Later this week, five teams from across the country will compete before a blue-ribbon panel of judges — and officials from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) — in the inaugural RoboBowl venture competition. RoboBowl Pittsburgh, as it’s being called (the competition will take place on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh), is the first in a series of next-generation robotics venture competitions co-sponsored by the Robotics Technology Consortium and Innovation Accelerator “to find and foster startup and early-stage companies seeking to develop products and services that address unmet and underserved market needs in targeted industrial sectors.” The emphasis in Pittsburgh will be on next-generation robotics for healthcare.

The five teams, announced last week, are:

• Bright Cloud International (BCI) Corp., Highland Park, NJ, featuring a breakthrough device that integrates physical, cognitive, emotive therapy using personalized video games and robotics to improve stroke and traumatic brain injury patients.
• Interbots, Pittsburgh, PA, featuring affordable robotic tools for children with autism.
• Origami Robotics, Pittsburgh, PA, which is manufacturing low-priced versatile robots for special needs therapy as well as STEM education and outreach.
• RescueBotics, Mountain View, CA, focused on integrating the latest in robotics technologies with next-generation medical diagnoses and treatment technologies to produce the world’s most advanced human rescue robots that will help provide mission-critical feedback, diagnosis reports, and basic treatment to victims.
• TactSense Technologies, Pittsburgh, PA, offering tactile feedback for robotic surgical systems.

Each team has already received $5,000 for being named a finalist, and the winning team will take home an additional $20,000.

The judges for the final round will be John Pyrovolakis, founder & CEO, Innovation Accelerator; Helen Greiner, President & CEO, CyPhyWorks, President and CEO, Robotics Technology Consortium, and iRobot co-founder; Nathan Harding, Co-Founder & CTO, Berkeley Bionics; Venetia Kontogouris, Senior Managing Director, Trident Capital; Rich Lunak, President & CEO, Innovation Works; Steven S. Martin, President & CEO, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska; and Frank DiMeo, Vice President, Technical Staff, Physical & Biological Technologies Practice, In-Q-Tel.

For more information about Thursday’s RoboBowl, check out the official press release.

(Contributed by Erwin Gianchandani, CCC Director)