Posts tagged announcement
TORC to Speak at National Military Robotics Conference
BLACKSBURG, Va. (May 12, 2011) – Andrew Culhane, Business Development Manager for TORC, a leading developer of robotic technologies for unmanned and autonomous vehicles, has been selected to speak at Military Robotics, a national conference featuring some of the industry’s top experts.
Culhane joins a distinguished panel sharing the latest information and insight on military robotics, an industry that’s expected to grow to almost $10 billion worldwide by 2016.
Culhane will present information about the productization of robotic building blocks to enable technology reuse for military and commercial applications.
The conference will be held June 9-10 in Arlington.
About TORC
TORC enables engineers to rapidly integrate robotic systems through a suite of modular, customizable products. TORC’s Robotic Building Blocks product line is used by leading academic, commercial and government organizations to shorten the development process, lower costs and mitigate risks. These products have been used on more than 100 mobile robots ranging from 15 pounds to 15 tons. TORC provides solutions for drive-by-wire conversion, emergency stop, power management, autonomous navigation and operator control. For more information, visit http://www.torctech.com.
NFB Blind Driver Challenge Team Chooses TORC’s ByWire XGV as Base Research Platform
Next Generation of Blind-Drivable Vehicles Using TORC Robotic Building Blocks Product Line
BLACKSBURG, VA (October 13, 2010) – TORC, a leading provider of modular unmanned vehicle technologies, is pleased to announce its products are being used in developing the next generation of NFB Blind Driver Challenge vehicles. The ByWire XGV vehicle, driven by a blind driver, will be demonstrated during the 2011 Rolex 24 at the Daytona International Speedway.
Mark Riccobono, Executive Director of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) Jernigan Institute, says, “The National Federation of the Blind issued our Blind Driver Challenge to encourage partnerships with universities and technology manufacturers to develop nonvisual interface technologies that convey essential information about the driving environment to a blind driver in real-time. Having nonvisual access to this information will empower the blind driver to use his/her capacity to safely and independently operate an automobile. On January 29, as part of the pre-race activities of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the resulting evolution of nonvisual driving interface technologies will be demonstrated using a Ford Escape that has been converted to the next generation blind-driver vehicle. A blind driver will independently operate the vehicle, in front of tens of thousands of spectators, to demonstrate that a blind person can safely perform various driving functions. This monumental milestone that brings us ever closer to the development of a road-ready vehicle for the blind is a direct result of the partnership between the National Federation of the Blind, Virginia Tech, and TORC.”
The NFB Blind Driver Challenge was taken on by Dr. Dennis Hong and the Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory (RoMeLa) at Virginia Tech, which successfully demonstrated a prototype blind-drivable dune buggy in May of 2009. In June 2010, RoMeLa partnered with TORC to develop the next generation of NFB Blind Driver Challenge vehicles. New and improved versions of RoMeLa’s nonvisual interfaces will be integrated into a ByWire XGV; TORC’s modified Ford Escape Hybrid with its ByWire drive-by-wire conversion modules, SafeStop wireless emergency stop system and PowerHub power distribution modules. The ByWire XGV, which is based around TORC’s success in the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge, provides a thoroughly tested vehicle configuration from which the team can add more advanced technologies.
“The ByWire XGV base vehicle has enabled the RoMeLa team to focus on the research and development of nonvisual interfaces for the blind. We have chosen the ByWire XGV for its performance, ease of integration with our system, and most importantly, for its reliability as safety is most important. By leveraging TORC’s commercial-off-the-shelf products, our team of graduate and undergraduate students will enable the blind to drive at the 2011 Rolex 24 and beyond,” said Dr. Dennis Hong, Director of RoMeLa.
While many autonomous vehicle technologies will be used, the goal is not to develop an autonomous vehicle to drive the blind, but rather a vehicle that enables a blind person to drive. The sensing and perception data that would normally be used to autonomously carry out the appropriate driving behaviors will instead be passed to the blind driver through several nonvisual interfaces. The blind driver can then reason about the environment, make control decisions, and directly execute these decisions from behind the wheel. The novel interfaces being developed at RoMeLa include DriveGrip, a pair of vibrating gloves that relay steering information, SpeedStrip, a vibration-based device that relays speed information, and AirPix, a device that uses compressed airflow patterns to create tactile images.
For more information about the NFB Blind Driver Challenge visit www.blinddriverchallenge.org and to learn more about RoMeLa visit www.romela.org.
About TORC
TORC enables engineers to rapidly integrate robotic systems through a suite of modular, customizable products. TORC’s Robotic Building Blocks product line is used by leading academic, commercial and government organizations to shorten the development process, lower costs and mitigate risks. These products have been used on over a hundred mobile robots ranging from 15 pounds to 15 tons. TORC provides solutions for drive-by-wire conversion, emergency stop, power management, autonomous navigation and operator control. The ByWire XGV, a drive-by-wire Hybrid Escape with integrated SafeStop safety and PowerHub distribution systems, provides an integration-ready base platform for autonomous system development. For more information, visit www.torctech.com.
TORC, Robotic Building Blocks, ByWire XGV, SafeStop, and PowerHub are trademarks of TORC.
Additional Information on the NFB Blind Driver Challenge
TORC Announces Next Generation SafeStop Wireless Emergency Stop for Robotic Systems
Enhancements include multiple frequency options, web configuration interface, and ruggedness for harsh operating environments.
