National Robotics Initiative 2.0: Ubiquitous Collaborative Robots (NRI-2.0)

National Robotics Initiative 2. 0: Ubiquitous Collaborative Robots (NRI-2. 0) is sponsored by National Science Foundation (NSF), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).

This program supports fundamental research that will accelerate the development and use of robots in the United States that work beside or cooperatively with people. It encourages innovative robotics research and applications emphasizing the realization of ubiquitous co-robots.

NSF 17-518: National Robotics Initiative 2. 0: Ubiquitous Collaborative Robots (NRI-3. 0) | NSF - U.S. National Science Foundation Archived funding opportunity This solicitation is archived.

Important information for proposers and award recipients All proposals must be submitted in accordance with the requirements specified in the funding opportunity and in the Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) and its supplements . All NSF grants and cooperative agreements are subject to the applicable set of NSF award terms and conditions . NSF has updated its research security policies for NSF funded projects.

NSF 17-518: National Robotics Initiative 2. 0: Ubiquitous Collaborative Robots (NRI-2. 0) Download the solicitation (PDF, 0.

7mb) National Science Foundation Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering Division of Information & Intelligent Systems Directorate for Engineering Directorate for Education & Human Resources Directorate for Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences U.S. Dept.

of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture U.S. Department of Energy - Office of Environmental Management (EM) Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Air Force Office of Scientific Research Full Proposal Deadline(s) (due by 5 p. m.

submitter's local time): Second Thursday in January, Annually Thereafter Important Information And Revision Notes This solicitation is a revision of NSF 16-517 , the solicitation for the National Robotics Initiative (NRI). Below are several important points for FY 2017 NRI-2.

0 submissions: This solicitation significantly extends the scope and aims of the original National Robotics Initiative (NRI) program, which was focused on collaborative robots (co-robots). In particular, the NRI-2. 0 program expands the co-robot theme in terms of the scale and variety of collaborative interactions that are the focus of this program – important new themes of the NRI-2.

0 program include collaborative teams of humans and robots, easily customized and personalized robots, and infrastructure to lower the barriers to entry into the field of co-robots. Proposers should read this solicitation carefully to determine if their proposals fit the themes of the program. There are now two classes of projects, Foundational and Integrative , that differ in both focus and budget range.

PIs should carefully read the descriptions of the different classes (see Section II. A. 2) in determining to which class to apply.

The limit on number of proposals per individual (2) now applies to Senior Personnel, as well as to PIs and Co-PIs. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is no longer a participating agency in this program. NSF will still consider proposals in the areas of assistive robotics, prosthetics, exoskeletons, and surgical robots, as long as they fit the themes of the NRI-2.

0 program (see Section II). The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is not a participating agency in this program in FY 2017; it is anticipated that they will rejoin the program in FY 2018.

Any proposal submitted in response to this solicitation should be submitted in accordance with the revised NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) ( NSF 17-1 ), which is effective for proposals submitted, or due, on or after January 30, 2017. Summary Of Program Requirements National Robotics Initiative 2. 0: Ubiquitous Collaborative Robots (NRI-2.

0) The goal of the National Robotics Initiative (NRI) is to support fundamental research that will accelerate the development and use of robots in the United States that work beside or cooperatively with people. The original NRI program focused on innovative robotics research that emphasized the realization of collaborative robots (co-robots) working in symbiotic relationships with human partners. The NRI-2.

0 program significantly extends this theme to focus on issues of scalability : how teams of multiple robots and multiple humans can interact and collaborate effectively; how robots can be designed to facilitate achievement of a variety of tasks in a variety of environments, with minimal modification to the hardware and software; how robots can learn to perform more effectively and efficiently, using large pools of information from the cloud, other robots, and other people; and how the design of the robots’ hardware and software can facilitate large-scale, reliable operation.

In addition, the program supports innovative approaches to establish and infuse robotics into educational curricula, advance the robotics workforce through education pathways, and explore the social, behavioral, and economic implications of our future with ubiquitous collaborative robots.

