NSF Org:	ITE Innovation and Technology Ecosystems
Recipient:	NEW JERSEY INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Initial Amendment Date:	January 10, 2024
Latest Amendment Date:	January 10, 2024
Award Number:	2344289
Award Instrument:	Standard Grant
Program Manager:	Christopher Sanford csanford@nsf.gov  (703)292-8132 ITE  Innovation and Technology Ecosystems TIP  Dir for Tech, Innovation, & Partnerships
Start Date:	January 15, 2024
End Date:	December 31, 2024 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount:	$650,000.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date:	$650,000.00
Funds Obligated to Date:	FY 2024 = $650,000.00
History of Investigator:	Petras Swissler (Principal Investigator) petras.swissler@njit.edu Simon Garnier (Co-Principal Investigator) Semiha Ergan (Co-Principal Investigator) Maurizio Porfiri (Co-Principal Investigator) Jason Graham (Co-Principal Investigator)
Recipient Sponsored Research Office:	New Jersey Institute of Technology 323 DR MARTIN LUTHER KING JR BLV NEWARK NJ  US  07102-1824 (973)596-5275
Sponsor Congressional District:	10
Primary Place of Performance:	New Jersey Institute of Technology 323 DR MARTIN LUTHER KING JR BLVD NEWARK NJ  US  07102-1824
Primary Place of Performance Congressional District:	10
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI):	SGBMHQ7VXNH5
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s):	Convergence Accelerator Resrch
Primary Program Source:	01002425DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
Program Reference Code(s):
Program Element Code(s):	131Y00
Award Agency Code:	4900
Fund Agency Code:	4900
Assistance Listing Number(s):	47.084

ABSTRACT

This convergent research project will develop an innovative slime-mold inspired robotic system designed to autonomously construct a floating conveyor network that will transport pallets of goods in flooded urban environments. The primary goal of this project is to address the escalating threat of flooding in the New York City area. This flooding has been exacerbated by climate change and currently results in over one hundred million dollars in damages annually. Despite the significant economic and societal impact of these events, existing technologies lack effective tools for responsive action. The proposed robotic system has the potential to revolutionize flood response, empowering rescue workers to operate more efficiently, saving lives and safeguarding critical infrastructure.

The researchers draw inspiration from slime molds, which often form nutrient-transport networks over bodies of water. These organisms offer a compelling behavioral model for goods delivery in flooded regions. The researchers will leverage their insights from previous research to craft a bio-inspired robot algorithm that will enable hundreds of robot ?tiles? to re-arrange themselves to form a conveyor system capable of transporting palletized goods in flooded areas. This work will involve first distilling the algorithmic underpinnings of the slime mold behavior and translating these behaviors into swarm robot algorithms for adaptive transport network growth. The researchers will also develop and build robots capable of executing this algorithm and of transporting goods and will demonstrate algorithm behaviors using a small swarm of robot prototypes. Finally, the researchers will investigate how to best integrate this robotic system into existing disaster relief workflows through a series of focus groups and user studies. The overall deliverable of this project will be a full-stack realization of a user-focused robotic self-assembling system that operates based on network growth principles observed in nature.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

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