BLACKSBURG, VA (July 14, 2010) – TORC, a leading provider of robotic building blocks for developers and integrators of robotic systems, announces the release of the next generation SafeStop, a failsafe emergency safety system for robotic vehicles. The SafeStop is the industry’s leading off-the-shelf wireless emergency stop used by government labs, research universities, robotics developers and system integrators on a wide range of ground and surface vehicles.
The next generation SafeStop is available for use on 340-400 MHz, 900 MHz, 1.3 GHz or 2.4GHz frequencies, providing operational compatibility for international markets and restricted bands. A user-friendly web configuration interface has been integrated to allow users to customize the SafeStop for their specific application without installing any software.
With robotic systems transitioning to industrial and military environments, the next generation SafeStop has been ruggedized to include stronger enclosures, connectors, antennas, switches and switch guards, as well as improved sealing for water resistance ratings up to IP67. This ruggedness is designed for operation in harsh environments found in military, mining, agriculture, and manufacturing. Additional enhancements include wider input voltage ranges and RAM mount compatibility.
“Our customers have given us outstanding feedback to identify the evolving safety requirements in industrial and military robotic markets. I appreciate this feedback and I am pleased that the next generation SafeStop product line will meet their needs,” Michael Fleming, CEO of TORC.
The SafeStop is one of the many robotic building blocks that TORC offers for customers to rapidly integrate and deploy autonomous robotic systems. During development and operation, it is essential to integrate an independent wireless emergency stop system in order to reliably place a robotic system in a failsafe state at any time.
This stop functionality is critical in protecting the investment of time, money and resources. To learn more about the next generation SafeStop wireless emergency safety for unmanned vehicles and autonomous robotic systems, visit http://www.torctech.com/products/safestop.
About TORC
TORC enables engineers to rapidly integrate robotic systems through a suite of modular, customizable products. TORC’s Robotic Building Block products are used by leading academic, commercial and government organizations to shorten the development process, lower costs and mitigate risks. These products have been used on over a hundred mobile robots ranging from 15 pounds to 15 tons. TORC provides solutions for drive-by-wire conversion, emergency stop, power management, autonomous navigation, and operator control. To learn more, visit http://www.torctech.com.
JAUS Toolkit Trial Now Available with National Instruments LabVIEW Robotics Software
BLACKSBURG, Va. – TORC (www.torctech.com), a leading provider of robotics technologies for unmanned and autonomous vehicles, has announced that an evaluation version of its JAUS Toolkit™ is now included with National Instruments’ LabVIEW Robotics software.
National Instruments released LabVIEW Robotics 2009 earlier this year, providing a development platform for designing robotic control systems. The JAUS Toolkit is available as an option during installation with the LabVIEW Robotics Module and LabVIEW Robotics Bundle.
With the congressional mandate that one-third of all military vehicles be unmanned by 2015, TORC is helping to prepare the robotics industry with a toolkit designed to simplify the development of JAUS (Joint Architecture for Unmanned Systems) interoperable robotic systems. Given the problems of various proprietary systems being incompatible with each other, JAUS was set as the open messaging standard for communications between elements of unmanned systems.
Now, with the JAUS Toolkit, developers using LabVIEW can implement JAUS without having to develop complex coding. Capitalizing on the strengths of LabVIEW’s intuitive graphical programming environment, the JAUS Toolkit simplifies complex JAUS messages into drag-and-drop components, helping to lower costs and development risks with standards compliant JAUS code.
“As more organizations adopt the JAUS standard, they will be seeking more intuitive development tools that empower their engineers without the steep learning curve,” said Andrew Culhane, business development manager at TORC. “TORC’s JAUS Toolkit is the add-on that facilitates JAUS interoperable robotics development within the LabVIEW programming environment.”
TORC has pioneered the use of LabVIEW in developing JAUS interoperable unmanned systems, payloads and components. The company used an earlier version of the JAUS Toolkit as the lead software developer for DARPA Urban Challenge finalist Team VictorTango. Working with Virginia Tech, the team developed the only JAUS interoperable autonomous vehicle to successfully complete the race. It has since used versions of the JAUS Toolkit on numerous projects, from internal product development to deployments for government and commercial clients.
To learn more about LabVIEW Robotics 2009, visit www.ni.com/robotics. A 30-day evaluation version of the JAUS Toolkit is also available by request at www.jaustoolkit.com.
About TORC Technologies
TORC is a leading robotics engineering and product development company focusing on unmanned and autonomous vehicle systems. TORC commercializes intelligent robotic technologies into modular, interoperable, off-the-shelf products that enable customers to rapidly integrate and deploy unmanned solutions. To learn more, visit www.torctech.com.
CompactRIO, LabVIEW, National Instruments, NI and ni.com are trademarks of National Instruments.
It’s Official – TORC’s New Address
After a long week of packing, moving, painting, network & server upgrades and installations, new security badges, relocating our electronics lab, the hanging of many whiteboards and a pizza party for our departing intern Alex, TORC is officially in working order and back in the swing of things in our new location…just upstairs from our previous one.
Update your address books!
TORC is now located in Suite 2050. Full mailing address is:
TORC Technologies
2200 Kraft Drive
Suite 2050
Blacksburg, VA 24060
Pictures to follow for those who want a sneak peek inside the new facility.