Collaboration between academic, industry, non-profit, and other organizations is encouraged to establish better linkages between fundamental science and engineering and technology development, deployment and use. Well-justified international collaborations that add significant value to the proposed research and education activities will also be considered. The NRI-2.

0 program is supported by multiple agencies of the federal government including the National Science Foundation (NSF), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD).

Questions concerning a particular project's focus, direction and relevance to a participating funding organization should be addressed to that agency’s point of contact listed in section VIII of this solicitation. Cognizant Program Officer(s): Please note that the following information is current at the time of publishing. See program website for any updates to the points of contact.

For a full listing of agency contacts see Section VIII. of this solicitation. Radhakishan Baheti, ENG/ECCS, Jordan M.

Berg, ENG/CMMI, Ephraim P. Glinert, CISE/IIS, Tatiana Korelsky, CISE/IIS, Frederick M.

Kronz, SBE/OAD, Applicable Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number(s): --- USDA-NIFA Agriculture and Food Research Initiative --- Air Force Office of Scientific Research --- Computer and Information Science and Engineering --- Social Behavioral and Economic Sciences --- Education and Human Resources --- Office of Science Financial Assistance Program --- Environmental Remediation and Waste Processing and Disposal Anticipated Type of Award: Standard Grant or Continuing Grant or Cooperative Agreement or contract vehicles as determined by the supporting agency Estimated Number of Awards: per year, subject to the availability of funds.

Foundational projects will range from $350,000 to $750,000 in total costs for up to three years. Integrative projects will range from $500,000 to $1,500,000 in total costs for up to four years. Please refer to Section III for agency-specific budget criteria.

Anticipated Funding Amount: $30,000,000 to $45,000,000 per year, subject to the availability of funds. Who May Submit Proposals: Proposals may only be submitted by the following: Universities and Colleges - Universities and two- and four-year colleges (including community colleges) accredited in, and having a campus located in, the US acting on behalf of their faculty members.

Such organizations also are referred to as academic institutions. Non-profit, non-academic organizations: Independent museums, observatories, research labs, professional societies and similar organizations in the U.S. associated with educational or research activities. There are no restrictions or limits.

Limit on Number of Proposals per Organization: There are no restrictions or limits. Limit on Number of Proposals per PI or Co-PI: An investigator may participate as PI, co-PI, or Senior Personnel in no more than two proposals submitted in response to this solicitation each year.

In the event that an individual exceeds this limit, proposals received within the limit will be accepted based on earliest date and time of proposal submission (i.e., the first two proposals received will be accepted and the remainder will be returned without review). No exceptions will be made. The above limit applies only to proposals to the NRI-2.

0 solicitation, not to the totality of proposals submitted to NSF. Proposals submitted in response to this solicitation may not duplicate or be substantially similar to other proposals concurrently under consideration by other NSF, USDA, DOE, or DOD programs or study sections.

Duplicate or substantially similar proposals will be returned without review, including those substantially similar to previously declined proposals without revisions to address concerns raised by reviewers. Proposal Preparation and Submission Instructions A.

Proposal Preparation Instructions Letters of Intent: Not required Preliminary Proposal Submission: Not required Full Proposals submitted via FastLane: NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) guidelines apply. The complete text of the PAPPG is available electronically on the NSF website at: https://www. nsf.

gov/publications/pub_summ. jsp? ods_key=papp .

Full Proposals submitted via Grants. gov: NSF Grants. gov Application Guide: A Guide for the Preparation and Submission of NSF Applications via Grants.

gov guidelines apply (Note: The NSF Grants. gov Application Guide is available on the Grants. gov website and on the NSF website at: https://www.

nsf. gov/publications/pub_summ. jsp?

ods_key=grantsgovguide ). Cost Sharing Requirements: Inclusion of voluntary committed cost sharing is prohibited. Indirect Cost (F&A) Limitations: For NSF, PAPPG guidelines apply.

For DOE and DOD, contact the cognizant program officer. See Section VIII for contact information. For awards made by USDA/NIFA: Section 715 of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 (Pub.

