots. The technology provides compact data acquisition, archiving, and analysis capabilities at low cost for robotic inspection systems.

"This grant is strategically important to RedZone as it is an essential first step in the development of a new product line customized for the inspection of small pipes. Small pipes represent 80% of the market space and offer significant growth opportunities for RedZone," commented Scott Thayer, PhD., Chief Technology Officer of RedZone. "We are excited to be working with The Technology Collaborative on this effort and value their sponsorship and commitment to the region's robotics industry."

Sensible Machines

Sensible Machines' project is entitled "Low-Cost and Precise Localization for Autonomous Outdoor Mobile Robots." A key deliverable of the project is an inexpensive navigation system that operates robustly in large, outdoor areas with centimeter level precision. This capability is fundamental in achieving economically viable autonomous operation for many outdoor tasks that require precise positioning, such as specialty farming and mowing. The project builds on over 5 years of basic research performed by Dr. Sanjiv Singh and Stephan Roth of Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute.

"The Technology Collaborative award is a seminal event for Sensible Machines. The award enables us to develop a core technology for outdoor robotics for commercialization and gain the momentum necessary to help us launch our firm," said Eric Paljug, CEO of Sensible Machines.

VideoMining Corporation

Multiple pilot and demo installations of our VideoMining product have established the value of audience measurement and segmentation. We have identified initial system cost and deployment difficulties due to form factor to be major barriers for widespread acceptance. We propose a low-cost, small form factor hardware that integrates an image sensor and an FPGA module as a solution to this critical barrier. The benefits of the proposed implementation include, small form factor deployment of the solution, significant reduction in cost, from $800 to approximately $250, and significant reduction in power -- making battery operation feasible. Key technical issues in porting our software to the proposed hardware include determining optimal number representation and format, data flow and storage requirements, parallelization strategy, kernel function implementation, and balancing tradeoff between system complexity and application accuracy.

Xigmix, Inc.

Xigmix has developed a computer-aided design tool to speed-up and improve the performance and manufacturability of critical analog, mixed-signal and radio-frequency (RF) integrated circuit designs. Xigmix's proprietary technology allows a customer to improve the performance of analog-based integrated circuits while simultaneously ensuring a manufacturable design. This capability has been achieved through the use of advanced, application- specific numerical modeling and optimization methods.

Xigmix, Inc. was recently awarded this research contract from TTC for their project "IC Memory, Characterization, Optimization and Compilation for SoC Design," to investigate extending its current circuit optimization capability to semiconductor memories.

"Xigmix is very excited to be one of the recipients of a TTC research grant. This provides Xigmix with the capability to extend our technology into the memory design market. It is becoming increasingly difficult for memory designers to produce high yielding designs using the current design methods and aids for emerging System-on-a-Chip semiconductor technologies. The TTC grant provides Xigmix the opportunity to develop and market its technology specifically tailored to meet the needs of this market," commented David J. Collins, CEO of Xigmix.

3eti/Pennsylvania State University

3eti and Pennsylvania State University's project is called "Mobile Sensor Systems." The deployment of sensor networks with mobile nodes is becoming more practical and desirable. Applications range from taking factory inventory to monitoring a hazardous location. For example, a robot with an RFID reader may travel through a warehouse taking inventory as it moves. A challenge with this type of application is to decrease the time taken to complete inventory or to locate a specific item. In previous research we have developed algorithms for both gathering data and relocating sensors to maximize coverage and minimize energy consumption. In this project we propose to implement data gathering and sensor relocation algorithms on a real mobile sensor platform. This work will have direct applicability to ongoing work with DoD and the Navy as currently supported by 3eti.

"This funding will enable us to move ideas from abstract and theoretical concepts into working systems and will allow us to gain more insight into our approaches, resulting in operational systems that will have a positive impact on our business and the benefits our customers realize," commented Thomas F. La Porta of Pennsylvania State University.

About The Technology Collaborative

The Technology Collaborative's mission is to help increase Pennsylvania's technology-based economy by developing collaborating industry clusters that leverage the region's world-class assets in Advanced Electronics, Cyber Security, and Agile Robotics. TTC is helping to create an ideal environment for business expansion by leveraging the region's existing high-tech base, and combining it with resources and support from local universities, private foundations, regional development organizations, federal, state, and local government, and industry. They enable regional economic growth by utilizing a "business friendly" environment to attract new companies to the region, help local companies grow, and foster start-ups.