RE2 lands SBIR grant for robotic arm

Pitsburgh’s RE2 has landed a Phase One SBIR grant to research an “Avatar”-like robotic device that would allow soldiers in the field to control and manipulate equipment.

The Carnegie Mellon University spin-off will use the six-figure grant for “lots of research and development,” says company vice president Doug Peters. If funded, a second SBIR grant would allow the company to develop the system to conduct military exercises.

The RE2 system allows the user to feel that his or her arm is actually manipulating an object. The robot arm will mimic the operator’s hand movements. The device will enable more advanced manipulation capabilities, such as using common hand tools or cutting wires.

“The arm will mimic whatever the user does. It lets us take it to the next level,” says Peters.

RE2 specializes in agile defense robotics. It has contracts to develop mobile robotic technologies for the Army, Navy, Air Force, DARPA, Robotics Technology Consortium, and the Technical Support Working Group, a U.S. counter-terrorism effort.
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Located in the Lawrenceville section of Pittsburgh, near the National Robotics Engineering Center, RE2 benefits from proximity to collaborators there and on the CMU campus. “There’s so much talent here in robotics, it makes it easy to team,” Peters says.

Source: Doug Peters, RE2
Writer: Chris O’Toole