L. 113-235) limits indirect costs to 30 percent of the total Federal funds provided (or 42. 857 percent of total direct costs) under each award.

Similar language may be included in the FY 2017 appropriation; therefore, when preparing budgets, you should limit your request for the recovery of indirect costs to the lesser of your institution’s official negotiated indirect cost rate or the equivalent of 30 percent of total Federal funds awarded. See Part V section 7. 9 of the NIFA Grants.

gov Application Guide for further indirect cost information. See http://nifa. usda.

gov/indirect-costs for options. Other Budgetary Limitations: Full Proposal Deadline(s) (due by 5 p. m.

submitter's local time): Second Thursday in January, Annually Thereafter Proposal Review Information Criteria National Science Board approved criteria. Additional merit review considerations apply. Please see the full text of this solicitation for further information.

Award Administration Information Additional award conditions apply. Please see the full text of this solicitation for further information. Additional reporting requirements apply.

Please see the full text of this solicitation for further information. Robots – smart electro-mechanical devices that sense and operate within the environment of their surroundings – have the potential to transform our lives for the better. Specialized collaborative robots ( co-robots ) will safely assist people in their work and daily activities, while other robots will perform jobs too dangerous for people.

We envision a future in which co-robots will no longer be expensive novelties, but rather ubiquitous technologies that significantly enrich the quality of life and quality of work for each of us. Building upon foundational research in co-robots that began with the National Robotics Initiative (NRI), in NRI-2.

0 NSF seeks research to help achieve this vision of ubiquitous collaborative robots , where robots are as commonplace as today's automobiles, computers, and cell phones. Robots will be found in homes, offices, hospitals, factories, farms, and mines; and in the air, on land, under water, and in space. Robots will be helping the elderly and people with disabilities in their activities of daily living.

Robots will assist workers on the factory floor, performing mundane or dangerous tasks and helping to monitor worker safety. Robots will be among the first responders at natural disasters. We envision teams of humans and co-robots, large and small, reliably and efficiently cooperating on tasks.

We envision democratizing robotics and transforming industries, benefiting the individual and society. The NRI-2. 0 program seeks research on the fundamental science, approaches, technologies, and integrated systems needed to achieve this vision.

The program extends and advances the co-robot theme of the first five years of the NRI, in terms of the scale and variety of collaborative interactions. While the previous NRI co-robot theme focused on single robots collaborating with single humans, the NRI-2. 0 program expands that theme to focus on issues relating to scaling up the technologies in ways that are necessary to achieve the vision of ubiquitous collaborative robots.

One significant new aspect of this is co-robot teams : multiple co-robots collaborating with multiple people. Such teams will need to coordinate with people and robots, and possibly interact with software agents or make use of other devices (such as cell phones or the Internet of Things). Robots are characterized by embodied intelligence , and fundamental advances are needed in both the physical and digital domains.

Furthermore, the added dimension of human interaction and the requirement to safely and productively work with human partners requires fundamental advances in modeling of human perception and cognition. To achieve the overall vision of this program, co-robot teams will facilitate communication not only through transfer of data, but also through physical and emotional channels.

Collaboration will be enabled by innovative sensing and actuation schemes, and by new ways to leverage resources from the cloud. Co-robot teams will anticipate the behavior and needs of others, plan and learn from both human and robot collaborators, reason about alternate strategies, and allocate resource usage to promote efficient and effective collaboration.

While autonomy, embodiment, and human-machine interfaces have been extensively investigated separately, creating effective co-robot teams will require understanding of the interactions between these elements. In particular, the physical embodiment of ubiquitous co-robots will substantially affect both how they perform and how they are perceived.

Research is needed to understand, and take advantage of, the fundamental differences between embodied systems, such as robots, and virtual agents. To scale up effectively, robots will need to be easily customizable and personalizable . Features of both the hardware and software should facilitate robots achieving a wide variety of tasks, in a wide variety of situations, for a wide diversity of people.

