Advanced Manufacturing Partnership:
On Friday, June 24th, at Carnegie Mellon University, President Obama launched the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP). The collaborative research effort brings together leading academic institutions, businesses, and government agencies to promote innovation and invention.
A total of $500 million has been allotted for AMP. Six universities are involved at this stage including CMU, Georgia Tech, Stanford and Michigan. Nearly a dozen businesses, including Ford Motor Co., Northrop Grumman Corp., and Caterpillar Inc., are also participating in the plan. The president of MIT, Susan Hockfield, and the CEO of Dow Chemical, Andrew Liveris will head up AMP. As it turns out, Robots are a major focus of the plan as well.
The National Robotics Initiative and the Future of Robots:
Seventy million dollars in AMP funding is earmarked for robotic research and innovation, termed The National Robotics Initiative. The National Robotics Initiative is supported by a number of government agencies including NASA, the United States Department of Agriculture, National Science Foundation, and The National Institutes of Health.
Robots have an important role to play in reenergizing American manufacturing and ultimately creating new jobs. At CMU, Obama pointed out that the initiative's purpose is "to accelerate the development and use of robots in the United States that work beside, or cooperatively with, people."
The chief focus of The National Robotics Initiative is making collaborative human and robot work possible. Such technological advancements would truly change the way work is accomplished, the way robots are viewed, and manufacturing in general. There are many robotic transformations that will have to take place before this cooperation can occur - changes to robot software, hardware, etc. But federal backing and funding may be the best way to accelerate innovation.
Read more about the benefits of collaborative industrial robots.
Find information on the National Robotics Initiative.
