Declaring that robotic technology is reaching a tipping point of intense growth, the federal government says its prepared to fund small business robotics research for purposes ranging from home healthcare management to surveilling underground tunnels.

In a Small Business Innovation Research grant announcement posted online Sept. 14, five federal agencies describe uses that robotics could be put to use for sooner than some distant future.

The National Science Foundation, for example, believes that robots could enable mobility of elderly or disabled persons to a better degree than possible today with wheel chairs.

"Wheel chairs and scooters provide mobility but confine the patient to a seated position which prevents them from speaking eye to eye with peers in conversation, from reaching objects on the stove in the kitchen, and from reaching top shelves in cabinets," the research grant announcement notes.

Similarly, the National Institutes of Health envisions a role for robots in human physical recovery and rehabilitation and even behavioral therapy. A "relational agent" could augment psychosocial therapy by providing computerized therapist personalities and avatars capable of interacting with patients when human therapists are unavailable, the announcement states.

The Homeland Security Department, however, wants robots capable of traversing tunnels filled with large amounts of debris, mud, and water and capable of producing a geospatial map of the tunnel, even if conditions turn explosive.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency doesn't suggest a specific use for robots, but says that it wants to fund robotics research into robot actuators "that exceed the safety and efficacy of human muscle."

The Agriculture Department, meanwhile, wants robots of a pastoral turn capable of dexterous manipulation based on tactile feedback that can visually distinguish plants or animals within complex environments.

The Small Business Innovation Research grant program is structured in three phases, the first two of which are supported using federal funds. Phase 1--which this particular grant announcement focuses on--funds studies of the feasibility of the proposed research and development efforts. Phase 2 continues funding up to the point of prototype development. During Phase 3, small business concerns must look for non SBIR funds  to support the commercialization of the prototype.

Letters of intent to the robotics SBIR grant announcement are due Nov. 20 while final applications are due Dec. 20.

For more:
- go to the robotics SBIT grant announcement
- read a blog post on the Office of Science and Technology Policy about the grant
- watch a video of a robot snake climbing a tree (embedded video)

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