Ubiquitous co-robots should be designed to operate reliably and safely in real-world environments, with significant mean time between failure, in unstructured, uncertain environments. They should be designed for maintenance and incorporate capabilities for self-diagnosis and self-repair. Scaling up will require new approaches to the challenges of accountability, interoperability, and trust.

Scalability also implies lowering the barrier to entry in robotics research, in terms of accessible, composable hardware and software infrastructure, and shareable testbeds and other resources that can be easily accessed and used by the larger research community. Finally, the advent of ubiquitous co-robots will bring to the forefront social, economic, ethical, and legal issues.

This program encourages fundamental research on the social and economic impact of robots on our work, our social institutions, and our quality of life and work.

Pertinent research questions include understanding the complexities of the future co-robot economy; how economic and social inequality will be affected by ubiquitous co-robots; and what societal policies can be instituted to ensure that stakeholder groups can benefit from the presence of co-robots in our everyday lives. The NRI-2.

0 program represents a natural evolution in robotics research and the co-robot perspective that is in alignment with the Administration’s 2011 National Robotics Initiative and the report to the House Robotics Caucus Advisory Committee of the U.S. Congress, "A Roadmap for U.S. Robotics From Internet to Robotics" ( http://www. us-robotics. us/reports/CCC%20Report.

pdf ), which was updated in 2013 ( http://robotics-vo. us/sites/default/files/2013%20Robotics%20Roadmap-rs. pdf ).

Other informative reference reports include the Office of the Secretary of Defense Unmanned Systems Roadmap (2009-2034) ( http://www. dtic. mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?

Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc. pdf&AD=ADA522247 ) and the WTEC Panel Report on International Assessment of Research and Development In Robotics ( http://www. wtec.

org/robotics/report/screen-robotics-final-report. pdf ). The NRI is a part of a "broader effort to promote a renaissance of American manufacturing ...

developing robots that work with or beside people to extend or augment human capabilities, taking advantage of the different strengths of humans and robots ... investing in the core technology needed for next-generation robotics. ” Building upon the successes of the National Robotics Initiative (NRI), the goal of the NRI-2.

0 program is to support fundamental research that will accelerate the development and use of robots in the United States that work beside or cooperatively with people.

Innovative robotics research and applications emphasizing the realization of such scalable co-robot teams is supported by multiple agencies of the federal government including the National Science Foundation (NSF), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD).

While the first five years of the NRI program focused on single robots collaborating with single humans, the NRI-2.

0 program significantly expands that theme to focus on issues of scalability : how teams of multiple robots and multiple humans can interact and collaborate effectively; how robots can be designed to facilitate achievement of a variety of tasks in a variety of environments, with minimal modification to hardware and software; how robots can utilize large pools of information (from the cloud, other robots, and other people) to learn to perform more effectively and efficiently; how the design of the robots’ hardware and software can facilitate large-scale, reliable operation; and the economic, societal, and educational impacts of having ubiquitous co-robots in our everyday lives.

Collaboration among academic, industry, non-profit and other organizations is encouraged to establish better linkages between fundamental science and engineering and technology development and use, through partnerships among researchers, applications developers, users and industry. International collaborations that enhance and add significant value to the proposed research and education activities will also be considered.

While the NRI encourages projects that include some aspects of technology development, fundamental research should dominate. Proposers focused on developmental work are encouraged to consider submission to the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR ) and Small Technology Transfer Research (STTR) programs (see https://www. nsf.

gov/eng/iip/sbir/ ). All proposals submitted to NRI-2. 0 should support the research themes, listed in Section II.

A. 1, that are the primary foci of the NRI-2. 0 program.

Section II. A. 2 defines the two classes of proposals – Foundational and Integrative – that will be supported by the program.

Proposals to this solicitation may be selected for funding by any of the sponsoring agencies, although all proposals will go through a uniform review process. Proposals of special relevance to sponsoring agencies listed in this solicitation should address the domain-specific interests listed in Section II. A.

