BME External Advisory Board member, Kenneth Ford, is Founder and CEO of the Florida Institute for Human & Machine Cognition (IHMC) — a not-for-profit research institute located in Pensacola, Florida. IHMC has grown into one of the nation’s premier research organizations with world-class scientists and engineers investigating a broad range of topics related to building technological systems aimed at amplifying and extending human cognitive and perceptual capacities.

Researchers in the IHMC Robotics Lab have been pushing the envelope of what is possible in the domain of robotics. This interdisciplinary team of researchers, scientists and engineers are headed to the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) Finals in Pomona, California this week where twenty-five of the top robotics organizations in the world will gather to compete for $3.5 million in prizes as they attempt a simulated disaster-response course.

One of the many focuses of the IHMC Robotics Lab has been advancing the study of walking and balancing for humanoid robots. “Running Man”, the IHMC Robotic Teams’ submission, aims to tackle the challenges of the DRC by seeking to find the sweet spot for human and machine teamwork by leveraging advanced robotics control techniques and a user interface and data presentation design that allows for the operator to effectively provide guidance to the robot.

Read more about the team’s project on their website and in TIME magazine’s article, One Small Step – The Epic Race to Build a Humanoid Robot.

Good luck to the IHMC Robotics Team!