These Robots Were Made For Walking

RoadNarrows LLC Receives Phase I STTR NSF Grant

Loveland, CO – May 22^nd, 2007 - RoadNarrows LLC based in Loveland, Colorado in partnership with Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE), has received a $150,000 Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to create a “Brain Pack” for walking robots. The grant, titled “General Robot Controller for Legged Mobile Robots with Integrated Open Source Software”, is to develop a brain and sensor augmentation pack for two-, four-, and six-legged robots for teaching science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses. The "Brain Pack" will provide an easy to program computer controller that connects sensors, such as foot and hand touch sensors to give the robot the feeling of walking and grasping, inertial measurement sensors to provide balance, and a color camera to give the robot eyesight. The "Brain Pack" will be a generalized system that can be used on many legged robots, providing them with sensors and computing power that walking robots on the market currently do not have.

Kim Wheeler, the Principle Investigator of the grant, and Robin Knight of RoadNarrows LLC will be working in collaboration with Jerry Weinberg, the Co-Principle Investigator, and William Yu from SIUE. Dr. Weinberg is the Chair of the Department of Computer Science, and Dr. Yu is an Associate Professor of Computer Science.

Hands-on robotics projects have become useful educational tools across a variety of subjects. Robots are integrated systems comprised of interdependent electrical, mechanical, and computational components. Because of their multidisciplinary nature, the study of robotics in the classroom has become a valuable tool for the practical, hands-on application of concepts in various STEM topics at the K-12 and undergraduate educational levels. While there are wheeled robots that are easy to use for K-12 and undergraduate educators, there are not any legged robot platforms with easy to use hardware and software. The "Brain Pack" will have plug-and-play sensors with straightforward software modules developed specifically for use in the classroom.

The grant enables RoadNarrows to grow the company's research and development efforts and to expand their relationships with community schools and universities.

About RoadNarrows LLC

RoadNarrows LLC is a Colorado company founded by Kim Wheeler and Robin Knight in 2002 and is located in downtown Loveland. Ms. Wheeler is the CEO of RoadNarrows. Her academic background is in computer vision and engineering physics. Ms. Wheeler has extensive experience leading high-tech projects and managing engineering teams. Mr. Knight is the CTO of the company. He has experience in software development and system architectures. Both have over 20 years of industry experience in Information Technologies. RoadNarrows' customers are academic researchers and educators who use small autonomous robots and related software as tools in their research or course work. RoadNarrows' primary business focus is robotic research and development. The company generates revenue through retail sales and support of educational robots and software made by several manufacturers, most notably robots by K-Team of Switzerland, a recognized leader in the small intelligent robot industry. RoadNarrows has built a large academic customer base in their five years of operation.

To learn more about RoadNarrows LLC visit: http://www.roadnarrowsrobotics.com

About SIUE

Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville (SIUE) has been using robots in classrooms and outreach programs since 1999. Both Drs. Weinberg and Yu use robotics to teach computer science and engineering courses. In addition Dr. Weinberg conducts middle and high school robot demonstrations, workshops, and competitions to help get students interested in pursuing careers in computer science and engineering. The SIUE department web site is: http://www.cs.siue.edu

About NSF

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering, with an annual budget of $5.91 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 1,700 universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives about 40,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes nearly 10,000 new funding awards. The NSF also awards over $400 million in professional and service contracts yearly.

The "Brain Pack" Phase I grant is supported by the National Science Foundation Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) Program under Grant No. 0711909. For more information, go to: http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward.do?AwardNumber=0711909