Reagan Wants More Funding For Harvard Robotics

President Reagan's recent call for increased contact between universities and industry as part of an effort to boost American economic competitiveness abroad will prove a windfall to a Harvard robotics center, scientists said yesterday.

In his State of the Union address last week, Reagan urged Congress to increase funding for centers that bring together members of academe and industry so they can work together to improve industrial technology.

Congress "will soon receive my comprehensive proposals to enhance our competitiveness, including new science and technology centers and strong new funding for basic research," Reagan said last week before both houses of Congress.

Embodying his initiative in the Administration budget released early last month, Reagan asked Congress for a 17 percent increase in funding for the National Science Foundation (NSF), thefederal agency responsible for supporting basicscientific research, and recommended that theNSF's $1.49 billion budget be doubled by 1992.

A Harvard center specializing in roboticsresearch will receive a substantial increase infunding as a result of the initiative, said LouisG. Mayfield, director of the research program atthe NSF in Washington, D.C.

The Administration proposed to increasespending on Engineering Research Center (ERCS)that bring together academe and industry to $48million by next year. Eventually they will expandthe funding level to almost $100 million by theend of the decade, Mayfield said.

At the center here--established last year aspart of a $22 million federal program--Harvard incooperation with the University of Marylandconducts research on robotics and engineeringsystems, said Roger W. Brockett, professor ofapplied mathematics and coordinator of Harvard'sERC.

The federal government funneled $2.24 millionto the joint Harvard-Maryland ERC last year,Mayfield said.

NSF officials said the ERCs are different fromprevious federally-funded research centers atuniversities because of their emphasis onimproving the international economiccompetitiveness of American industry.

The centers are specifically intended "to focuson areas where development of knowledge inengineering fields will enhance the internationalcompetitiveness of U.S. industry," Mayfield said.

"They involve high amounts of participation byscientists and engineers from private industry tofocus research on current and future industrialneeds," Mayfield said. He also said that thecenters will have a heavy emphasis on practicalundergraduate and graduate education.

"Some of the discoveries made her could beturned into products that could bring returns ofbillions of dollars in the long term future,"Mayfield said.

Some experts said they fear that the increasedsupport of joint industry and university centerswill move government funding towards practical andapplied sciences. The spreading of ERCs may narrowuniversity research into an area focused solely onindustrial needs, said Robert L. Park of theWashington, D.C.-based American Physical Society.

Private industry contributes money andequipment to the Harvard center, Brockett said."In exchange industry people can come in and seewhat we're working on and be in a position toprofit from it," he said.

But Brockett said that if directed carefully,the centers could be steered away from followingonly lines of research desired by industry.

"If you have very good people who have solidjudgment and taste, the connections with industrywill only enhance things." Brockett said.

Brockett said he views increased funding forERCs as an opportunity to win more money for basicscientific research in a time of federal budgetconstraints.

"The centers are a very good way to sell theproduct of funding basic scientific research,"Brockett said.

Using additional funds from private industry,Maryland professors work on Chemical engineeringand communications systems, while Harvardresearchers concentrate on robotics and their usein manufacturing, said Brockett.

Brockett and his staff are currently working onmajor robotics systems, such as "hand-eye machinesand tactile sensors," which could have a long termimpact on industrial production, Brockett said