SAN DIEGO, 11 June 2008.iRobot Corp. in Bedford, Mass., announced a sole licensing agreement with UW TechTransfer at the University of Washington to commercialize autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) Seaglider technology previously supported by the Office of Naval Research and the National Science Foundation. The agreement is with the Applied Physics Laboratory and School of Oceanography.
iRobot made the announcement from the show floor of the Association for Unmanned Vehicles International's (AUVSI) Unmanned Systems North America 2008 conference (iRobot Booth #1121) at the San Diego Convention Center.
"We have a strong track record for transferring new technology from research initiatives into products that support military missions," says Helen Greiner, co-founder and chairman of iRobot. "Ten years ago we transformed the original PackBot into a combat-proven robot used today by soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, and licensing the Seaglider from the University of Washington will help our robots conquer new underwater frontiers."
Seagliders help civilian, academic, and military personnel make oceanographic measurements at a fraction of the cost of traditional research vessels or moored instruments. These long-range, high-endurance vehicles economize on energy consumption with a buoyancy-based propulsion system to support mission ranges of thousands of kilometers and deployments lasting up to several months. Instruments can be attached to the Seaglider to continuously collect oceanic physical properties across a range of depths and areas, providing valuable insights to oceanographers and military planners.
"Our federal sponsors expect the university to be able to transition technology from the academic laboratory into the marketplace," says said Russell McDuff, director of the School of Oceanography. "We're delighted to have formed a great relationship with iRobot and are convinced that their strength in building autonomous robots is a great fit for the Seaglider technology."
The Office of Naval Research funded the original research and development behind Seaglider technology beginning in 1995 and is currently testing this vehicle for additional applications. More than 70 Seagliders have been delivered and many are currently in operation all over the world. Recent deployments include waters off Norway, Greenland, Taiwan, the Philippines, and Iceland.
Established in 1982, UW TechTransfer facilitates the commercialization of new innovations arising from UW research through the management and licensing of intellectual property. For additional information about UW TechTransfer, visit http://depts.washington.edu/techtran/.
For additional information about iRobot, visit http://www.irobot.com.
