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Long a promising but nascent industry, robotics in Pittsburgh may get a big lift from new defense projects

Thursday, February 07, 2002

By Stephanie Franken, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

On Monday, President Bush asked for the largest increase in defense spending in 20 years, seeking approval for a Pentagon budget for next year alone that approaches a record $379 billion.

In Pittsburgh, researchers and economic development specialists want to snare some of those funds in order to breathe life into the region's dormant robotics industry, which has generated world-class technology and a great deal of buzz, but few local jobs.

A new program called the Future Combat Systems (FCS) program, a joint effort of the Army and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), promises to make robotics technology a centerpiece of next-generation warfare.

"Future Combat Systems is basically a roboticization of the battlefield by the year 2020," said retired Air Force Gen. Ralph Pasini, a Pittsburgh resident who worked on defense programs for the Pentagon.

Robots can be used to create unmanned vehicles that can travel through sniper fire or to make smarter weapons that hit an intended target with deadly accuracy from 80,000 feet away.

Pasini said spending on the FCS project over 10 to 15 years could reach $200 billion.

In the nearer future, research and development funds for the project are a relatively modest $4 billion, said DARPA spokeswoman Jan Walker. Walker did not confirm the $200 billion figure but said the production phase that would follow the research phase certainly would require more spending.

Pittsburgh is known worldwide as a knowledge center for robotics, largely due to Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute. Beyond the university, two local companies, Homestead-based Red Zone Robotics Inc. and Wexford's Applied Perception Inc., specialize in robotics and expect to benefit from the new defense program.

But Pittsburgh lacks production facilities that are prepared to mass-produce roboticized defense equipment, said Chuck Thorpe, director of CMU's Robotics Institute.

As far as robots are concerned, the city is essentially a head without a body. So the vast amounts of money that may lie in manufacturing robots for the FCS program may go elsewhere, in spite of the very real possibility that much of the design work will be done here.

To date, Pittsburgh has benefited little in economic terms from robotics research, said RedZone President J. Todd Simonds. "To put it bluntly, most of CMU's research and development in robotics has resulted in business growth elsewhere."

RedZone belongs to one of four teams that are vying for the lion's share of FCS program funding. Each team is headed by a major defense contractor such as Chicago-based Boeing Co. or Dallas-based Lockheed Martin Inc.

The winning contractor will take the lead in developing multiple combat systems that will enable the Army to prevail "against all foreseeable enemies extending through the 2025 time frame," said the U.S. Department of Defense in a news release.

The Carnegie Mellon Research Institute is teamed with Lockheed Martin, according to the Defense Department. But there are university researchers on each of the four teams. As a result, "It's certain there will be continued activity at Carnegie Mellon University" at each future stage of the massive project, said Simonds.

"And we're on the Boeing team, so RedZone could have an extended role as well."

Applied Perception Inc., which is developing self-driving vehicles and special-purpose robots that can navigate rough terrain, also is receiving funding from the FCS program to advance its research.

"My personal take on this is that a lot of the programs right now are providing insight to the army about what's possible," said Todd Jochem, president of Applied Perception.

"Then they'll pick and choose" the best technologies developed among the four main teams and among smaller, independent research firms such as Applied Perception.

Local researchers involved with the FCS program said they had not yet seen a concrete plan to prepare the region for mass production of robotics and defense equipment.

That could result in a disappointing outcome for the region's economy, said Simonds. "We get a couple of exciting years, but the long-term benefit could be elsewhere."

Thorpe said he would like that situation to change. "Since CMU has had such success, it would be really nice to have it turn into either a design center or a production center in Pittsburgh."

Ronnie Bryant, president of the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance, said the economic development agency is gathering data that catalogs the industries or industry segments that could participate in manufacturing for the defense project. Several other regional development teams are working with the PRA on the initiative.

"I'm not in a position to relate any information about our findings. It is our belief that we should keep this as confidential as possible."

The lack of robotics production facilities in the region stems largely from a dearth of commercial opportunity, said Don Smith, vice president of economic development for the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon.

Until the new defense project changed the scenario, Smith said, the local robotics industry was largely as a "technology-push" industry as opposed to a "demand pull."

Smith said he was optimistic that the region had ample resources to transform itself into a production center.

"There are very few centers in the world that have the depth of experience we have, as well as a supply-chain of manufacturing operations that could make some of these parts and components and systems."

Simonds, who is participating in meetings that aim to identify the region's potential in this regard, said he believed that a number of manufacturing facilities might be present but "below the radar screen."

"Only when they become systematically identified and mobilized will we be able to realize the extent to which we're able to take on major military production."