ExoPower Inc. has been awarded a $1.25 million National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research Phase II grant to advance its in-motion wireless-charging technology toward commercial deployment.

ExoPower operates its research and development laboratory on the Grand Junction Business Incubator Center campus and has worked with the incubator across several of its core pillars, including business incubation, business development, business innovation and business incentives.

ExoPower is developing capacitive wireless-charging systems that allow industrial mobile robots and material-handling equipment to recharge while they work and move. The technology is designed to reduce or eliminate charging downtime, improve equipment utilization and lower the infrastructure and battery costs associated with operating electric robotic fleets.

“This Phase II grant is really about taking our research to the next level and developing a pilot system that we can give to customers to test,” said Brandon Regensburger, CEO and co-founder of ExoPower. “Having a pilot will help take out a lot of the risk. It opens the door to customer contracts, additional investment and ultimately getting this technology into the market.”

Unlike the inductive wireless charging technology commonly used in applications such as cell-phone chargers, ExoPower’s patented capacitive wireless-charging technology can be significantly less expensive at higher power levels and is particularly well suited to charging equipment while it is in motion, according to Regensburger.

Phase II funding began Sept. 15, and ExoPower plans to expand its team as pilot development accelerates. Regensburger said the company hopes to draw from Western Colorado’s growing engineering and technical talent pool as it builds.