Public-area Mobile Robots - are they coming soon to an airport near you? Sponsored by the Centre for Integrated Transportation and Mobility, this webinar brings together a panel of experts who will share highlights from recent pilot projects related to the FLITE program at the Grand Rapids Gerald R. Ford Airport in Michigan.  Register today on Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUscOmuqDgpH9OnDyXaMmtuU9t7kr7bpn1n 

Our panel includes:

Matt Benson, partner at Seamless Ventures and Program Manager for FLITE (Ford Launchpad for Innovative Technologies and Entrepreneurship) - whose mandate is to test innovative technologies (including autonomous robotics) for airports.  

Vivek Burhanpurkar, CEO, Cyberworks Robotics 

Richard Dunda, Director of CITM - Centre for Integrated Transportation and Mobility, part of OVIN (Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network)

The Gerald R. Ford International Airport Authority, in collaboration with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), Seamless Ventures, Southwest Airlines® and the West Michigan Aviation Academy, has introduced the Ford Launchpad for Innovative Technologies and Entrepreneurship, or FLITE, which provides grants and pilot-testing opportunities to companies focused on bringing emerging air travel technology solutions to market. This is one of the first airport-based initiatives in the nation that provides funding to encourage the design and development of new products and services in a live airport environment.

 Cyberworks Robotics, a client at CITM, offers industrial tow tugs, industrial floor cleaners and personal mobility vehicles (wheelchair robots). Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) and mobile equipment have not achieved the mass adoption that was predicted five years ago. This is because a number of “edge-case” problems have proven more difficult to solve than developers had predicted. These edge-cases cause AMRs to periodically fail and require operator interventions, sometimes several times per hour, which is not acceptable by commercial standards. Cyberworks Robotics has solved these edge-cases for AMRs and industrial equipment applications such as floor scrubbing, material handling, indoor logistics and personal indoor transport, resulting in a 99% reduction in operator interventions in complex dynamic commercial environments like airports and grocery stores.