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Development, Technology Transfer, and Commercialization of the
Automated Transport & Retrieval System (ATRS)
Lehigh University
Computer Science and Engineering
PI: John Spletzer Co PIs: Tom Panzarella, Sanjiv Singh & David Wu
NSF Award #IIP-0650115
3 Year Award
Start Date: 1 March 2007
Key Attributes of our
Innovation Ecosystem:
Brief Project Overview:
The focus of this project is the development,
technology transfer, and commercialization of a
new paradigm for personal independent mobility:
the Automated Transport and Retrieval System
(ATRS).
Questioning & Curiosity:
The ATRS concept was a “back of the envelope”
moment by Mr. Thomas Panzarella, Sr., CEO of Cook
Technologies, as he questioned why there wasn’t a
better solution to personal automobility for wheelchair
users. The resulting partnership enabled his vision to
be realized.
ATRS affords complete mobility independence by
providing wheelchair users a safer and more
economical transportation alternative to van
conversions. This is accomplished by seamlessly
integrating robotics and automation technologies
with existing mobility products into structurally
unmodified automobiles.
The project’s primary goal of commercializing
ATRS has been achieved, and the system is
currently in the hands of end-uses who rely upon
it on a daily basis for personal automobility.
Risk Taking:
Real-world use of ATRS. The system has been
in the hands of end-users for nearly 2 years.
There were significant technical and marketing risks
associated with the commercialization of ATRS. These
were mitigated through a strong partnership. From an
industry perspective, having an academic partner for
technical collaboration and strong support from local
government enabled us to weather most of the storm.
Program Activities:
Openness:
 Developed reliable and robust perception and control algorithms to enable autonomous docking
of the smart wheelchair system.
Openness is fundamental to the ATRS partnership.
The free exchange of information and ideas allowed our
team to meet an aggressive commercialization timeline.
Furthermore, results from system development were
also disseminated through robotics conference and
journal publications.
 Successfully completed ANSI/RESNA testing in Nov 2007
 FDA approval and ATRS becomes commercially available in June 2008
 ATRS Patent awarded in September 2009
 Significant outreach and training with ATRS, to include demonstrations at various Abilities Expos,
demonstrations to the Veterans Administration and Wounded Warriors, and training for Certified
Driver Rehabilitation Specialists.
 Demonstrated feasibility of migrating to an on-board perception model in 2009. This has the
potential to significantly reduce the BOM for the system in the future.
Top Contributions/Outcomes:
Collaboration Across Fields:
Our partnership
included members of academia,
industry, and the public sector. Merging the research
expertise of Lehigh Universit with the commercialization
experience of Freedom Sciences ensured a technically
robust solution. Our public sector partners also played
key roles in the success of ATRS through economic
development programs such as the Keystone
Innovation Zone (KIZ), and developmental funding.
1. FDA approval for ATRS. This was necessary for the system to enter the commercial market .
Placing
Partners
in
“New
Environments” & “Playgrounds”:
2. ATRS commercialization in June 2008.
3. ATRS has been in daily use with end-users for nearly two years!
Top Challenges:
1. Market acceptance of a disruptive technology. ATRS is attempting to replace a mobility paradigm
that has been the standard solution for decades.
2. Regulatory requirements for commercialization.
3. Technical challenges of system development to ensure a reliable, robust solution for operations
in outdoor environments.
Leading/Inspiring, Surprising or
Unexpected Results:
Partners:
 Freedom Science LLC, (Mr. Thomas Panzarella), Philadelphia, PA
 The most surprising result was realizing how
fundamental transportation is for an individual’s quality
of life. People rely upon automobiles for employment,
education, worship, job training, recreation, and many
other activities of community life.
 Lehigh University, (Profs. John Spletzer & David Wu), Bethlehem, PA
 Sensible Machines, Inc., (Dr. Sanjiv Singh), Pittsburgh, PA
 Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Developmentt, Harrisburg, PA
 The most inspiring result was seeing first-hand how
ATRS could increase the independence of a wheelchair
user, and significantly improve his/her quality of life.
 Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation, Philadelphia, PA
 The National Science Foundation
PFI
Partnerships between industry and academia can be
strained when the parties bring different expectations to
the project. From the beginning, each partner was
committed to ensuring that ATRS would not end as a
technical paper, but rather a real-world product that
would reach the people who needed it most. Our
shared passion for addressing this very important social
issue and spurring economic development in our region
helped ensure the project’s success.
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National Science Foundation Partnerships For Innovation
Grantee’s Meeting April 25-27, 2010
Arlington, VA
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