3, Sponsoring Agency Mission-Specific Research. Within NSF, the NRI-2. 0 program is administered jointly by the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) and the Directorate for Engineering (ENG).

Supporting directorates include the Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR) and the Directorate for Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences (SBE). Within USDA, the program is led by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). Within DOD, the program is led by the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research, and is supported by multiple departments and agencies.

Within DOE, the program is led by the Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management and is supported by multiple offices and agencies. Contacts for these and related activities at other sponsoring agencies can be found in Section VIII of this solicitation.

Those proposals that are targeting a specific agency sponsorship should indicate so in the last line of the last box of the Project Summary, e.g., "Requested funding agency:" followed by that agency's abbreviated name ("NSF," "USDA," "DOE," or “DOD”), but only if they have previously communicated with a program officer from that agency and received permission or instruction to do so.

Those not so designated will be considered for funding by all of the joint sponsoring agencies. To achieve the vision of the NRI-2. 0 program, funding will support foundational research in robotics science and technology, as well as innovative research in integrated robotic systems.

While disciplinary research is important, the NRI-2. 0 program encourages cross-disciplinary projects with an emphasis on scaling co-robot interaction. This section presents the main research themes that are fundamental for achieving the overall program goals.

While this list of themes and subthemes is not exhaustive, proposers are encouraged to incorporate one or more of the themes into their proposals. In all cases, proposers are reminded that NRI-2. 0 proposals must show a compelling connection to the overall goal of enabling ubiquitous co-robots.

Enable robots to collaborate and coordinate effectively with multiple other agents, either people or robots; Enable robotic systems to perceive, act, plan and learn in a distributed fashion; Enable robots to learn efficiently from direct experience, people, other robots, and digital media; and Enable robots to inform and instruct multiple other agents, either people or robots.

Enable natural interaction with novice users, including use of language and non-verbal communication; Enable effective interaction with experts, including through remote operation; Enable robots to reliably recognize and predict the behavior and activities of others; Investigate social intelligence in robots, including use of mental models, perspective taking, and joint attention; and Investigate issues of trust with respect to ubiquitous co-robots.

Investigate easily customizable robots for achieving a variety of tasks in a variety of situations; Investigate easily personalizable robots for interacting with a variety of people; Investigate composable hardware or software that supports the development of ubiquitous co-robots; Investigate approaches to managing data produced/consumed by robots, especially data shared among agents; and Investigate hardware and software approaches to increase mean time between failure by orders of magnitude and enable robots to fail gracefully.

Investigate designs and materials (e.g., soft robots) for facilitating ubiquitous interaction and for making co-robots inherently safe; Facilitate physical collaboration (including peer-to-peer; collaborative manipulation; and augmentation of human capabilities); Investigate physical information gathering, sensor modalities, and cooperative and distributed sensing; and Investigate alternate robot-human communication modalities (e.g., voice, gesture, visual, movement, tactile) to enhance cooperation amongst team members.

Lowering Barriers to Entry (see also Section II. B): Investigate innovative programming languages/paradigms for robots; Develop robust, easy-to-use infrastructure for software, hardware, and systems; Develop techniques that would facilitate shareable physical testbeds, especially techniques to make existing testbeds easily available communally; and Develop shareable resources, such as software and data.

Investigate the impact of ubiquitous co-robots on social and economic equality; Investigate needed economic and governance policies; Investigate ethical and legal issues related to ubiquitous co-robots; Investigate issues related to teamwork and integration, partnerships, and worker training for collaboration with robots; and Develop innovative uses for co-robots in education (see also Section II. C).

Note: while security and privacy are also important issues for ubiquitous co-robots, proposals in such areas should be sent to other relevant NSF programs, such as Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC, https://www. nsf. gov/funding/pgm_summ.

jsp? pims_id=504709 ). II.

A. 2. Classes of Projects There are two classes of NRI-2.

0 projects, with differing requirements and budget ranges. While there will not be a separate competition for the two classes, they will be evaluated using different criteria. Foundational (FND) projects focus on research into technologies that directly support one or more of the themes of the NRI-2.

