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Providing Lifesaving, Cost-Saving Information
in Real Time through Rapidly Deployable Mobile Sensor Robots
for Disaster and Emergency Response.
Here's our current newsletter with the latest company information.
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Share the news in our May 2022 newsletter.
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Agreements Expand Opportunities
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In the first of several upcoming official announcements about Squishy Robotics’ growing distribution channels, we are excited to highlight two of our newest value-added resellers. Our expanding network of value-added resellers will provide first responders with multiple avenues to learn about, evaluate, and purchase the Squishy Robotics 4-GasPLUS platform, a drone droppable/throwable 4-gas sensor.
Our first two value-added agreements are with companies that are considered leaders in drone consulting, sales, and servicing; each has a strong track record of working with the first responder community. FLYMOTION, headquartered in Tampa, Florida, is a national leader in drone sales and technology integration, training, and servicing with a focus on unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) disaster response, airspace security, and aerial inspections operations. The Rhode Island-based Cloud City Drones also provides expertise in UAV acquisition—from the consultation phase through planning, purchase, and instruction.
“Both reseller agreements mark a new phase in Squishy Robotics’ commercialization efforts,” said Squishy Robotics COO Deniz Dogruer. “We are thrilled to be working with both companies and are excited that these agreements will enable us to offer our drone-droppable/throwable sensors to the first responder community, providing them with the immediate, on-the-ground information they need to protect themselves and the public from many dangers.”
FLYMOTION, founded in 2014, brings innovative technology solutions and services to public safety, government, defense, and enterprise. “FLYMOTION is a leader in immersive training and organizes and runs the annual Unmanned Tactical Applications Conference (UTAC). The conference brings together first responders, military personnel, and representatives from safety and defense companies from around the nation and the world,” Dogruer explained. Squishy Robotics participated in UTAC 2021 and sponsored the event’s Subway Terrorist Attack scenario.
“Squishy Robotics will benefit greatly from Cloud City Drones’ sizable customer base and presence in New England,” Dogruer stated. “Cloud City Drones has built a solid reputation by helping teams select, try out, and use UAVs and drone-related equipment for public safety, aerial surveying, and infrastructure inspection needs.” The company serves municipal first responder, business, and university customers.
“Expanding the visibility of and sales reach for Squishy Robotics are key factors in growing our company,” Dogruer said. “With one reseller in Florida and the another in Rhode Island, a large group of potential users—especially those located on the East Coast—will soon be introduced to our sensor payload solutions and our various technologies. It promises to be a busy year for our company.”
Official announcements for the other finalized reseller agreements are forthcoming and Squishy Robotics will share information about those new partners soon.
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Successful Capstone Projects
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Mentors (Clark Zha, Douglas Hutchings, and Dr. Alice Agogino) join MEng students during the capstone showcase.
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Earlier this month, 11 UC Berkeley Master of Engineering (MEng) students who interned at Squishy Robotics and the UC Berkeley BEST (Berkeley Emergent Space Tensegrities) Lab and HiPeRLab (High Performance Robotics Lab) successfully presented their capstone projects that were developed in close collaboration with Squishy Robotics. Students worked as members of one of three different teams: the Wildfire/Methane Detection and Prevention team, the Rotor Robot team, and the Mobile Sensor Robots for Emergency Response and Human-Robotic Interaction team.
Capstone projects are yearlong efforts where students apply their technical skills and engineering leadership to real-world commercial problems. The students worked collaboratively to develop key new functionality for Squishy Robotics’ systems. Here is a brief description of some of the progress and achievements that the three teams accomplished during the 2021-2022 school year.
The Wildfire/Methane Detection and Prevention team developed a new sensor payload for Squishy Robotics’ Stationary Robots: a steerable thermal camera with wireless streaming capability. Such a system could be very useful for a wide range of emergency response and industrial applications, such as detecting hot-spots or localizing methane leaks. Students also developed new and innovative user-centric features that enable users to “clip in” diverse sensor payloads into the robot.
The Rotor Robot team members, co-advised by UC Berkeley Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Mark W. Mueller, applied Squishy Robotics’ trademark tensegrity structure to a family of drones to enhance their survivability and make the drones crash-proof. This feature is extremely useful, enabling drones to rapidly navigate through constricted environments without worrying about a catastrophic collision.
The Mobile Sensor Robots for Emergency Response and Human-Robotic Interaction team continued to ruggedize and improve the Mobile Robot’s speed and mobility in rough terrain. Changes to the material and design of the end caps as well as to the rods increased the robot’s climbing ability and decreased vibrations that had previously impeded faster movement. Improvements to cable actuation strategies also increased the movement speeds and enabled smoother ambulation. Achievements in path-planning and obstacle avoidance software also contributed to significant project advancements.
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MEng capstone project work included repeated testing and refining of the Mobile Robot's new locomotion policies. Testing was performed in labs as well as in outdoor, rough terrain settings.
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