The National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC)opened on July 29, 1996 as an operating unit within Carnegie Mellon' University’s Robotics Institute (RI).  Based at an off-campus location in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville neighborhood near the CMU campus, NREC (pronounced “en-rec”) resides in a renovated, 100-year-old warehouse on a reclaimed industrial brownfields site that previously was home to several suppliers of equipment for the steel industry.

NREC was the brainchild of Whittaker, director of the RI’s Field Robotics Center (FRC). In 1994, he and other FRC scientists agreed that mobile robotics technology had matured sufficiently to enable commercial applications in markets such as agriculture, construction, mining and electric/gas utilities. With a strong focus on applied research, they developed projects in collaboration with NASA and large companies such as John Deere, Toro Corporation, Consol, Joy Mining, New Holland, and Ford; collectives such as the American Nursery and Landscape Association, and NY Gas; and smaller companies such as Ultrastrip Systems.

Commercial Technology Transfer on the Upswing
After completion of the NASA cost share contract in 2001, NREC worked with existing clients to commercialize robotics technology and expand into new commercial markets. NREC developed systems for robotic paint stripping and underground coal mine belt inspection are in daily use and generating revenue for their sponsors. Technology from two health care related projects transferred to their sponsors – one reduces the bottleneck in drug discovery for central nervous system disorders, the other, provides a faster and more accurate way to calculate the pose of patients just prior to radiotherapy of cancer tumors.

NREC continues to grow its reputation as a leading automation supplier to the agriculture and mining markets. We have long term project relationships with equipment suppliers and large end users. Many commercialization opportunities have surfaced as both farmers and miners strive to improve safety and productivity while lowering labor costs.

Removing People from Harm's Way
The U.S. Department of Defense has made large investments in developing and maturing unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) technology. Recent military conflicts have demonstrated how UGVs can remove American military personnel from harm’s way. In 2000, NREC leadership decided to pursue UGV development programs because they fit squarely within NREC’s core competency of developing outdoor mobile robots and they were excited about their force protection potential. Over the next four years, NREC captured the Unmanned Ground Combat Vehicle (2001), Perception for Off-Road Robotics (2001), TUGV (2002), Dragon Runner (2002) and UGCV PerceptOR Integrated (2004) programs and created a multi-year program in land mine detection and clearing.

As UGV technology matured, the US Army through its Future Combat System (FCS) and the US Marines made a major commitment to maturing unmanned ground and air platforms with System Development and Demonstration (SDD) programs. SDD programs are the means by which the Department of Defense (DoD) matures technology from laboratory quality to pre-production quality – a close fit with NREC’s mission. They also present new challenges in system design, engineering and integration, process control, program and subcontractor management, field testing support, and safety assurance that provide an extremely valuable perspective for an applied research organization. NREC supported General Dynamics Robotics System’s successful capture of the Autonomous Navigation System (2003) program and led a team in partnership with BAE Systems to win the TUGV Tactical Unmanned Ground Vehicle (2005) program.

In parallel with our SDD work, NREC continues as a leading UGV technology provider. NREC’s autonomous Crusher platform is exceeding all UPI performance benchmarks in very difficult terrain. Our growing relationship with the U.S. Army’s Tank Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) provides us the opportunity to help shape the design and performance of UGVs in the next decade.

NREC is proud to be a significant contributor to the history-making transformation underway in the US military.

Where We Are Today
Today, NREC thrives as home to more than 100 of the world’s leading robotics experts conducting applied research and development on more than two dozen innovative projects, many of which have been licensed for commercialization and are being deployed successfully in real-world applications.

Additionally, in keeping with CMU’s mission as an academic leader, NREC also operates fun, educational outreach programs for young people. One such program, the Robotics Academy involves students, grades 5 through 12, in a wide variety of projects — such as building small robots — which helps kids learn principles of math, science, engineering, physics, resource allocation, teamwork and creative problem solving.