Group Plans Robot Playground
11/24/2014
Boston Herald
By Marie Szaniszlo
A new nonprofit is aiming to keep local robotics companies in Massachusetts and attract others by establishing a wide-open robo-testing ground outside Boston.
The Devens Interoperability Playground is the brainchild of members of the New England chapter of the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, who watched wistfully as Boston Dynamics in Waltham was bought by Google and Kiva Systems in North Reading was acquired by Amazon.
“We were looking at companies that got their start in the Boston area get snapped up by companies on the West Coast,” said Richard Kelley, DIP’s executive vice president. “We were saying, ‘What would it take to keep those jobs and encourage economic development here?’”
About six months ago, AUVSI was looking for a place to hold an event — “somewhere you could actually see (robots) moving around and flying and doing the things they were intended to do” — when MassDevelopment, the state’s economic development authority, suggested Devens, the former Army base, Kelley said. “We looked out there and became so enamored of the whole community and what they were doing to make it a technology hub. And its proximity to Boston and Cambridge was a huge advantage.”
DIP is now working to formalize a business plan, raise funds privately and get permits to use Devens’ woods, fields and ponds.
“This is the next cutting edge for the state — to build a robotics ecosystem like it did for biotech,” Kelley said.
MassDevelopment spokesman Mark Sternman said DIP is “an interesting business model, and we’re looking forward to seeing how this idea develops.”
“Devens has been a very attractive business destination, and our mission is to encourage job growth,” Sternman said, “so it’s in keeping with what we’re trying to do.”
Helen Greiner, CEO of Danvers-based drone maker CyPhy Works, said a nearby field-testing site would fill a crucial need.
“It’s a brilliant idea,” she said. “When you think of Boston, you should think of biotech, IT — and robotics. We lead the world in ground and underwater robotics.
“With Devens, we could take the lead in drones, as well. Then you’ll see more companies moving here because of the convenience a place like Devens would offer.”
DIP already has reserved the Devens Commons Center for next June, when its trade show — tentatively called the Robot Congress — also will serve as the group’s inauguration, Kelley said.
DIP doesn’t expect to have a permanent facility for at least a year, but hopes to show what it can do.
The group is working with the New England Robotics Validation and Experimentation Center at the University of Massachusetts Lowell — which is focused more on testing individual robots indoors, rather than testing multiple robots in the field — to avoid overlap.
“There’s ways each of our facilities could benefit from one another,” said NERVE Center manager Adam Norton. “Someone could test individual robots here, then test them alone or interacting with other robots outdoors in Devens.”