In a grassy stretch of field below the 40th Street Bridge in Lawrenceville, Jorgen Pedersen test drives an all-terrain vehicle that has some very sophisticated sensors and cameras attached to its body.

Bill Wade, Post-Gazette Jorgen Pedersen, president and chief executive of re2 Inc. -- "People hear the term robotics and think of Rosie [the maid] from The Jetsons [television cartoon series]. But robotics won't be anywhere near the cognitive ability of human ability anytime soon." Click photo for larger image.

Pedersen isn't riding the ATV. He stands to the side and "drives" this remote-powered robot from a set of controls he wears on a belt around his waist. He programs the speed, the steering and shifts the gears so that the unmanned vehicle automatically applies gas to go forward and brakes as it descends a hill.

It's not difficult to picture this robot delivering supplies to troops or conducting surveillance in Iraq. But though it was designed for military missions, Pedersen aims to use the technology that controls this vehicle for nonmilitary applications such as high-security robotic systems.

Last month, his company, re2 Inc. (which stands for Robotics Engineering Excellence), licensed the technology that it helped to develop at Carnegie Mellon University's National Robotics Engineering Consortium (NREC). His three-year-old business spun out of CMU specifically to bring such military robotic technology to the commercial market.

"They are a good success story for that kind of evolution," said Keith Moore, program manager for the National Center for Defense Robotics, an affiliate of the Robotics Foundry, a nonprofit that promotes the robotics industry in the Pittsburgh region.

Though still a fledgling start-up, re2 could blossom into exactly the type of enterprise that The Wall Street Journal envisioned in 1999 when it dubbed the city, "Roboburgh." The region hasn't exactly lived up to that nickname so far.

Even though CMU has attracted millions of dollars worth of defense contracts to develop military robots, only a handful of companies actually are working on ways to apply robotic technology in the commercial market. Moore cited industry veteran RedZone Robotics as "one I see the most immediate potential for."

Also a CMU spinout, RedZone earned a high profile in the 1980s and 1990s as it created robots that could handle hazardous nuclear waste removal for the government. But its government contracts weren't enough to sustain it and in 2002, it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. A year ago, it emerged with new management and a new focus on developing automated equipment to inspect and repair sewer lines and municipal water tanks. The Homestead firm, which employs about 25, recently said it plans to hire another 100 over the next three years.

Re2's Pedersen, 32, has experience on both the research and commercial sides of the robotics industry. He grew up near Philadelphia and relocated here to attend CMU, where he earned a bachelor's degree in electrical and computer engineering and a master's degree in robotics.

After completing his master's work in 1998, he worked for the NREC, which is part of CMU's Robotics Institute. His work there included automating a 25-ton hydraulic excavator for Caterpillar, the heavy equipment manufacturer, and a coal-mining machine for Joy Mining Co.

In 2000, Pedersen left CMU for Richmond, Va.-based Servus Robots, where he helped develop an entertainment-merchandising robot used in retail stores. A year later, he began consulting for CMU's PerceptOR (Perception for Off-Road Mobility) program for unmanned U.S. military vehicles and launched re2 to undertake robotic development projects that focus largely on military defense and homeland security. "I saw the need for small companies to subcontract with CMU ... and then offer technology developed by the government to nongovernment organizations," he said.

Pedersen bootstrapped the company himself and hopes to continue to operate it without outside funding as long as he can continue to attract a steady stream of contracts.

Besides the military, re2 has done work for Exponent Inc., a California-based engineering company that specializes in analyzing disasters like the collapse of bridges and buildings.

It's also recently won a contract from an international motor vehicle company which it declined to name.

The company leases space from CMU at the NREC's Lawrenceville facility, which is a 100-year-old converted industrial building along the Allegheny River at 40th Street. The 9-year-old NREC is sponsored by industry and government to develop and commercialize robotics.

Pedersen's staff of 10 full- and five part-time employees, including his wife, Jessica, the marketing vice president, have offices there as well as warehouse space, machine shops and a riverfront field where they can develop and test technology such as the unmanned vehicles.

Pedersen's strategy for growing his business is to pinpoint the market for robots before spending time, money and energy to develop them. "It's important to determine the need and fulfill that need instead of building a cool gizmo and expecting people to buy it."

For the handful of local companies involved in robotics to make its mark as a booming industry, researchers and engineers have to "manage expectations," Pedersen said.

"The problem in the past has been a technology push rather than a technology pull. ... People hear the term robotics and think of Rosie [the maid] from The Jetsons [television cartoon series]. But robotics won't be anywhere near the cognitive ability of human ability anytime soon."