ASTM International, a global leader in standards and emerging technologies, announced today a “Request for Proposals” (RFP) to support the Research to Standards core activity for the organization’s Exo Technology Center of Excellence. The center anticipates providing three awards up to $34,000 each, totaling $102,000.

“The Exo Technology Center of Excellence is committed to bringing the exo community together to accelerate standards,” according to Bill Billotte, Ph.D., ASTM International’s director of global exo technology programs. “This RFP will help pave the way for our research to standards efforts.”  

Research to Standards projects are expected to be targeted toward addressing immediate, critical needs that advance new standards, revise existing standards, or address lagging work items. The center will consider proposals related to these questions:

• How do we design-in safety to exo technologies and promote safe practices across the community?
• How do we objectively measure the performance, safety, and reliability of exo technologies?
• How do we determine the proper fit of the technology to the user and task?
• What process do we use to determine where to employ exo technologies?
• How does the community recycle the data, lessons learned, and innovations into the next generation of exo technologies? 
• How does the community bring down the barriers through business models/support channels to allow more people/organizations to trial and implement the devices?

Applicants are requested to submit whitepapers to bizdev@astm.org with the subject header “ASTM ET CoE Research to Standards RFP: name of applicant/organization” no later than 5:00 p.m. (EST) May 15, 2020.

For additional information on RFP application and submission requirements, visit www.etcoe.org/proposal-submission. 

The ASTM International Exo Technology Center of Excellence was formed in 2019 to pursue safe and reliable exo technologies for all of humanity. The center brings together a diverse group of users, suppliers, researchers, and stakeholders across academia, government, healthcare, and other industries and builds on the growth of ASTM’s exoskeletons and exosuits committee (F48). For more information on the committee, watch this video. 

Media Inquiries: Dan Bergels, tel +1.610.832.9602; dbergels@astm.org 

Release #11005

###