Wednesday, April 1, 2009

$500K NSF grant boosts Energid robotic tool

By Brendan Lynch

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Energid Technologies Corp. reports it has landed $500,000 from the National Science Foundation to develop new robot grasping methods.

Financial terms of the grant were not revealed. Using the funding, Energid said it plans to develop a reusable tool intended to allow robots to manipulate objects in environments less structured than a factory, where robotic manipulation typically takes place.

To do this, Cambridge-based Energid is developing software that can be applied to a variety of robotic systems to enable the robots to grasp objects they haven’t seen before. The software is intended to be easily configured and quickly applied, Energid said. The system works with one or two robotics hands and can grasp objects that are still or moving. As examples, the company offered a robot picking an orange swaying in the wind from a tree, or catching a falling coffee cup.

The system will use a database of grasping algorithms to choose the best approach for each object type and tailor the grasp to the environment, which may include blocked angles of approach and fragile obstacles, the company said.

In June, Energid received funding from the Small Business Innovation Research Program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to work on a robotic citrus harvesting system. Founded in 2001, Energid Technologies plans to work on the robotic citrus harvesting system in Massachusetts, Florida, Texas and California.