The Collier Report of U.S. Government Contracting

Sampling of Federal Government Funding Actions/Set Asides

In order by amount of set aside monies.

• $992,044 - Friday the 10th of July 2015
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  NRI-LARGE: TOWARD HUMANOID AVATAR ROBOTS FOR CO-EXPLORATION OF HAZARDOUS ENVIRONMENTS. WHILE SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS HAS BEEN MADE IN ROBOTICS, NO SYSTEM CAN YET GET TO THE SAME PLACES AS HUMANS IN ORDER TO DO USEFUL WORK IN HAZARDOUS ENVIRONMENTS. RECENT ADVANCES IN HUMANOID ROBOTS ARE STARTING TO DEMONSTRATE THAT THEY WILL BE FEASIBLE AND WELL SUITED FOR SUCH ENVIRONMENTS. HOWEVER, HUMANOIDS STILL LACK THE MOBILITY AND RELIABILITY REQUIRED TO SAFETY INTERACT WITH HUMANS AND OTHER ROBOTS, AS WELL AS THE OPERATOR-ROBOT COORDINATION REQUIRED TO GET PLACES AND DO USEFUL WORK IN HAZARDOUS ENVIRONMENTS. THIS PROJECT PROPOSES TO ADVANCE THE STATE OF THE ART IN HUMANOID AVATAR ROBOTS THROUGH BASIC RESEARCH IN THE AREAS OF COACTIVE INTERFACES, BIPEDAL WALKING CONTROL, PATH PLANNING THROUGH COMPLEX TERRAIN, AND MULTI-SENSORY TELEPRESENCE INTERFACES. RESULTS FROM THIS BASIC RESEARCH WILL BE INTEGRATED WITH EXISTING TECHNOLOGY ACROSS DIVERSE AREAS, SUCH AS MANIPULATION, PERCEPTION, AND LOCALIZATION IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A HUMANOID AVATAR ROBOT SYSTEM, WHICH CAN ACT AS A PHYSICAL PROXY, PROJECTING A PERSON S PRESENCE TO A REMOTE LOCATION TO PERFORM USEFUL WORK. A COACTIVE DESIGN APPROACH WILL BE USED, WHICH EXPLICITLY TAKES INTO ACCOUNT THE INTERDEPENDENCE OF HUMAN-ROBOT COOPERATIVE TASKS IN ORDER TO MAKE THE ROBOT S ACTIONS TRANSPARENT, DIRECTABLE, AND PREDICTABLE TO THE OPERATOR. RESEARCH AND INTEGRATION WILL BE PERFORMED ON NASA JSC ROBONAUT HARDWARE, WHICH HAS BEEN MADE AVAILABLE TO THE RESEARCH TEAM THROUGH A PRIOR COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT. THE MAIN CHALLENGE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP A UNIFYING FRAMEWORK FOR HUMANOID AVATAR ROBOT SYSTEMS AND EXTEND THE WORK IN SEVERAL INDIVIDUAL AREAS TO ENABLE SUCH SYSTEMS. EXISTING OPEN SOURCE ROBOTICS SOFTWARE LIBRARIES WILL BE EXTENDED TO MAKE THEM MORE TRANSPARENT, DIRECTABLE, AND PREDICTABLE IN THE AVATAR SYSTEM. WE PROPOSE ADDITIONAL RESEARCH IN AREAS THAT REQUIRE MORE WORK, THAT THE RESEARCH TEAM HAS EXPERTISE IN, AND THAT ARE CRITICAL FOR ENABLING USEFUL AVATAR SYSTEMS. THESE AREAS INCLUDE: COACTIVE INTERFACES, WHICH EXPLICITLY TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE INTERDEPENDENCE OF COOPERATIVE TASKS. TODAY'S ROBOTS ARE TYPICALLY FULLY TELEOPERATED, PLACING A LARGE BURDEN ON THE OPERATOR, OR HAVE AUTONOMY THAT IS OPAQUE, LEADING TO AUTOMATION SURPRISES. BIPEDAL WALKING AND BALANCE ALGORITHMS. TODAY'S BEST HUMANOIDS STILL FALL OVER FROM SLIGHT PUSHES AND CANNOT WALK ON EVEN SLIGHTLY ROUGH GROUND WITHOUT A HIGH PRECISION MODEL OF THE GROUND. HUMANOID LOCOMOTION PLANNING. THERE ARE MANY IMPRESSIVE PLANNING TOOLS AVAILABLE THAT WE WILL LEVERAGE, BUT WORK STILL NEEDS TO BE DONE ON APPLYING THESE TOOLS TO COMPLEX, UNSTRUCTURED, AND DYNAMIC HAZARDOUS ENVIRONMENTS, AS WELL AS INTEGRATING MANIPULATION AND DYNAMIC LOCOMOTION. MULTI-SENSORY TELEPRESENCE INTERFACES. APPROPRIATE USE OF TELEPRESENCE INTERFACES THAT PROJECT TACTILE, AUDIO, AS WELL AS VISUAL INFORMATION TO THE OPERATOR MAY LEAD TO IMPROVED SITUATIONAL AWARENESS.

