Built on the DoD-mandated Joint Architecture for Autonomous Systems (JAUS) specification, these components provide drop-in capabilities for robot system developers to add functions such as vehicle control, sensor processing, path following, mapping, obstacle detection and avoidance, and operator interfaces to their existing platforms.

In addition, to support organizations who wish to develop their own JAUS- compliant components, Applied Perception's jLib JAUS toolkit is also available.

This toolkit provides low level JAUS message packing, transport, and routing capabilities that enable developers to quickly and easily create new JAUS- compliant applications or retrofit existing capabilities to immediately function within existing JAUS systems.

It supports all of the core JAUS messages and components, as well as multiple message transport layers including Ethernet, RS- 232/485, and shared memory.

The jLib toolkit is available for Linux, QNX, Windows XP, and Windows CE, as well as embedded processors like the Rabbit.

The individual components are available in both executable format for easy addition to existing systems, as well as with processing hardware to provide out-of-the-box functionality with minimal robotic system changes.

Todd Jochem, President of Applied Perception says, "These products are a direct outgrowth of our internal development efforts, as well as our work with customers on projects with DARPA, the Army, and the Robotics Foundry."

"On those projects, we've had the opportunity to develop and test many technologies that we are now starting to get customer interest in deploying. Based on this, it seemed like now is an opportune time to move these technologies toward commercial deployment."

The commercial availability of these components represents the first step in the company's efforts to commercialize robotics technologies to support and leverage the DoD's efforts to deploy unmanned vehicle for the battlefield.

"In the past, there hasn't been significant attention paid to transitioning new robotics technologies to the commercial marketplace. In many cases, there wasn't any real market. However, now there is a clear customer with real needs that our technology can address," Jochem states.

In addition to selling these components ala cart to end customers as add-on modules, API is working with robotic platform suppliers to add these technologies as standard features on their current and future line of vehicles.

"This announcement supports what we have been hearing from our colleagues in the DoD - that standards-based software to support basic as well as more advanced unmanned ground vehicle operation is needed," states Bill Thomasmeyer, President of the Pittsburgh-based Robotics Foundry.

"We're pleased that Applied Perception is commercializing technology that the RF was instrumental in developing and hope that this can be a building block for a thriving regional robotics industry."

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