Last week the Army said it plans to issue a Request for Unfunded Project Proposals to execute a project award supporting ground robotics research areas.
Anticipated research areas for project proposals include: Natural Human Robot Interface; 3D Mapping for Off-Road Terrain; Long-Range GPS-Denied Absolute Localization; Autonomous Assisted Mobility; Vegetation Classification for Enhanced Traversability Analysis.
This is only for planning purposes, not a Request for Unfunded Project Proposals, and no project award will come from the announcement.
The Request for Unfunded Project Proposals (W15QKN-08-9-0001-RUPP1) will be issued to the Robotics Technology Consortiums Administrative Agent, the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences. The center will then issue the request to the members of the Consortium.
In December 2007, the government announced its intent to enter into an Other Transaction Agreement with one consortium in support of ground robotics related Research and Development projects. As a result of the Ground Robotics Industry Day in January 2008, the Robotics Technology Consortium was formed.
The government intends to make multiple project awards to the members of the consortium as a result of member project proposals submitted via the Request for Project Proposals.
For information on the Robotics Technology Consortium and/or how to become a member, visit the following website: http://www.roboticstechc.org/.