The ARM (Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing) Institute is honored to announce a continuation of its cooperative agreement with the Department of Defense (DoD) Manufacturing Technology (ManTech) Program, which will continue the ARM Institute’s funding as a national Manufacturing Innovation Institute (MII) for the next five years. ManTech is overseen by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. The agreement’s value is an additional $35.4 million funded through 2028. The agreement also offers the Department of Defense the option to renew the contract again for another five years after 2028, bringing the Institute’s total possible primary investment to $70.4M over ten years.
The ARM Institute is a national Department of Defense Manufacturing Innovation Institute and a member of the Manufacturing USA© Network. The Institute leverages its ecosystem of more than 400 member organizations across industry, government, and academia to catalyze critically needed robotics and workforce innovations in U.S. manufacturing.
Headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA with an office in St. Petersburg, FL, the ARM Institute was created in 2017 when Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) won the award from the Department of Defense to create a robotics-focused Manufacturing Innovation Institute. The ARM Institute now operates as a separate non-profit organization but collaborates with the university closely, particularly in the Institute’s shared Mill 19 facility. The Institute’s original agreement with the DoD provided funding through January 2023. Following a successful review by the Department of Defense Joint Defense Manufacturing Council (JDMC) in 2022, the DoD began working on the terms to extend the agreement.
Among its impact, the ARM Institute has funded more than 150 robotics and workforce projects, grown its member consortium to more than 400 organizations, collaborated with the Department of Defense on targeted directed projects, built an internal team of nearly 40 experts, built out robotics capabilities at the Institute’s Pittsburgh facility, and created RoboticsCareer.org (its national workforce resource).
The new agreement with the Department of Defense will support the ARM Institute’s operations and member services, provide funding for projects with ARM Institute members, support existing ARM Institute capabilities, including RoboticsCareer.org, and support new ARM Institute initiatives.
“The ARM Institute would like to thank the Department of Defense and, in particular, our government program manager Dr. Greg Hudas for working diligently to secure our continued agreement,” said Ira Moskowitz, ARM Institute CEO, “We look forward to continuing to work with the Department of Defense to strengthen U.S. manufacturing and respond to our nation’s greatest challenges.”
“Over the past seven years, the ARM Institute-Department of Defense public-private partnership has made important progress in strengthening U.S. manufacturing through advanced robotics, related AI technologies, and workforce development,,” stated Dr. Greg Hudas, Department of Defense Program Manager for the ARM Institute, “With the continuation agreement in place, this partnership will build on this progress and continue to push innovation to a higher level for the good of the warfighter and the nation.”