Published 5.17.16 IHMC is officially a bike-friendly work place. The League of American Bicyclists recognized IHMC as a bronze level Bicycle Friendly Business (BFBSM). IHMC joins a cutting-edge group of nearly 1,200 local businesses, government agencies and Fortune 500 companies across the United States that have a bike-friendly designation. “The business community’s investment in bicycling is playing a central role in making the country a safer, happier, and more sustainable place to live and work,” said Amelia Neptune, League Bicycle Friendly Business Program Manager. “We applaud this new round of businesses, including IHMC, for leading the charge in creating a bicycle-friendly America for everyone.” The designation lasts for four years, and is renewable thereafter. Before that, IHMC can re-apply for a higher designation. Tim Bustos, Principal at Sustainable Transportation Planning & Design commented, “On behalf of Bike Pensacola, I’d like to congratulate IHMC on being awarded a “Bicycle Friendly Business” award at the “Bronze Level.” The criteria developed by LAB is challenging at best, so many businesses don’t even get an “honorable mention” the first time they apply. The fact that IHMC came in at the Bronze level the first time around demonstrates their commitment to a more bikeable community,… Read More

IHMC Board of Directors Vice Chair Dr. William Dalton to be Inducted into 2016 Florida Inventors Hall of Fame TAMPA, Fla. (Mar. 15, 2016) –Dr. William (Bill) Dalton, Founder and CEO of M2Gen®, a subsidiary of Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute in Tampa, and Vice Chairman of the IHMC Board of Directors is among the seven inventors announced today as the 2016 inductees of the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame. Bill Dalton was nominated and approved as an inductee for his revolutionizing developments in cancer treatment and he will be inducted at the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame 3rd Annual Induction Ceremony & Gala on Sep. 16, 2016, in Tampa. Nominees, who must have at least one U.S. patent and a connection to Florida, were nominated through an open nomination process and elected by a selection committee comprising distinguished leaders in research and innovation throughout Florida.  Bill will join IHMC Senior Scientist and Inventor Dr. Jerry Pratt who was inducted into the Florida Hall of Fame in 2015. “We are delighted to be announcing this class of exceptional inventors whose work has greatly impacted Florida and our nation,” said Randy Berridge, who serves on the Florida Inventors Hall of… Read More

Published 2.24.16 The Running Man is at it again. IHMC’s “Atlas robot,” which placed second in the Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA)-sponsored international robotics competition last summer, will be featured in a NOVA documentary this evening, Wednesday, Feb. 24th, called “Rise of the Robots.” It explores how robots are gradually making their way into the real world, with questions such as: “How close are we to a future where humanoid robots are part of our everyday lives? What are the implications of a future with robots that can do a human’s job?” The DARPA competition, held last June in Pomona, California, involved 23 teams from around the world, whose robots competed against each other in completing eight tasks such as driving a car and cutting a hole in the wall. A South Korean robot, DRC-HUBO, placed first, finishing six minutes faster than IHMC’s Atlas, the 6’2” robot weighing more than 380 pounds. Built by Boston Dynamics, the IHMC team, led by Jerry Pratt, John Carff, Peter Neuhaus and Matt Johnson, spent several years working on the robot’s software and controls. IHMC researchers continue to run the robot everyday, tasking Atlas with new challenges such as vacuuming, sweeping, dancing, and… Read More

Published 12.15.15 As a mathematical sciences major at Rice University in the 1970s, William “Bill” Clancey took courses in 13 different departments—ranging from philosophy and anthropology to art and music. But it was a cover story in Life Magazine about Shakey, the first robot who could analyze and carry out consecutive commands, that opened up Clancey’s world onto the newly emergent field that he would spend much of his career working on: artificial intelligence. Clancey was especially interested in the philosophical and psychological underpinnings of artificial intelligence, pondering questions such as: What is the nature of knowledge? What can computers do? Can knowledge be converted into a program? “You really need to understand people and psychology if you are going to build a smart machine,” he said. Those initial insights led Clancey down the path of a brilliant career that includes holding six patents and establishing two software companies. Most recently, Clancey, a senior research scientist with the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC), was named a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). The Tampa-based Academy named a total of 168 Fellows this week, bringing the total number of Fellows to 582. This is the fourth… Read More

Published 12.8.15  When Dawn Kernagis went to the ocean for the first time as a nine-year-old, she knew that she wanted to explore its depths. She had just moved from Iowa to North Carolina. “I became completely intrigued by the ocean,” she said. “I wanted to be a marine biologist. I started to read everything I could get my hands on.” Her parents gave her scuba diving lessons as a birthday present when she turned fifteen, and she would spend the better part of the next two decades in the sea or studying it. Recently, Kernagis, who is a Research Scientist at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) in Pensacola, where her research focuses on risk mitigation for divers, was named one of six women who will be inducted into the Women Divers Hall of Fame (WDHOF) in 2016. The WDHOF is a non-profit, professional honor society that recognizes outstanding women divers who have made substantial contributions to contributions to the exploration, understanding, safety and conservation of the underwater world. The society also provides financial assistance and mentorship to people interested in pursuing diving careers. Kernagis said she will be working on the scholarship committee, which grants 16… Read More