0 program. Such projects should lead to transformative approaches that address scientific or technology gaps that currently limit the development, use, or acceptance of co-robots in society. Proposals should clearly explain how the proposed results will further the overall program vision of ubiquitous co-robots.

Foundational projects will be in the range of $350,000 - $750,000 in total budget, with durations of up to three years. Integrative (INT) projects focus on research leading to complete co-robotic systems. The focus of these projects should be on the innovative integration of technologies.

Integrative projects need to address more than one of the NRI-2. 0 program themes or subthemes, and must include evaluation on physical robots, preferably in real-world settings. These projects should have a longer-term vision, with objectives that could not be attained simply by a collection of smaller projects provided with similar resources.

The overall impact to the science of the NRI-2. 0 program should be greater than the sum of each individual investigator contributions. Integrative projects should include multiple PIs, preferably from different disciplines.

Integrative projects will be in the range of $500,000 - $1,500,000 in total budget, with durations of up to four years. II. A.

3. Sponsoring Agency Mission-Specific Research NSF will consider for funding proposals addressing any of the research themes described above in Section II. A.

1, as well as those described below and in Sections II. B and II. C.

DOD encourages basic research in robotics to support the United States Department of Defense's broad vision for the use of autonomous systems to achieve capability increases and cost savings via increased manpower efficiencies, increased capability, and reduced manpower needs.

According to this vision, the value of autonomous and robotics systems is not to replace humans, but to build human-robot teams that complement each other and extend the team's capability to perform a mission. Central to the goal of effective human-robot teaming is the establishment of trust between humans and robots.

Research is needed to investigate behaviors, processes and capabilities that support properly calibrated human-robot trust.

Examples of research areas on trusted human-robot teaming include the following: (1) investigating socially-designed cues such as humanoid appearance, voice, personality, and other social elements on human trust and overall human-robot team performance; (2) physical "embodiment" features versus non-physical features to determine which have the most influence on human trust and performance; (3) sensing of human intent, cognitive and affective states, such as workload, stress, fatigue and fear; (4) modeling the processes of high-performing human teams, such as teammate monitoring, backup behavior, joint attention, shared mental models, coordination and negotiation; (5) dynamic modeling of the human-robot partnerships to allow continuous improvement of joint performance in real-world applications; (6) investigations regarding the effectiveness of various models of human-robot interaction, such as delegation and supervisory control; (7) practical methods for robotic systems to sense and measure trust and changes in trust over time; and (8) investigations of the impact of culture and cross-cultural interactions on reliance and human-machine cooperation.

Interdisciplinary research and research in collaboration with government labs, such as Air Force Research Lab (AFRL), is especially encouraged.

DOE/EM encourages robotics research and technology development for: (1) handling of high-hazard, high-consequence materials and waste; (2) tasks that are dirty, dull, dangerous, and/or difficult to perform; (3) easing the performance of worker/operator tasks that are physically demanding on or stressful to human body or are otherwise ergonomically challenging; (4) performing tasks that are beyond human abilities; (5) improving the ability to respond to and recover from unplanned events or operational emergencies; and (6) improving the safety, quality, efficiency, and productivity of facility operations.

Topics and areas of academic, scientific and engineering pursuit for the application of DOE/EM robotics technologies include but are not limited to: Wearable Robotic Devices for Workers: DOE/EM seeks wearable, prosthetic-like, exoskeletal, bionic, and other attachable human assistive robotic devices that can serve the workforce by functioning as (1) smart personal protective equipment (PPE) and/or (2) performance augmentation and amplification devices (PAADs).

Traditional PPE (e.g., hard hats, safety glasses, and steel-toed shoes) is designed to protect workers from external injuries caused by exposure to workplace and environmental hazards.

Focused differently, wearable robotic devices can protect workers from internal injuries due to, for example, overexertion, bodily reaction, repetitive motion, hyperextensions, over-rotation, excessive and repetitive vibration, and even the latent effects of aging. The integration of sensing devices provides added protection. Wearable robotic devices also serve as PAADs.

