UC Display of Applied Research Produces Track Record of Economic Development

The University of Cincinnati’s applied research means money and development for our region in the form of businesses served and even businesses started.

The newest of UC’s practical, applied technology and research will be on public display from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Thursday, May 22, at downtown’s Duke Energy Center, during Tech Expo, sponsored by the university’s College of Applied Science. The event will include more than 150 working demonstrations of applied science and technology by students seeking to serve the needs of business.

One of those businesses is First-Response Robotics, LLC, of Amelia, Ohio. That business is turning to UC students for improvements to a robot, and those improvements will be displayed at this year's Tech Expo 2008.

This particular robot improvement is a reprise to a UC project from Tech Expo 2005 when students developed the original robot that became the foundation for First-Response Robotics' product line.

In fact, the business – with earnings of about a half-million dollars since its founding in September 2006 – was “born” at UC’s 2005 Tech Expo. That’s when First-Response founder and president Mike Cardarelli, then a mechanical engineering technology senior, and fellow students initially displayed the first-response robot designed and manufactured to serve the needs of law enforcement, security firms and companies involved in hazardous-waste clean up.

Said Cardarelli, 38, “I was back in school at UC at the time as a returning adult student because I’d been laid off previously from a local machinist job after completing service in the United States Navy on the U.S.S. Saratoga.

“When in my final year at UC, I was then asked to become part of a College of Applied Science project to build a first-response robot for law enforcement. When I was manufacturing all the parts at Deimling Jeliho Plastics in Amelia, that firm’s owner literally came up to me and said, ‘You’ve got something here.’ He saw the potential for our robot in a field that is really opening up nationally that encompasses both environmental and security needs, and he became a silent partner in the company I subsequently founded.”

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Since that time, Cardarelli and his First-Response Robotics firm – which employs one full-time and two part-time machinists, as well as area electronics consultants – have designed and manufactured first-response robots for the Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and is now designing and manufacturing robots for a California company.

He stated, “I have only five or six competitors nationally in terms of the type of small, versatile robot I make, and I’m poised for growth in a big way. That’s not only because of the design and flexibility of the initial 2005 robot designed at UC but also because students showing work in this year’s Tech Expo are designing and manufacturing an arm for my robot that will make the device a lot more valuable for current clients as well as broaden my potential business base.”

Basically, Cardarelli’s current robot from UC’s 2005 Tech Expo can enter potentially hazardous situations – like a hostage situation, a train wreck, collapsed building or chemical spill – within five minutes. The robot can then obtain valuable air and soil samples; identify chemical hot spots; find the safest path into a large accident or natural disaster scene or just send images of a crime scene in progress – all in real time.
 
“It can get in, send data and information and get out faster than a human team could be organized and prepared,” he said.

Dave Roady, equipment technician for the EPA’s National Decontamination Team, agreed. While he’s only used the robot – now called HERO, for Hazardous Environment Robot Observer – in test situations, Roady is confident in the machine’s abilities. “We’ve used it in fire and chemical-release training exercises. It’s a first-look tool that allows us to plan the next stage in a recovery operation. We can size up a situation quickly without exposing firefighters and others to radiation. It helps us determine the best route and way to go into a scene,” he explained.

That functionality is proven since the 2005 HERO model passed all the stringent National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) testing requirements – 27 acres worth – for endurance, performance, speed, agility and accuracy during a series of real-world trials in early 2006 in Texas.

Now, three years after Cardarelli and his then-fellow students first designed the initial robot at UC, Cardarelli has come back to the university’s applied-science college for a redesign that will be on display at the May 22 Tech Expo. That redesign consists of the creation of an arm for the robot now being designed, manufactured and tested by current mechanical engineering seniors Jeremy Nugent, 28, of Hamilton, Ohio, and Sergey Zhemchuzhny, 30, of Fairfield, Ohio. With this arm addition to his robot, Cardarelli will be ready to submit his robot for consideration to the U.S. military for use in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He explained, “The arm means increased abilities for the robot to do research in a first-response situation. It also means the robot can actually knock a hole in a wall and make its own path instead of just finding a path into a hazardous situation. It means the robot will be able to open doors for itself and even pick up and dispose of a pipe bomb.”

That’s all good news for both his company and the region. Because of the high-tech nature of his company, Cardarelli needs only two orders a year to continue his firm at its current employment level. He already on track to receive five times that number of orders for his current robot design during calendar year 2008. However, with the addition of the UC-designed arm to be displayed at this year’s May 22 Tech Expo, Cardarelli plans to solicit business from the Department of Homeland Security and others that could mean hundreds of orders.

“This arm is super-duper-duper critical to me and the company and our growth. I have technology professionals who want to work for me and who I want to hire. The partnership I have with the UC students can make that happen a whole lot faster,” Cardarelli said.

He plans to continue to work with the university’s applied-science students in the run up to next year’s 2009 Tech Expo, given that UC stands among the nation’s top research universities in the U.S., according to the National Science Foundation.

That next improvement to his robot: A version that can right itself after being flipped over. “Right now, I haven’t designed that capability, just because HERO has a low center of gravity and is very hard to flip over. But, I still want that capability, and I’ll come back to UC and the College of Applied Science for that. I know I’ll be working with the best of the best of practical students there.”

One of those students designing and manufacturing the current arm for Cardarelli’s HERO robot is mechanical engineering technology senior Sergey Zhemchuzhny who hopes to pursue a career in robotics. He said, “Robotics is only going to grow in importance in a number of industries from medicine to security to the military. I’ve learned so much just from doing this one project, everything from technical details to overall project management. It’s turned out great and is the best calling card I could ever have in seeking a job after graduation.”

UC’s Tech Expo at a glance

When: 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Thursday, May 22, 2008

Where: Duke Energy Center, 525 Elm St., Cincinnati OH 45202

Admission: Free and open to the public

To partner with UC’s College of Applied Science, contact
Allen Arthur, Associate Dean
UC’s College of Applied Science
513-556-6580
allen.arthur@uc.edu

Other UC research partnerships:
Sandra Degen, Vice President
UC Office of Research
513-558-0026
sandra.degen@uc.edu

• Find out more from the Tech Expo Web site.
• Sign up for the energy conference connected to Tech Expo.
• More on the Tech Expo energy conference.
• Find out more about the UC College of Applied Science.
• Apply to UC’s College of Applied Science.
• Read the latest news from UC.