Published 11.30.15 The day that a tree can talk—telling you about its ancestry and physical composition, and the air it breathes—is the future that David Fries envisions. “Rather than sit in a classroom where you have representations of a tree on a white board, you are actually in proximity of the tree and can see visualizations of its chemistry, biology and sustainability,” Fries said. In practice, this means that a mobile device could see a tree and then start tracing the flow of nutrients from its roots to its branches. This “fusion of education and entertainment,” Fries said, is one area that he intends to work on as a recently-hired research scientist at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC). The Tampa-based scientist, who has been on faculty at the University of South Florida for two decades, will work at both the Ocala and Pensacola IHMC locations until next summer, when he re-locates to Pensacola. Fries’ main area of specialization is undersea technology. He holds 35 patents in the field, and is best known for inventing underwater sensors and robots that can determine the extent of oil spill contamination, detect submarines (or other robots), and help take fish… Read More

Published 11.24.15 The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has elected Ken Ford, director and CEO of the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC), as a Fellow. Ford is one of 347 scientists who have been named Fellows this year. The electing Council elects people “whose efforts on behalf of the advancement of science of its applications are scientifically or socially distinguished.” According to a press release from AAAS, Ford was selected “for founding and directing the IHMC, for his scientific contributions to artificial intelligence and human-centered computing, and for service to many federal agencies.” “I am truly honored to be inducted as an AAAS Fellow,” Dr. Ford said. “The advancement of science is what we strive for every day at IHMC; to be recognized for it by scientists is a reward in itself.” IHMC, which Ford founded in 1990, is known for its groundbreaking research in the field of artificial intelligence. It employs scientists and engineers from around the world who are investigating topics related to building technological systems aimed at amplifying and extending human cognitive, physical and perceptual capacities. Its headquarters are in Pensacola, Fla., with an associated research facility in Ocala, Fla. Ford… Read More

Published 9.10.15 Three years of almost non-stop work paid off Saturday when the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition placed second in a $3.5 million global robotics competition held in Pomona, Calif. Team IHMC’s semi-autonomous robot, nicknamed “Running Man,” on Saturday bested 21 other teams from around the world by driving a car, walking over debris, cutting a hole in a wall, turning a valve for a fire hose and performing other tasks — all with spotty communications between man and machine. The course simulated a disaster area in which humans could not safely operate. “I am incredibly proud of our robotics team,” said IHMC CEO/Director Ken Ford. “They did a amazing job finishing second overall and were first among the Atlas teams.” The competition, the third and final trial since 2013, was sponsored by DARPA, the Defense Advance Research Projects Agency. The first-place team, Team KAIST from South Korea, was awarded $2 million. It also completed all eight tasks, but did so six minutes faster than the IHMC robot. IHMC, which finished the course in just over 50 minutes Saturday, will bring home $1 million in prize money. A chimp-like robot from Carnegie Mellon University placed third. Only three… Read More

Published 9.10.15 The robotics team from the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) leaves this weekend for what promises to be a historic milestone in the science of making machines move and think like humans. The DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals, to be held June 5-6 in Pomona, Calif., is sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. It will test 25 teams from around the world in a challenge course designed to emulate a disaster area where humans could not safely go. IHMC’s team will be using the 6-foot-tall Atlas robot, built by Boston Dynamics but with the all-important controlling software designed by IHMC researchers. The winning team will bring home $2 million from DARPA, which will go to further robotics research. The second-place team will win $1 million. “It’s been a lot of non-stop work, but we’re ready to go,” said Doug Stephen, one of the computer scientists on the project for IHMC. For years, movies and television shows have portrayed bipedal robots as virtually flawless, fast-moving, self-thinking units. But the reality has lagged far behind that characterization. The DARPA Robotics Challenge was designed to push the science and engineering to the next level. And in recent… Read More

Published 9.10.15 NASA’s Asteroid Redirect Mission iPad App has been released and is available for free download at the iTunes Store. The creation of this novel App was a joint effort between NASA and IHMC. The App is a large knowledge model that uses dozens of concept maps to organize and navigate through hundreds of videos, images and Web links on NASA’s Asteroid Redirect Mission. Each of the concept maps represents the knowledge of experts on the particular topic. All concept maps in this app were constructed using the IHMC CmapTools software which is available free for download. Check our web page, download and experience the App, and then go give us a great review. 5 star reviews are warranted and appreciated! http://cmap.ihmc.us/armapp/

