(FOA)-National
Robotics Initiative 2.0: Ubiquitous Collaborative Robots (NRI-2.0); February 19,
2019
Agency
National
Science Foundation
U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA)
U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE)
National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
U.S.
Department of Defense (DOD)
Description
The
NRI-2.0 program builds upon the original National Robotics Initiative (NRI)
program to support fundamental research in the United States that will
accelerate the development and use of collaborative robots (co-robots) that
work beside or cooperatively with people. The focus of the NRI-2.0 program is
on ubiquity, which in this context means seamless integration of co-robots to
assist humans in every aspect of life.
The
program supports four main research thrusts that are envisioned to advance the
goal of ubiquitous co-robots: scalability, customizability, lowering barriers
to entry, and societal impact. Topics addressing scalability include how robots
can collaborate effectively with multiple humans or other robots; how robots
can perceive, plan, act, and learn in uncertain, real-world environments,
especially in a distributed fashion; and how to facilitate large-scale, safe,
robust and reliable operation of robots in complex environments.
Customizability includes how to enable co-robots to adapt to specific tasks,
environments, or people, with minimal modification to hardware and software;
how robots can personalize their interactions with people; and how robots can
communicate naturally with humans, both verbally and non-verbally. Topics in
lowering barriers to entry should focus on lowering the barriers for conducting
fundamental robotics research and research on integrated robotics application.
This may include development of open-source co-robot hardware and software, as
well as widely-accessible testbeds. Outreach or using robots in educational
programs do not, by themselves, lower the barriers to entry for robotics
research. Topics in societal impact include fundamental research to establish
and infuse robotics into educational curricula, advance the robotics workforce
through education pathways, and explore the social, economic, ethical, and
legal implications of our future with ubiquitous collaborative
robots.
Collaboration
between academic, industry, non-profit, and other organizations is encouraged
to establish better linkages between fundamental science and engineering and
technology development, deployment, and use.
The
NRI-2.0 program is supported by multiple agencies of the federal government
including the National Science Foundation (NSF), the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the U.S. Department of Defense
(DOD). Questions concerning a particular project's focus, direction and
relevance to a participating funding organization should be addressed to that
agency's point of contact, listed in section VIII of this
solicitation.
Announcement
Number
NSF
19-536
Closing
Date
February
19, 2019
Link
to Full Announcement
https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2019/nsf19536/nsf19536.htm
Contact
Information
David
Miller
(703)
292-4914