Innovation

A major federal defense contract and funding will enable two Pittsburgh companies to hire this year--RE2 in Lawrenceville and Metis Secure Solutions in Oakmont.

RE2, developer of state-of-the-art, robotic manipulation systems, has been selected by DARPA to lead a new initiative that will integrate its robotic arms and hands onto a mobile robotic platform. The company has received a multi-million dollar contract for the work, says Jessica Pedersen, COO.

RE2 will apply its manipulation expertise to integrate with Barrett Technology's manipulator arms with various sensing technologies and a mobile platform. The overall system will be used by DARPA in the coming months as part of a team research competition designed to develop dexterous robotic arms and hands controlled by human operators. The robots would be used for a range of tasks, from explosive ordnance disposal to space missions to prosthetic arms.

RE2 moved last October into a larger, 10,000 square foot facility. Plans call for a 3,000 sf expansion, which includes a 3,000 square foot shop, and increasing the now 30-person staff to 40 with the hiring of five engineers.

In addition, Douglas Peters has joined RE2 as vice president of operations. A boomeranger, Peters returns to Pittsburgh from the New England division of Applied Research Associates. He has more than 15 years experience in complex engineering, government contracting and technical management.

"We're pushing the envelope of autonomous intelligence manipulation, says Peters. "Having a significant project from DARPA shows the quality of what our engineers are doing."

Metis Secure Solution, a provider of cutting-edge emergency alert systems, has received $1 million from The Elmhurst Group, a Pittsburgh private equity fund. The funds will allow Metis to hire up to 5 people in sales, marketing and engineering and expand its systems to commercial centers and industrial buildings across the country.

Last year Metis signed a reseller agreement permitting Intertech Security of Pittsburgh to sell and install its location-based system to customers in other markets, a move that is also driving growth.

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Writer: Debra Diamond Smit
Source: Jessica Pedersen, Doug Peters, RE2; Mark Kurtzrock, Metis Secure Solutions