They can enable workers to perform tasks that are physically stressful or demanding, mentally taxing, ergonomically challenging, or even beyond human capability. This allows workers to work with much greater ease and efficiency as well as with improved safety and quality.

DOE/EM is pursuing robots that provide remote access to areas and spaces that are inaccessible or prohibit direct entry by workers due to: (1) unsafe, unstable, or unknown physical or structural conditions; (2) configurations that are hard to reach or beyond reach without taking extraordinary mechanical measures; or (3) the presence or potential presence of chemical, biological, radiological, or physical hazards that will or may result in unacceptable occupational exposure or increased health or safety risk.

Other workplace conditions that preclude safe worker entry or are otherwise uninhabitable include those that: are oxygen-deprived or have poor air quality; have explosive gases, materials or devices; have extreme temperatures or extreme pressures; have poor or no visibility, no direct line of sight, or are dimly lit; and are submerged or substantially liquid-covered surfaces.

Robotic devices help to keep occupational exposures as low as reasonably achievable. Gloveboxes have widespread use for the handling of radioactive and nuclear materials within an enclosed, hermetically sealed, and controlled environment. Gloveboxes are typically robust, self-standing structures that are not easily movable or adjustable.

Their design features create ergonomic challenges for operators/lab techs of different heights, torso sizes, arm lengths, and hand sizes. Maintenance can become costly as gloves routinely require replacement. DOE/EM is pursuing advanced robotic technologies that will address challenges associated with doing work within a glovebox.

The integration of robotic arms and hands that can be tele-operated by an operator/lab tech, for example, can offer increased ability (dexterity, fine motor skills and grip), efficiency (work longer and with more focus), capability (added strength and extended reach), and safety (improved ergonomics).

Multi-Use and Multi-User (MU2) Robotic Technologies: DOE/EM is pursuing dual-purpose robotic technologies that can be used to support normal as well as off-normal operations - that is, MU2 robots that are used to perform routine operations can also be deployed in response to emergencies.

For example, an assistive robot that is used by a health physics technician for performing routine radiological surveys can also be deployed by a first-responder to screen for the presence of airborne radioactivity prior to entering an area or space.

The USDA/NIFA encourages robotics research, applications, and education to enhance agricultural production, processing, and distribution systems that benefit consumers and rural communities. These robotics efforts address USDA goals ( www. usda.

gov/documents/usda-strategic-plan-fy-2014-2018. pdf ), including: protecting agricultural health to ensure access to safe, plentiful, and nutritious food (Goal 4. 4), increasing agricultural opportunities by supporting a competitive agricultural system (Goal 1.

1), contributing to clean and abundant water by protecting and enhancing water resources (Goal 2. 3), and ensuring that U.S. agricultural resources contribute to global food security (Goal 3. 1).

The USDA/REE Action Plan is also supported through the following goals ( http://www. ree. usda.

gov/ree/news/USDA_2014_REE_Action_Plan_08-2014_Final. pdf ): sustainable intensification of agricultural production, sustainable use of natural resources, and education and science literacy. Furthermore, NIFA Science goals are supported, including ( http://nifa.

usda. gov/about/pdfs/strat_plan_2014. pdf ): advancing our Nation’s ability to achieve global food security and fight hunger, optimizing the production of goods and services from working lands while protecting the Nation’s natural resource base and environment, and ensuring the development of human capital, communities, and a diverse workforce.

In the process, it is expected that projects will engage academia, industry, stakeholders/users, students, and other organizations to identify fundamental research needs and to conduct both basic and applied research, while providing training for the next generation of scientists, engineers, and technologists.

Projects involving the following topics are particularly desired, although other robotics topics will be considered: Scalable Robotic Technologies. Examples include the following areas: Automated systems for planting, scouting, spraying, culturing, irrigating, and harvesting plant crops (including forests) to decrease costs, improve efficiency, or reduce inputs of water, fertilizer, or chemicals; Improved robotics for