Sponsors
The MOOS-DAWG 2013 meeting is hosted by MIT and funding for the main event is derived solely from the attendee registration fees. Further funding for the autonomy competition has been provided by Battelle, SSCI, and Clearpath Robotics (see below). Funding for the kickoff barbecue is provided by Bluefin Robotics, and funding for MOOS-IvP over the last decade has been funded by ONR Code 311 (see below).
MOOS and MOOS-IvP Development: ONR-311 and Battelle
ONR has been sponsoring software and optimization algorithm development used in MOOS-IvP for roughly the last decade.
The Office of Naval Research (ONR):
- Dr. Donald Wagner (ONR-311, Mathematical Optimization),
- Dr. Behzad Kamgar-Parsi (ONR-311, Intelligent and Autonomous Systems).
Battelle:
Since the beginning of 2011, Battelle has provided further support for the development of MOOS-IvP as well as further development of MOOS at Oxford. They have also funded the development of MIT 2.680 Marine Autonomy Sensing and Communications, a new undergraduate and graduate level course in the MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering.
- Dr. Robert Carnes.
MOOS at Oxford is currently funded by the Office of Naval Research, Dr. Behzad Kamgar-Parsi, ONR-311, the European Commission under grant agreement number FP7-231888-EUROPA and the UK's EPSRC.
Autonomy Competition Sponsor: Battelle
Battelle is the primary sponsor for the MOOS-DAWG'13 marine autonomy competition. They have funded the development of the new MIT course, 2.680 Marine Autonomy Sensing and Communications, which contains autonomy competitions like this one as part of the student lab work. They have funded the acquisition of the Kingfisher unmanned vehicles (shown below) used in this competition. They have co-funded the build-out and lease of the new laboratory facilities at the Autonomy Bay at the MIT Sailing Pavilion. They have also funded the development of the 2014 autonomy competition, the Hunter-Prey challenge problem, involving multiple unmanned surface vehicles hunting for an evading underwater vehicle. Battelle has also sponsored the further developments of MOOS comprising MOOS-V10 over the last 12 months. We are very grateful for their support. Battelle POC, Dr. Robert Carnes.
Hardware Sponsors: Clearpath Robotics, Scientific Systems Company Inc. (SSCI)
The hardware used in the MOOS-DAWG'13 Autonomy Competition is the Clearpath Robotics Kingfisher platform. MIT presently owns and operates four M100 platforms shown on the left below, and we expect to be additionally using two of the newer M200 platforms by the time of the competition in July. Primary funding for the vehicles has been provided by Battelle. Additional support has been provided by Clearpath Robotics in the form of generous educational discounts, and Scientific Systems Company, Inc., in the form of a donated M200 platform.
