FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
May 15, 2006
For more information contact:

Eugene (Gene) Watson, Program Manager
Wyoming SBIR/STTR Initiative
Phone: 307-742-7162, 307-760-0456 cell

Alces Technology, Inc., Jackson, Wyoming
Contact: Mark Peterman
Phone: 307.732.1994

Vision Agrobotics, Inc., Casper, Wyoming
Contact: Bryan L. Aivazian
Phone: 307.259.4050

Phase 0 grant projects aim to help manufacturing and agriculture industries

CHEYENNE – A proposal for increased efficiency in building three-dimensional manufacturing models and an effort to build automated tractors won $5,000 grants through Wyoming’s SBIR/STTR Initiative’s (WSSI) Phase 0 grant awards program in May.

The SBIR Phase 0 Program helps Wyoming companies develop competitive proposals for the federal SBIR and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. The WSSI initiative is funded by the Wyoming Business Council and gives out $120,000 in Phase 0 grants each year.

Alces Technology of Jackson submitted a Phase 0 grant proposal that could give United States manufacturers a leg up on foreign competition.

Stereolithography is a manufacturing tool used to prototype three-dimensional components quickly using a large vat of liquid which, once you shine a light on the liquid, becomes a solid. Then, a laser writes out one layer at a time until the solid becomes a three-dimensional object. Alces Technology’s Mark Peterman said this process is very popular in the auto industry.

“The auto industry can use this to do something like build a new design for a car door,” Peterman said. “They can see the door and they can feel the door. It is made of plastic, but at least they can get a feel for the design without having to actually build a car door out of steel.

The downside of the stereolithography is that it is a slow process as only one or two laser beams are used at a time. Alces will use their grant money to perform a feasibility study of their process, which uses a Light Line Modulator to split the laser source into thousands of individual beams, making the process much faster.

“Splitting one beam into 1,000 beams should, in theory, make the process 1,000 times faster, but that is what we will be studying,” Peterman said.

Vision Agrobotics of Casper won a Phase 0 for their proposal of a robotic tractor, which will not need a driver. Bryan Aivazian is the grant recipient and says most of the work in this field is done with large equipment companies using high-end global positioning system technology. He proposes using other sensors that actually teach the tractor to understand its environment.

“Rather than create a tractor that follows a mathematical path and otherwise runs blind, we are working on a machine that actually sees,” Aivazian said.

The anticipated consumer product would be a control system that can be factory-installed or be used as an after-market feature. Aivazian has lived in Casper since 1982 and will target the United States Department of Agriculture for a Phase I grant.

The federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs provide more than $2 billion annually in Research and Development (R&D) grants and contracts to qualified small businesses.

Eleven federal agencies are required by law to provide these funds by setting aside 2.5 percent of their annual extra-mural R&D budgets for use exclusively by U.S. small businesses for new product R&D. Hence, these programs provide a unique source of start-up and seed capital for small businesses to develop new innovative product concepts.

The mission of the Wyoming Business Council is to facilitate the economic growth of Wyoming. For more information, please visit the Web site at www.wyomingbusiness.org.

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