Published 9.10.15 One of the country’s leading lights in the field of undersea medicine has joined IHMC as a research scientist in Pensacola, opening a new area of emphasis for the institute. Dr. Dawn Kernagis, who grew up near Raleigh, N.C., and spent much of her youth cave- and wreck-diving in Florida and around the world, comes to IHMC from Duke University, where her work was considered so pioneering, that she was awarded a grant from the U.S. Office of Naval Research before she even started her doctoral program. It was the first time ONR’s Undersea Medicine program had made such a grant. She went on to earn her doctorate at Duke in biomedical research and was a post-doctoral fellow there. Her work continues to shed new light on why some divers suffer decompression sickness and others don’t. “The idea is that some divers are susceptible and some aren’t — because of genetics,” said Dr. Kernagis, whose study will be published later this year. A big part of her work at IHMC will be focused on optimizing performance and mitigating risk for war fighters in extreme environments. That includes Navy divers, who can face unseen enemies: decompression sickness, oxygen toxicity and… Read More

Published 9.10.15 CmapTools, the software used by millions of people around the world to build concept maps, is now available for the iPad. Researchers at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) have released a new version to the Apple App Store. “During our testing, the iPad version of CmapTools was particularly popular with elementary and high school students,” said IHMC Associate Director and Senior Research Scientist Dr. Alberto Cañas, the leading developer of CmapTools. “It’s amazing how fast elementary school students got into building the maps, and the speed at which they can build them using the iPad.” Concept maps are graphical tools for organizing and representing knowledge in an organized fashion. CmapTools empower users to construct, navigate, share and criticize knowledge models represented as concept maps. IHMC is a world leader and developer of software for concept mapping, which is used around the world by businesses, schools and universities. CmapTools has long been available for use on laptops and desktop computers, but the proliferation of the iPad created a demand for adapting the software for the versatile tablet. More than 225 million iPads have been sold since it was introduced in 2010. “If you are using… Read More

Published 9.10.15 Jerry Pratt, one of the world’s leading researchers in the field of robotics, has been named to the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame, joining an august group of inventors which includes the likes of Thomas Edison. Pratt, a senior research scientist at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) in Pensacola, holds four patents on robotics inventions and is considered a rising star in the field. He is one of seven people with Florida connections who will be inducted into the Hall at an October ceremony in Tampa. Others in this group, the second year of inductees, include famed automaker Henry Ford and scientist Robert Grubbs, winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize in chemistry. “Collectively, the seven 2015 inductees hold more than 430 U.S. patents,” said Randy Berridge, chairman of the selection committee. “Their high merit has been recognized by national and international institutions and communities … and we are honored to be inducting them into the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame.” Pratt said he was honored and humbled by the recognition. “Sometimes I think what’s most fun about working in robotics is that we are practically inventing the field every day,” Pratt said. “There’s a long way to… Read More

Published 9.4.15 The Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) has awarded one of its highest honors, the AAAI Distinguished Service Award, to Dr. Ken Ford, director and CEO of the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC). The Distinguished Service Award, established in 1999, recognizes a single individual each year “for extraordinary and sustained service” to the artificial intelligence (AI) community. Dr. Ford is the 14th honoree. In a letter to Dr. Ford announcing the honor, Awards Committee Chair Manuelo Veloso wrote that he was “specifically honored for your contributions to the field of artificial intelligence through sustained service, including the founding of the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC), leadership roles at NASA, and your work on the advisory boards of federal science and technology research organizations.” In nominating Dr. Ford for the award, former NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin said that, “Few technologies have greater potential benefit to humanity than does the field of artificial intelligence, and even fewer people are able to convey the essence and importance of the field to federal leaders in the fashion in which Ken Ford has done and continues to do it. He is quite simply a… Read More

Published 9.4.15 The Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition is back on track with a planned expansion of its Pensacola research facility following a nearly year-long delay caused by flooding of downtown in April 2014. Completion is scheduled for February 2016. The contractor is Hewes and Company LLC, a Pensacola firm. Hewes has done extensive work across the Pensacola area, including large buildings for Pensacola Christian College, Avalex Technologies and AppRiver. “We’re really pleased to be back on track with the new building,” said IHMC Director and CEO Ken Ford. “The delay was troublesome, but the architects were able to develop some really good, workable solutions. We’re eager now to get this building built and keep growing in Pensacola.” In response to the flooding, the first floor of the new building was redesigned to raise it by one foot, to an elevation of 13 feet above sea level, and all structural materials were reviewed to ensure that they are water-resistant. Meanwhile, flood damage to the existing building has been repaired, but a planned expansion of that facility remains on hold. The three-story, 30,000-square-foot building will substantially increase IHMC’s Pensacola footprint, allowing consolidation of research and administrative functions at the… Read More

