Today, four federal agencies announced $40 million in grants to university researchers across the country to advance the National Robotics Initiative, unveiled by President Obama at Carnegie Mellon University on June 24, 2011.
The initiative, led by the National Science Foundation, is also supported by NASA, the National Institutes of Health, and the United States Department of Agriculture. These agencies have also issued a new joint solicitation to fund an additional 25-40 awards.
The research projects that are being funded vividly illustrate the broad potential of robotics to help achieve important national goals, such as:
Other agency announcements related to robotics that that have been made since the President’s speech include Department of Defense’s support for equipment for university robotics research, the opening of the Navy’s cutting-edge Laboratory for Autonomous Systems Research, and DARPA’s Robotics Challenge to improve disaster response operations.
The Administration decided to launch the National Robotics Initiative because:
Congratulations to the researchers that will be conducting this important research, and to the agencies that are providing the funding that will keep the United States at the cutting-edge of robotics technology.
Tom Kalil is Deputy Director for Policy at OSTP