NASA SBIR 2015 Solicitation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Energid Technologies
One Mifflin Place, Suite 400
Cambridge, MA 02138 - 4946
(888) 547-4100

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Ryan Penning
rpenning@energid.com
One Mifflin Place Suite 400
Cambridge, MA 02138 - 4946
(888) 547-4100

CORPORATE/BUSINESS OFFICIAL (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
James English
jde@energid.com
One Mifflin Place, Suite 400
Cambridge, MA 02138 - 4946
(888) 547-4100

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:
Begin: 5
End: 6

Technology Available (TAV) Subtopics
Human Robotic Systems - Mobility Subsystem, Manipulation Subsystem, and Human System Interaction is a Technology Available (TAV) subtopic that includes NASA Intellectual Property (IP). Do you plan to use the NASA IP under the award?
No

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (Limit 2000 characters, approximately 200 words)
Energid Technologies' innovation is an easy-to-use suite of simulation tools for formulating, testing, and implementing robotic missions for lunar and planetary environments. It will aid multiple phases of mission planning, from hardware development to deployment by providing a way to simulate and evaluate maneuvers under complex and uncertain conditions. It is designed to be used to seek out conditions that maximize the probability of either system failure or success. The multioptimization tool draws on concepts from game theory to find difficult corner cases by optimizing over multiple goals. The framework allows for profoundly unknown variables (those without known probability distributions) to be considered within an application, by determining values of these variables for which failure or success is likely to occur. A static design analysis tool draws on CAD model analysis and lifecycle probability distributions to determine system failure points. A terrain analysis tool builds on the stochastic optimization framework to provide detailed user feedback on available maneuvers. Each of these tools is dependent on an accurate simulation of the underlying system and sensor behavior. Therefore, in addition to the effort to develop the tools themselves, a portion of the innovation is the design and implementation of terramechanics, illumination, and advanced mechanism simulations for lunar and planetary environments.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
Energid�s tool suite will reduce cost and improve schedule on NASA�s lunar and planetary rover missions by leveraging simulation-based analysis to improve mission planning and design. Energid will partner with both the Intelligent Robotics Group, and specific mission project managers on missions such as the Mars 2020 Rover. Our tool suite can be used during all stages of mission planning. In early stage development, it can be used to help set achievable mission objectives. During deployment it can be used to choose among maneuver options that are likely to be successful. Energid will provide support for the new software's application on upcoming missions both as a prime contractor and as a supporting subcontractor to large NASA prime contractors.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
To its commercial customers, Energid licenses its software technology through its Actin toolkit and integrated robotic products. Actin is delivered as libraries and header files that can be compiled into new software. This form of Energid's technology has found wide application in software for space, manufacturing, agriculture, nuclear energy, and oil exploration. The advanced level of simulation-based testing provided by the new software developed during this SBIR project will enhance these commercial activities, and allow Energid to expand into new areas of application. These areas include any domain where sensors, dynamics and control algorithms interact in an environment of uncertainty. A prime application of this, particularly given Energid�s expertise in robotics, is the burgeoning field of autonomous vehicles. These companies can leverage the software created during this SBIR to evaluate performance and safety in an uncertain world, and deliver products to market faster.