Published 9.4.15 Dr. Alain T. Rappaport has been named a prestigious Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). Dr. Rappaport is a member of the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) Board of Directors and of its Science Advisory Council. Dr. Rappaport was cited as having “demonstrated a highly prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and the welfare of society.” The Tampa-based NAI was founded in 2010 “to recognize investigators at universities and non-profit research institutes who translate their research findings into inventions that may benefit society,” according to the group’s website. “To join, an inventor must be affiliated with a Member Institution and be a named inventor on one or more patents issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.” Dr. Rappaport is an Internet and software entrepreneur, the co-founder and CEO of Nudgit, Inc., an Internet company focused on intelligent choice. He received his M.D. from the Necker Sick-Children School of Medicine, René Descartes University, and his Ph.D. in Molecular Pharmacology from the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris. Prior to Nudgit, Dr. Rappaport was general manager… Read More

Published 9.4.15 The NFL has announced seven winners of $500,000 brain research grants in Head Health Challenge II. Ken Ford, director/CEO of the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, serves on the six-person judging panel that selected the winners, who are eligible to receive up to $8.5 million to accelerate brain injury research, diagnosis and protection. The NFL’s partners in Head Health Challenge II are Under Armour and General Electric. The winners, which include researchers from the public and private sectors, were selected among nearly 500 proposals that were submitted between Sept. 2013 and Feb. 2014 from 19 countries. “We had to pick the winners from a long list of smart, innovative proposals that represent some of the best new ideas on how to prevent, diagnose and treat traumatic brain injuries,” Dr. Ford said. “It’s very rewarding to be able to be part of the Head Health Challenge II program. The implications go well beyond football.” Concern about traumatic brain injuries has been sparked by the increased awareness of problems stemming from a variety of causes, including the use of powerful improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and the increased awareness of concussions in football and other sports. Dr. Ford was… Read More

Published 9.2.15 The Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) continues to earn recognition for its development of software for the Atlas robot. A recent post on Tech Gen magazine notes IHMC’s work to advance the bipedal robot’s ability to walk more like a human. The IHMC Robotics Team has performed exceptionally well in the multi-year, international Robotics Challenge sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). IHMC came in first in the initial computer simulation trial in June 2013, and second overall in the second phase, which featured using actual robots in field trials at Homestead Miami Speedway in December 2013. The next phase of the competition, featuring more advanced field trials, is scheduled for June 5-6, 2015, in Pomona, California. At the Speedway, IHMC finished first among the seven teams using the Atlas robot and first among teams from the U.S. Through funding from DARPA, which provided the Atlas robots to the various teams, IHMC is now open sourcing its bipedal walking software for Atlas so that other research teams can use it on their robot. To read the Tech Gen article: http://techgenmag.com/2014/10/24/atlas-robot-gets-closer-to-walking-like-a-human/ To read more about IHMC and the DARPA Robotics Challenge: www.ihmc.us/news/20131223

Published 9.2.15 An upcoming segment of The Discovery Channel’s Daily Planet program will feature a new exercise exoskeleton developed by researchers at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) in Pensacola. Called the Grasshopper, or Hopper, the device was designed, built and tested as part of a NASA-funded project exploring the use of robotic exoskeletons for microgravity exercise. Because the Hopper uses motors instead of gravity to create the load on the user, the device is suited for use on space missions. Exercise in zero-gravity conditions is critical to maintain muscle strength and bone mass. The Hopper is designed to replicate the effect of squat exercise with free weights, and its associated loading on the body. To test this claim, the Hopper was brought to EXOS, a leader in integrated performance training, nutrition and physical therapy for professional and elite athletes, the military and innovative corporations. EXOS has a center in Gulf Breeze, Fla., near IHMC. The IHMC team is led by Senior Research Scientist Peter Neuhaus. Members include Research Associate Nick Payton and student interns Travis Craig and Jeremy Gines. Noraxon, a company specializing in evidence-based biomechanics, provided sensors and technical analysis to compare exercise using the… Read More

Published 9.2.15 A new land-speed record for legged robots was achieved on May 22 by researchers at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC). The HexRunner robot reached an estimated 30-33 mph on an open course, without any support tethers. The record-setting run was filmed by the Discovery Channel, which is expected to broadcast it later this summer. The HexRunner running robot on its record-setting speed run. “More significant than the top speed is showing that you can make a running robot that doesn’t need a lot of feedback from sensors, and you don’t need a lot of actuation,” said IHMC Senior Research Scientist Jerry Pratt, team leader of the HexRunner project. HexRunner is a running robot with six spring-loaded legs revolving around a central hub, with three legs on each side of the hub. At the tip of the top leg it stands six feet high. Dr. Pratt said the speed was measured with a chase car and through analysis of high-speed motion video shot from the side. “The speedometer on the chase car hit 33 while the robot was still running away from it,” he said. The 30 mph documented speed is a conservative figure based… Read More