ANN ARBOR, Mich., 20 June 2009. The Robotics Technology Consortium Inc. (RTC) announced the winners of its first seven projects. These teams will undertake the research to develop innovative technologies that will add capabilities to the currently deployed unmanned ground vehicles and will enable future unmanned ground systems, says a representative.

The winning team leads and projects are:

Silvus Technologies Inc., "MIMO-Enabled Communication Links for NLOS Robotic Tele-operation Missions"

Chatten Associates, "Improved Depth Perception to Aid Tele-Operation"

Sarnoff Corporation, "Modular Software Architecture for Rapid Multi-robot Coordination, Mapping and Structure Characterization"

iRobot Corporation, "Sniper/Hostile Fire Defeat"

iRobot Corporation, "RTK-Remote Touch Kit"

RE2 Inc., "Force and Tactile Sensing Based Manipulation"

Sarnoff Corporation, "Mapping in Complex Terrains"

The RTC has entered into a $175 million Other Transactions Agreement (OTA) with the Department of Defense to better enable nontraditional defense contractors to undertake technical projects on behalf of the government. These first projects fall under this agreement and have an aggregate dollar value of $4,871,250.

"The evaluators were very impressed by the high quality and the number of the proposals submitted by RTC members," says Ellen Purdy, enterprise director, Joint Ground Robotics. "The selected proposals stood out for their innovation and relevance to the needs of our deployed troops. In addition, a significant portion of the work is expected to be performed by nontraditional government contractors."