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• $88,908 - Friday the 10th of July 2015
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  WEARABLE ROBOTIC EXOSKELETON TECHNOLOGIES CAN BE APPLIED TO A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT FIELDS, INCLUDING EXERCISE, MICROGRAVITY COUNTERMEASURES, MOBILITY ASSISTANCE, STRENGTH AUGMENTATION, AND REHABILITATION. WHILE THE SPECIFIC EXOSKELETON DEVICE TO BE ULTIMATELY USED FOR EACH OF THESE APPLICATIONS WILL BE DIFFERENT, THERE IS A SIGNIFICANT TECHNOLOGY OVERLAP BETWEEN ALL OF THESE APPLICATIONS. THESE APPLICATIONS ALL INVOLVE A ROBOTIC DEVICE THAT IS WORN BY THE USER AND THAT IMPARTS FORCES TO THE USER WHILE CONFORMING TO THE USER S MOTIONS. THE DEVICE MUST APPLY THESE FORCES IN A COMFORTABLE AND INTELLIGENT WAY SUCH THAT BENEFIT IS PROVIDED TO THE USER WHEN REQUIRED AND THE DEVICES DOES NOT IMPEDE THE USER WHEN ASSISTANCE IS NOT REQUIRED OR CANNOT BE PROVIDED. THE DEVICE MUST BE ABLE TO WORK COOPERATIVELY AND NOT OVERBURDEN THE USER WITH COMPLICATED INTERFACES OR DISPLAYS. THE USER MUST BE ABLE TO WALK DYNAMICALLY AND STAY BALANCED IN THE PRESENCE OF DISTURBANCES AND IRREGULAR TERRAIN.

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• $65,000 - Friday the 10th of July 2015
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  WEARABLE ROBOTIC EXOSKELETON TECHNOLOGIES CAN BE APPLIED TO A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT FIELDS, INCLUDING EXERCISE, MICROGRAVITY COUNTERMEASURES, MOBILITY ASSISTANCE, STRENGTH AUGMENTATION, AND REHABILITATION. WHILE THE SPECIFIC EXOSKELETON DEVICE TO BE ULTIMATELY USED FOR EACH OF THESE APPLICATIONS WILL BE DIFFERENT, THERE IS A SIGNIFICANT TECHNOLOGY OVERLAP BETWEEN ALL OF THESE APPLICATIONS. THESE APPLICATIONS ALL INVOLVE A ROBOTIC DEVICE THAT IS WORN BY THE USER AND THAT IMPARTS FORCES TO THE USER WHILE CONFORMING TO THE USER S MOTIONS. THE DEVICE MUST APPLY THESE FORCES IN A COMFORTABLE AND INTELLIGENT WAY SUCH THAT BENEFIT IS PROVIDED TO THE USER WHEN REQUIRED AND THE DEVICES DOES NOT IMPEDE THE USER WHEN ASSISTANCE IS NOT REQUIRED OR CANNOT BE PROVIDED. THE DEVICE MUST BE ABLE TO WORK COOPERATIVELY AND NOT OVERBURDEN THE USER WITH COMPLICATED INTERFACES OR DISPLAYS. THE USER MUST BE ABLE TO WALK DYNAMICALLY AND STAY BALANCED IN THE PRESENCE OF DISTURBANCES AND IRREGULAR TERRAIN.

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• $497,612 - Tuesday the 15th of May 2012
  Department Of Army
  W6QK ACC-APG
  EXERCISE OF OPTION PERIOD #1 IN THE AMOUNT OF $497,612.00.

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• $208,978 - Wednesday the 20th of June 2012
  Department Of Navy
  SPACE AND NAVAL WARFARE SYSTEMS
  INCREMENTAL FUNDING&ADD CLAUSE 252.204-0007 CONTRACT-WIDE: SEQUENTIAL ACRN ORDER. (SEP 2009).

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• $194,131 - Friday the 3rd of February 2012
  Department Of Navy
  SPACE AND NAVAL WARFARE SYSTEMS
  AGILE SERVICE-ORIENTED ARCHITECTURES FOR TACTICAL EDGE NETWORKS

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• $152,831 - Friday the 10th of July 2015
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  WEARABLE ROBOTIC EXOSKELETON TECHNOLOGIES CAN BE APPLIED TO A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT FIELDS, INCLUDING EXERCISE, MICROGRAVITY COUNTERMEASURES, MOBILITY ASSISTANCE, STRENGTH AUGMENTATION, AND REHABILITATION. WHILE THE SPECIFIC EXOSKELETON DEVICE TO BE ULTIMATELY USED FOR EACH OF THESE APPLICATIONS WILL BE DIFFERENT, THERE IS A SIGNIFICANT TECHNOLOGY OVERLAP BETWEEN ALL OF THESE APPLICATIONS. THESE APPLICATIONS ALL INVOLVE A ROBOTIC DEVICE THAT IS WORN BY THE USER AND THAT IMPARTS FORCES TO THE USER WHILE CONFORMING TO THE USER S MOTIONS. THE DEVICE MUST APPLY THESE FORCES IN A COMFORTABLE AND INTELLIGENT WAY SUCH THAT BENEFIT IS PROVIDED TO THE USER WHEN REQUIRED AND THE DEVICES DOES NOT IMPEDE THE USER WHEN ASSISTANCE IS NOT REQUIRED OR CANNOT BE PROVIDED. THE DEVICE MUST BE ABLE TO WORK COOPERATIVELY AND NOT OVERBURDEN THE USER WITH COMPLICATED INTERFACES OR DISPLAYS. THE USER MUST BE ABLE TO WALK DYNAMICALLY AND STAY BALANCED IN THE PRESENCE OF DISTURBANCES AND IRREGULAR TERRAIN.

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• $111,418 - Monday the 23rd of April 2012
  Department Of Army
  W6QK ACC-APG
  FUNDING MOD IN THE AMOUNT OF #111,418.00.

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• $100,000 - Tuesday the 17th of January 2012
  Department Of Army
  W6QK ACC-APG
  BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT, "DEVELOPING A FLEXIBLE APPROACH FOR MULTIPLE APPLICATION DOMAINS AND PLATFORMS USING THE KAOS POLICY SERVICES FRAMEWORK". INITIAL FUNDING IN THE AMOUNT OF $100,000.00.

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