ExoPower lands $1.3 million NSF grant to charge robots on the move

What's the deal? ExoPowerDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has won a $1.25 million National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research Phase II grant to push its in-motion wireless-charging technology toward commercial deployment. The funding began September 15.

What's the endgame? The company builds capacitive wireless-charging systems that let industrial mobile robots and material-handling equipment recharge while they work and move. It aims to cut charging downtime, improve equipment utilisation, and lower the battery and infrastructure costs of running electric robotic fleets.

Why now? The grant funds a pilot system ExoPower can hand to customers to test. "Having a pilot will help take out a lot of the risk," said chief executive officer and co-founder Brandon Regensburger. "It opens the door to customer contracts, additional investment and ultimately getting this technology into the market."

What sets it apart? Unlike the inductive charging used in cell-phone chargers, ExoPower's patented capacitive approach can be much cheaper at higher power levels, Regensburger said. It is also better suited to charging equipment while it is in motion.

ExoPower runs its research and development laboratory on the Grand Junction Business Incubator CenterDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → campus. It plans to expand its team as pilot development accelerates, drawing from Western Colorado's engineering and technical talent pool.

The signal: Federal grants remain a key funding route for hardware startups tackling capital-intensive problems before they can prove commercial demand. For ExoPower, the Phase II award is a bridge from lab research to paying customers — and the leverage to attract private capital next.

Read more: thebusinesstimes.com

Image credit: Generated with Gemini