IEEE/IFR Invention and Entrepreneurship Award

About the award
Description:	To recognize the entrepreneurial commercialization of ideas into actual products. Nominations should cite and describe the original work that has been translated into commercial application as well as the commercial product and its success. The nomination must also describe the unique characteristics of the transformation into the commercialized product that justify the award. The current and future impact of the commercial product is a fundamental element of the merit for selection.
Established:	2005
Prize:	$2000 and plaque
Funding:	This award is co-sponsored by the IEEE and the IFR (International Federation of Robotics). Each organization will provide $1000 of the award each year.
Eligibility:	Individual or team of individuals responsible for the contribution. IEEE-RAS membership is not required. See http://www.ieee-ras.org/industrial/ieeeifr for nomination/application form.
Basis for judging:	An awards committee comprising representatives of IEEE-RAS and IFR will evaluate the applications and select finalists to present plenary speeches at the IEEE/IFR Workshop on Innovation and
Presentation:	The Award will be presented during the IERA workshop which will be held at a location agreed upon by the IEEE-RAS and the IFR.

Winners of this award

Year	Winner and reason
2008	Mick Mountz, Pete Wurman and Raffaello D’Andrea (Kiva Systems,Woburn MA, USA) Kiva Mobile Fulfillment System, in which pallets, cases, and orders are stored on inventory pods that are picked up and moved by a fleet of mobile robotic drive units to any operator on the factory floor. (http://www.kivasystems.com)
2008	Thomas Brandstetter, Dieter Steegmüller and Michael Zürn, (Mercedes-Benz Cars, Daimler, Stuttgart, Germany) The development of the Assembly 21: an innovative system and assembly concept for rear axle assembly for the new C-Class with cooperating robot teams.
2007	Hugh Durrant-Whyte, (Australian Centre for Field Robotics, The University of Sydney, Australia) AutoStrad®: An Autonomous Straddle Carrier for Movement of Shipping Containers
2006	Rainer Bischoff (KUKA Roboter GmbH) CAFIR: Flexible and Scalable Collision Avoidance for Industrial Robots based on Complex Geometric Models
2005	Joe Jones (iRobot, Burlington, MA, USA) Roomba Discovery Robotic Floorvac