SARA the robot

Building Health Surveys

2008-05-31T12:49:00.001-05:00

Brooklyn, NY

What's the fastest way to ensure your work environment is safe and healthy? Just ask SARA.... That's exactly what the NYC Department of Health did recently, contracting with PBM to help survey another prominent health clinic in Brooklyn. SARA used Indoor Air Quality sensors, along with explosive gas detectors to perform rapid assessment surveys of each floor of the building. Her friends at PBM then took the data she collected and created reports to help visualize the information. Here she is at the subway station afterwords, ready to ride back to Wall St.

Baltimore Building Scans

2007-11-29T08:58:00.000-05:00

Baltimore, MD

What do you do when your building's floorplans are decades out of date, or don't exist at all? Call SARA of course!
SARA spent time in Baltimore this week helping create floorplans for an east side school that's on it's way through some remarkable renovations. The scans included sensor data collection, making sure that the classrooms are as safe and healthy as ever.

She also took some time out to spin her wheels on the cobblestone streets of the famous Inner Harbor waterfront. A drive past Charm City cakes, and her trip to Baltimore was complete. Next stop, surveying for the US NAVY.

Columbia grammar school

2007-11-06T13:33:00.000-05:00

Upper West Side, NYC
Ms. Carp's Columbia Grammar class had a surprise visitor today; SARA the robot stopped by to ask the class for some help in making a map. The class was happy to help her out, taking turns driving her while creating a high resolution classroom floorplan in a matter of minutes. The students learned some pretty advanced mobile robotic concepts, and tested out the communications protocol by dancing in front of the on-board video camera.

The class also drew amazingly detailed designs for new concept robots, everything from cute 'covert-cat' schematics to 'multiple laser response machines'!
Next time you see a robotic cat with lasers driving down the street, you'll know where it came from...

NYC govtech

2007-11-03T12:04:00.000-05:00

Brooklyn, NY

SARA made the long trip across the Brooklyn Bridge on Thursday to attend NYC Govtech, the premiere city government IT conference for the 5 boroughs. The conference was packed with the city's IT elite, including the best and brightest from DOITT, and CIO's from the major
city agencies.

SARA had a great time visiting with folks from FDNY, OEM, DOHMH, DEP, and many other city agencies.After the days activities, she made sure to stop at Grimaldi's before driving back over the bridge...

Philadelphia

2007-09-25T22:16:00.001-05:00

Philadelphia, PA
SARA took a quick trip down to Philly today to visit with GIS leaders from all over city government. Accompanied by Ben & Ken, she showed off her information collection abilities to a group of Citywide GIS Managers, focusing on 3D surveying and information visualization capabilities for diverse urban sensor surveys. She had a great time visiting with the group, and made a mandatory stop at Jim's before heading back up to NYC.

Advanced 3D GIS initiatives, amazing historical sites, and Jim's Steaks, Philidelphia's got it all...

Environmental Site Surveying

2007-07-02T14:36:00.000-05:00

Brooklyn, NY
What's the fastest way to ensure your work environment is safe and healthy? Just ask SARA.... That's exactly what the NYC Department of Health did recently, contracting with SRS to help survey a prominent health clinic in Brooklyn. SARA used Indoor Air Quality sensors, along with explosive gas detectors to perform rapid assessment surveys of each floor of the building. Her friends at SRS then took the data she collected and created reports to help visualize the information. Here's an example of what those reports look like (note: this is not client data from this survey)

ESRI UC 2007

2007-06-21T13:46:00.000-05:00

San Diego, CA

SARA and friends had a great time at this year's ESRI International User's Conference in San Diego California. She had a lot of fun roaming the exhibitor floor, following the attendees and even playing a game of tag with some of the younger GIS enthusiasts. In addition to having lots of fun, she was proud to be featured in 3 seperate sessions, focusing on In-Building GIS and emerging geospatial surveying techniques.

Rim Envy in South Beach

2007-05-28T08:14:00.000-05:00

Miami, FL
Like any fashion conscious robot, SARA has always taken pride in the finer points of her appearance. While rims aren't her favorite accessory, her wheels do have a sophisticated appeal that says: i'm definitely not rollin on dubs, but these subtle 10 spokes give me all the street-cred I need. That was until her travels took her to South Beach last weekend where she got to participate in Miami's Hip Hop Weendend festivities, bringing her face to face with the kings of wheel expression. Here she is staring at a set of 30" chrome mirrors. SARA still maintains "it's not the size of the rims that matter, it's how you use your microprocessor that counts".
Her trip also included meeting up with folks at Johnson Controls, Emerson , and her old friends at the VA Research Center for Vision Excellence in Atlanta.

