May 6, 2022
The new ArtIAMAS-MIPS Program announced it has funded four pilot phase projects in the areas of robotic navigation in unstructured terrains, multi-robot ground and aerial collaboration, detecting landmines using unmanned ground vehicles, and aerial autonomy.
The ArtIAMAS-MIPS Program offers grants for collaborative research projects between U.S.-based companies and faculty from the University of Maryland, College Park or the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in the broad areas of robotics, systems, and smart devices that work intelligently in cooperation with each other and human actors across multiple domains.
This program pilots a new model for accelerating innovation by enabling government-industry-academia collaboration.
ArtIAMAS, which stands for AI and Autonomy for Multi-Agent Systems, is a cooperative agreement between the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and the University of Maryland, led by Derek Paley, Director of the Maryland Robotics Center. The Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPS) program is collaborating with ArtIAMAS to fund projects in the aforementioned areas of interest.
Pilot phase projects include up to $100,000 for each project, for up to 12 months, with all funding going to participating university researchers.
Projects funded for this phase include:
McLean, Va.-based Booz Allen Hamilton is collaborating with Dinesh Manocha, Paul Chrisman Iribe Professor of Computer Science and Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Maryland, and Jason Pusey at the U.S. Army DEVCOM-ARL (U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command(DEVCOM) Army Research Laboratory (ARL)), for a one-year project worth $80,000 titled “Perception for Maneuvering Legged Robots in Dense Unstructured Terrains.”
Bethesda, Md.-based Kick Robotics LLC is teaming with Pratap Tokekar, Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Maryland, along with James Dotterweich, Robotics Research Engineer at the U.S. Army DEVCOM-ARL (U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) Army Research Laboratory (ARL)), and Dr. Jean-Paul Reddinger, Aerospace Research Engineer, U.S. Army DEVCOM-ARL (U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) Army Research Laboratory (ARL)), for a one-year project worth $68,500 titled “Autonomous Planning and Navigation for Multi-Robot Ground and Aerial Collaborative Coordination and Decision Making.”
Baltimore, Md.-based Prophecycorp is working with Nirmalya Roy, Associate Professor in the Department of Information Systems at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and Kelly Sherbondy at the U.S. Army DEVCOM-ARL (U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) Army Research Laboratory (ARL)), on a one-year project worth $68,500 titled “Detecting Landmines in Contested Environments using Unmanned Ground Vehicles.”
San Diego, Calif.-based ModalAI is collaborating with Derek Paley, Willis H. Young Jr. Professor of Aerospace Engineering Education at the University of Maryland, and Stephen Nogar, Emerging Overmatch Technologies Autonomy Team Lead at the U.S. Army DEVCOM-ARL (U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command(DEVCOM) Army Research Laboratory (ARL)), on a one-year project worth $68,500 titled “Onboard Image Processing for Applied Aerial Autonomy.”
Projects are subject to final contract negotiations.
