University of Missouri-Columbia and FairCom to jointly develop embedded databases for advanced robotics

MU School of Engineering works with database company on next-gen Robotics to improve national defense and enable people with disabilities

Note: c-treeACE became FairCom DB in November 2020.

Columbia, Mo. (June 24, 2013) — FairCom, a company that builds high-performance, engineering-level database technology, today announces its partnership with University of Missouri-Columbia (MU) School of Engineering’s Vision-Guided and Intelligent Robotics (ViGIR) lab. The relationship was formed to develop next-generation embedded databases that intelligently control advanced robotics, and includes guest lectures, participation on MU’s Advisory Board and sponsorship of MU’s robotics team.

Through their research and lab applications, MU’s faculty and students have contributed to the advancement of robotic technologies over the years, including 3-D modeling, human-motion tracking, geospatial intelligence, and robotic assistive technology. In the case of robotic assistive technology, the goal is to increase the independence of people with disabilities through the use of multi-modal sensory interfaces to control wheelchairs, as for example, sensors that require little muscle control to operate. Looking to overcome additional technology hurdles, MU turned to FairCom to better understand embedded databases that feature the highest level of real-time performance requiring a small footprint (memory) suitable for use in robotics.

“We’re elated that FairCom’s engineers will be sharing their field-proven experience with low-cost embedded databases that are reliable and always available,” said Associate Professor Guilherme (Gui) DeSouza who heads MU’s ViGIR lab. “These database attributes are not merely important to the applications we focus on–they could make the difference between being able to solve fundamental problems in computer science and engineering or not. Many problems in these areas require deterministic, real-time solutions – i.e., solutions that are robust and repeatable, and that can perform in real-time. Without those attributes, data corruption is inevitable, and loss of information can lead to catastrophic consequences.”

As a team sponsor, FairCom will work with the School of Engineering’s robotic soccer team, the Tigerbots, as it prepares to enter the 2014 RoboCup, an international robotics competition that promotes robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) research. Student groups around the globe build robots conforming to contest requirements. The finalists are invited to show off their robots’ soccer skills in an annual competition. The 2014 competition will be held in Brazil.

In addition to serving on MU’s School of Engineering Advisory Board, FairCom’s technical team has been tapped to guest lecture for the MU course, “Real Time Embedded Computing” (ECE4220/7220). FairCom participants include Owner Ray Brown, VP of Engineering Randal Hoff, and Business Development Director Evaldo H. de Oliveira.

“We’re eager to join ViGIR’s next-generation technologists who bring fresh perspectives to the scientific discovery process. We look forward to exploring together what the future of embedded databases will look like,” explained FairCom’s de Oliveira.

FairCom is the architect of c‑treeACE®, a cross-platform database engine that supports both fast, record-oriented ISAM interfaces (the original key value pair stores now called NoSQL) and industry-standard relational interfaces within the same application. Further, c‑treeACE is the industry’s only database that allows developers to continue to innovate and optimize both ISAM and SQL, and enjoy the optimal mix of each technology’s unique performance benefits.

c‑treeACE gives superior flexibility by working with a complete range of popular programming languages (e.g., C, C#, C++, Visual Basic, etc.), development tools (e.g., Visual Studio, IDE, etc.), operating systems (e.g., Windows, Mountain Lion, Linux), and hardware platforms that support a wide variety of forms of data, applications and environments.

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About FairCom

For more than 30 years, FairCom has built high-performance, engineering-level database technology that empowers developers to meet their specific data management requirements. With low licensing costs, minimal hardware requirements, and little-to-no DBA overhead, FairCom delivers one of the database industry’s lowest total costs of ownership (TCO). Its flagship product, c‑treeACE, provides the most robust solution for ISAM and SQL, allowing developers to enjoy the optimal mix of each technology’s unique performance and ease of data sharing benefits. Thousands of ISVs and 43 percent of the Fortune 100 have selected c‑treeACE to power their applications, including Federal Express, Microsoft, NASA and Visa. FairCom is headquartered in Columbia, Mo., with offices in Europe, South America and Asia (Japan). For more information, visit https://www.faircom.com.

About University of Missouri’s ViGIR Lab

The ViGIR Lab conducts research on computer vision, pattern recognition and robotics. Students and faculty develop models to represent the world as perceived by cameras and other sensors, and they devise algorithms to extract real-time information from a sensory network to guide robots to perform various tasks. The Lab’s main goal is to build new human-robot interfaces that can be used in robotic assistive technology, augmented reality, automation, tele-operation, and other applications. For more information, visit http://vigir.missouri.edu/.