Sans Precipitation in Portland

2007-05-07T19:33:00.000-05:00

Portland, OR

The notoriously rainy Portland area was full of warmth and sunshine during SARA's trip out west this week. On the agenda were meetings with Immersive Media and FLIR, with a little time for exploring downtown and the Cinco de Mayo celebration on the waterfront. After all the sunshine and mid-70's weather SARA is begining to suspect that the gloomy weather reputation is actually just a clever ploy by locals to keep people from moving there.

Bay Area Conferences

2007-04-24T18:27:00.000-05:00

San Francisco, CA
SARA spent a couple days traveling around San Francisco recently while presenting at Location Intelligence 2007 and AAG. These venues gave her a chance to meet up with a variety of people who work with spatial information, everyone from Yahoo Local and Google to Immersive Media and Spime. Her travels took her all over the Bay Area, from the Mission District all the way to Oakland, and even down to San Jose for a couple meetings. She's already looking forward to the next trip out (anyone know the robot toll on the Golden Gate Bridge?).

Here she is taking a break after driving up and down in the Potrero Hills.

SARA encourages a new generation of Women Roboticists

2007-03-25T18:32:00.000-05:00

Brooklyn, NY
SARA has always been proud to be a strong women in technology, and on Saturday she had a chance to meet some other young women working on the technologies of tomorrow. The young ladies were gathered to learn more about careers in robotics and other high-tech trades as part of the '21st Century Careers for Girls' conference held at Polytechnic University in Brooklyn. In addition to hearing SARA's words of encouragement, they also got to hear about the Women Owned company that SARA does work for.

SARA sizing up the sculpture in front of Polytechnic University in Brooklyn.

NYC FBI InfraGard Meeting

2007-03-15T09:00:00.000-05:00

NYC, NY
SARA made a quick appearance yesterday at the FBI InfraGard meeting at the Great Hall at Cooper Union in New York City. Emergency Responders, Regional Planners, and GIS Users from around the NYC Metro area attended the event, learning about how GIS can be used for emergency preparedness, situational awareness, and disaster response coordination.

Fun in the Florida Sun

2007-03-05T11:06:00.000-05:00

Boca Raton, FL

Nothing like the feeling of sand on your wheels after a long week of work right! SARA spent the weekend in Florida after wrapping up the week's meetings at Tyco Safety Products in Boca Raton. The week of meetings around the southeast included visits with industry giants such as Cingular and ROLTA. Though the sun didn't shine as much as it could have at the beach, she did enjoy the break from the NYC winter.

Technology Awards in Atlanta

2007-02-28T23:03:00.000-05:00

Atlanta, GA.
Georgia High Tech Day at the Capital
Question: What do mobile robotics, high school engineering clubs, and Governor Sonny Perdue have in common? Answer: The Georgia Technology Policy Leadership Awards.

SARA made sure to check this event out on a trip down to Atlanta this week. The event was packed with Georgia's hi-tech elite, there to give kudos to policy makers embracing cutting edge technology. In addition to meeting Georgia's governor and a number of Senators, SARA had a chance to meet some future roboticists during the evening's festivities. The Devil's N.E.T. were at the event showing off their latest creations, some of which they've developed for competitions at FIRST and BEST . You can read more about what they are up to at www.devilsnet.org

The Devil's N.E.T (Norcross High School Engineering Team) taking SARA for a test drive.

SARA Joins the Snow Patrol

2007-02-16T19:21:00.000-05:00

Bethesda, MD
Faced with frozen roads and fast falling snow, SARA pitched in to help clear snow in Bethesda late this week. Though she didn't have the power of the other snowblowers and plows, she showed finesse and determination as she helped get sidewalks cleared during the worst ice-storm to hit Washington DC since 1999. Luckily she had her snow tires on, and kept warm with a wool beanie. Maybe indoor life is more her style....

Another Week in the Beltway

2007-01-26T17:20:00.000-05:00

Alexandria, VA.
SARA spent another quality week traveling around the Beltway, making stops at historical places, and making new friends along the way.
She started out the week with a couple meetings in Falls Church and Tyson's Corner, showing off her map-making abilities and sensor integration talents. Her second stop was in old town Alexandria where she had a chance to meet folks from SAME (Society of American Military Engineers) and CABA (Continental Automated Building Association). She wrapped up the week by visiting with her new friends at Staubach and GDIT . The weather may have been frigid, but she's sure got a warm spot in her heart for all people and places she visited around the Beltway. Now if they could just do something about the traffic.... maybe a Bot lane?

