IHMC research campus expanding

PENSACOLA, Fla. - The Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) in downtown Pensacola will be adding a $20 million research facility, giving it a new home for the third pillar of its research. IHMC, best known for its research in artificial intelligence and robotics, will get a new home dedicated to Healthspan, Resilience and Performance Research. The four-story, 44,000-square-foot facility is expected to be finished in 2024 if design work and groundbreaking can happen by the summer. CEO Ken Ford said the new building will bring new collaboration opportunities for IHMC and will allow top talent to be recruited to Pensacola rather than outsourcing work to other cities with high-level research labs. IHMC Senior Research Scientist Dr. Marcas Bamman already leads the Healthspan Resilience and Performance team of about a dozen people in existing IHMC offices, but the new building will give them a dedicated lab and allow the team to triple in size over the next five years. The team has a particular motivation to study how individuals who strive for peak performance in younger years, like those in the military or athletes, could be helped in later life to avoid chronic conditions or physical ailments often seen in those communities. Pensacola’s military connection is a major draw to expanding IHMC's work in the city, but Ford also said continued growth in Pensacola helps to attract and maintain top talent while also streamlining the work already done in Pensacola. (Source: Pensacola News Journal, 02/04/22, IHMC News, 01/28/22. The design proposals RFQ can be found here.) Previous; previous related robotics