On-board massive computing in a sealed case could give students a competitive edge
PORTLAND, Ore., June 2, 2011 — APlus Mobile, Inc. (http://www.aplusmobile.com) is sponsoring the Robotics Association at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) with one of their high-performance, low-powered, sealed servers, which initially will be on-board the Reagle unmanned ground vehicle. ERAU's Team Reagle will be competing at the 19th annual Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition (IGVC), to be held June 3-6, 2011 at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. The competition is being hosted by the AUVSI Foundation and TARDEC, among others.
Unlike the increasing remote control robotic competitions, the IGVC student competition requires significant, if not complete, autonomy from the participating vehicles. With this larger emphasis on autonomy, the vehicles require much more processing power on-board, allowing the vehicles to make intelligent decisions on obstacle avoidance, task performance and environmental perception, all without human intervention.
APlus Mobile's B20 sealed server, housing an Intel Core Two Extreme processor, will be on-board the Reagle running its sensors, navigation control system and other software components. Using patented thermal design and power management, the B20 is fanless and sealed from contaminants, meeting the intent of most ground robots including the ones at this competition: performing tasks in a dirty, dull and dangerous environment.
"We are expecting the B20 to perform flawlessly in this application. We are proud to sponsor ERAU's Team Reagle and hopefully we can enable them to win this competition," says Tim Faucett, VP of Product Development. The international competition begins this Friday, June 3rd at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan.
About APlus Mobile, Inc.
APlus Mobile, Inc., founded in 2004, is a privately held OEM/ODM that designs, develops and manufactures DC-powered, open-architecture, x86 computer hardware solutions. Its products are currently in the waste management, robotics, communications and oil exploration industries. One of its models, the A20, was on two autonomous vehicles that participated in the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge. Its newest product, the Q40 Quad Server, performed on a team's UGV at the Robotics Rodeo, which was held at Ft. Benning in October, 2010. APlus Mobile's casings, PCBs and PCA assemblies are manufactured in the USA by APlus Mobile or its subcontractors. For more information, please visit: http://www.aplusmobile.com.
Media contact:
Dee White
Email
Phone: 503-775-2909
# # #