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Carnegie Robotics, Swift Navigation Partnership Could Drive Down Cost of Car Automation

Carnegie Robotics and Swift Navigation , a GPS startup company, announced that they'll collaborate on products that will incorporate precise GPS systems into robotic vision and sensing equipment.

(TNS) -- A Pittsburgh-San Francisco partnership could have a dramatic effect on the future of robotics designed to work outdoors.

Carnegie Robotics and Swift Navigation , a GPS startup company, announced Tuesday the two will collaborate on products that will incorporate precise GPS systems into robotic vision and sensing equipment.

The partnership could drive down the cost of automation for cars, agriculture, surface mining and military applications, said Steve DiAntonio, CEO of Carnegie Robotics.

“It's sort of a breakthrough on cost,” DiAntonio said. “We think that it will enable new robotics applications that could not be afforded before.”

Carnegie Robotics makes equipment to help robots see and sense where they are. Swift Navigation makes GPS systems that are accurate to within centimeters that help a robot determine its position. DiAntonio said both companies' components are critical to successful automation.

“It just made infinite sense to work together to come up with a groundbreaking product,” DiAntonio said.

DiAntonio said Carnegie Robotics watched Swift Navigation develop and reached out to the company about a year ago to see about collaborating.

Carnegie Robotics and Swift Navigation will announce their first joint product May 8 at the Association of Unmanned Vehicles International Xponential 2017 conference in Dallas. DiAntonio wouldn't give more information on what it would be. He said Carnegie Robotics doesn't currently sell a similar product.

“Swift's technology is perfectly suited for the world of robotics, and we couldn't do better than working with the renowned industry leaders at Carnegie Robotics,” Timothy Harris, CEO of Swift Navigation, said in a statement.

Swift Navigation was founded in 2012. The company released its latest GPS receiver, the Piksi Multi, in February. The system is accurate within centimeters and costs $595, according to the company's webpage. The company uses real-time kinematics technology to provide locations that are 100 times more accurate than traditional GPS systems.

Carnegie Robotics spun out of Carnegie Mellon University's National Robotics Engineering Center and was founded in 2010. The company partnered with the Danish floor-cleaning company Nilfisk in October on an autonomous floor scrubber .

©2017 The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (Greensburg, Pa.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.