Measuring up Washington DC

2007-01-12T15:21:00.000-05:00

Washington, DC.
From the Capitol steps to the Washington Convention center, SARA explored the nations capitol from top to bottom this week.
In town for the ESRI Federal Users Conference, she got a chance to strut her stuff for government reps from across the country, showing them what Spatial Robotics is all about. She made maps of the Convention center, then set off across the floor on her own, dynamically routing herself to see the new ArcWeb Services demo.

Her trip also included a visit with folks at GSA's Public Buildings Service, and a large group of program managers at Michael Baker Group in Arlington, VA.

On Deck: SARA Surveys for the US NAVY

2006-11-19T13:36:00.000-05:00

Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois.
All hands (and bots) on deck. SARA and friends spent some time last week helping the US Navy survey facilities at the Great Lakes Naval Station, just outside of Chicago. This week long trip was part of a pilot project to help compare traditional survey methods to SARA's capabilities. While the weather was a bit on the cold side, SARA stayed warm by covering huge amounts of square footage in a wide variety of building types.

read more here...

SARA meets Senator Snowe

2006-11-06T14:22:00.000-05:00

Camden, ME
SARA had the chance to make some new friends in high places today, a face to face meeting with Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME). The Senator was visiting the offices of PenBay Media to learn more about this small business located in Camden Maine, and took some time to learn about SARA and what she does best. Senator Snowe and Deborah McNeil are shown getting a demonstration of SARA, with PenBay President Ann Yahner.

Sara Surveys Brooklyn

2006-10-26T15:00:00.000-05:00

Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Sara took some time out of her busy travel schedule recently to survey the scene in Brooklyn NY. Working for an international architecture firm, she helped map the inside of buildings to help building management better understand and allocate their indoor real estate.

Survey says: Williamsburg is where it's at.

Joshua Tree

2006-09-16T19:54:00.000-05:00

Joshua Tree, CA.
It's a long way from the MERS sandpit, but SARA felt right at home with the rock climbers & desert rats in Joshua Tree. Lessons learned: Mapping cactus and quartz monzonite isn't quite as easy as mapping the insides of buildings, but a lot easier than surviving on Mars.

California Mappin - ESRI UC

2006-08-10T10:54:00.000-05:00

San Diego, CA. ESRI International User's Conference 2006
Out of the oppressive humidity of the east coast and into the cool ocean breeze of San Diego, SARA made her grand entrance into the GIS arena earlier this week. While the water was off limits to her, there was ample floorspace for her to roam around. Officially unveiled at the conference, she spent most of her time making maps and navigating through the conference center on her own (she' very independent). Spatial Robotics is the intersection of GIS and Robotics, and SARA showed the masses first hand what it's all about.

While the trip was mostly business, she did find time to experience the finer points of southern California, complete with palm trees and convertibles.

Young Robot Designers Give SARA a Makeover

2006-05-25T16:21:00.000-05:00

Though SARA has the sense of any normal fashion conscious robot, her mantra has always been 'function over fashion'. This often leaves people surprised when they encounter her minimalist appearance, and simple primary color ensembles. To help drum up some fresh ideas we called in the big guns. An elite team of design consultants were employed, and they took a couple of weeks to help her out with some 'new looks'.
Mrs Yetman's second grade class in Prescott Arizona is proud to showcase their ideas in the following Design Treatments:

Many thanks to Mrs Yetman's class for their great robot designs!!!

SARA goes to MERS

2006-05-11T14:27:00.000-05:00

SARA visits NASA Goddard, the home of the MERS terrain simulator for Mars rover development and testing. The verdict: SARA would not live long on Mars, but she does great work surveying right here on Earth.
Thanks to everyone at NASA Goddard who showed her around!

Redlands Cartographers Making Maps, with Robots!

2006-03-27T14:11:00.000-05:00

Redlands, CA.
In a town steeped in cartographic tradition, a young group of future cartographers are making maps in a very non-traditional way; with a robot. A group of preschoolers at Trinity Episcopal Nursery school came face to face with SARA the robot yesterday, each taking a turn at driving her around. SARA (the Spatially Aware Robotic Assistant) was visiting with staff at ESRI in Redlands CA, and made a surprise visit thanks to school director Beverly Gaston.

Forget finger-painting, these preschoolers had the chance to use cutting edge technology to create high resolution Lidar floorplans, and have some fun in the process. The final map was anything but childish.