 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Press ReleasesFor Immediate ReleaseApplied Perception awarded second phase of DARPA contract to continue autonomous ground vehicle machine learning research
Cranberry Township, PA – August 10th, 2006– Applied Perception, Inc. (API), a Pittsburgh-based company that develops and licenses robotics-related technologies to market-leading companies in the fields of defense, transportation, and agriculture, today announced that it has been awarded a $1.25 million Phase II contract modification from the Information Processing Technology Office of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the central research and development organization for the Department of Defense. The award was made as part of DARPA’s LAGR (Learning for Autonomous Ground Vehicles) program, which aims to develop completely autonomous off-road ground vehicle navigation using machine learning techniques. The Phase II modification includes a $1 million award to further develop technologies which API initiated during LAGR Phase I, as well as supplemental $250,000 funding to begin transitioning this work to other DARPA unmanned ground vehicles. During Phase I of the LAGR program, API invented, prototyped, and demonstrated a number of new technologies advancing the current state-of-the-art in unmanned ground vehicle navigation, including techniques for real-time stereo vision processing, neural net-based terrain evaluation, long-distance perception, and probabilistic approaches for learning vehicle navigation by observing the performance of a human operator. These technologies were evaluated across a variety of terrain on several off-road courses around the country, using test courses designed by DARPA which were kept secret from LAGR program participants. The performance of the system on these courses was measured and scored independently by DARPA personnel. In addition to continuing the Phase I research efforts, API has also been asked by DARPA to begin transitioning parts of this technology to a six-ton unmanned ground vehicle prototype being developed by other DARPA contractors. “We are pleased that DARPA selected our effort for Phase II funding and are thrilled that we will transition parts of our LAGR technology to a larger, more capable unmanned ground vehicle”, commented Dr. Mark Ollis, the principal investigator for API’s LAGR research contract. “The additional resources provided by this award will enable us to broaden our underlying research efforts, and to accelerate the transition of this work for use on other military and civilian unmanned ground vehicles.” “Mark and his team did an excellent job during Phase I of this program,” said Dr. Todd Jochem, President and Founder of API. “I’m pleased that we are able to continue our work on core research that supports our other development and deployment activities. Keeping the technology pipeline full is critical for our continued growth.” About Applied Perception, Inc. Disclaimers: Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not reflect the views of DARPA. The views and conclusions contained in this document/presentation are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as presenting the official policies or position, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. Government unless so designated by other authorized documents. Citation of manufacturer’s or trade names does not constitute an official endorsement or approval of the use thereof. For further information, contact: Todd Jochem, Ph.D. Lynn Seay |
PRESS RELEASES:
SkunkWorks: The TARDEC Skunk Work project is centered on the TAGS-CX vehicle platform. This platform is a high-performance, high-speed, high-mobility JAUS-compliant semi-autonomous unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) with modular payload capabilities. It is the result of a collaborative design process involving personnel from Applied Perception Inc., TARDEC, and Dumur Industries.
RCCEE: Robotic Combat Casualty Extraction and Evacuation Overview: Robotics technologies that can seek, detect, extract and transport a wounded soldier from the point of injury to a field hospital. Numerous sensing, navigation, and other technologies have been researched and developed during this program.
LAGR: The DARPA LAGR program aims to develop completely autonomous off-road ground vehicle navigation technologies using only computer vision and machine learning techniques.
|
|