Services
No matter where you are in the product development life cycle, we can move you forward
What We Do
Innovation Workshops
TEEX Testing & Innovation Center (TT&IC) is dedicated to fostering innovation and driving research and development. To facilitate the exchange of knowledge and networking among research professionals, we regularly organize seminars and conferences. Our innovation workshops are designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of emerging technologies while addressing important problems related to public safety, workplace safety, and homeland security. We invite expert speakers who are highly respected in their respective fields and encourage peer-to-peer sessions that empower participants with valuable skills and insights. Our main objective is to cultivate innovation through our workshops where professionals from various domains come together to share ideas and experiences, promoting creativity, collaboration, and innovation. We at TT&IC strive to enable progress and growth in the research and development industry.
Applied Research Support
TEEX-Tested®
Technologies are constantly evolving to meet the challenges of changing markets, policies, standards, and consumer demands. We specialize in developing technology performance assessments, tailored to meet the needs of safety, emergency response, and homeland security professionals. We leverage the unique TEEX facilities and other Texas A&M University System resources to ensure each product is feasible, valid and reliable when it arrives in the user’s hands. The TEEX TESTED® mark is our offering for designing and executing practical assessments for disruptive and innovative technologies.
The Drago Cannon is a product designed to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of current water suppression delivery systems by improving the absorption and expansion characteristics of suppression agents. By utilizing a powered fan to further the breakup of the suppression stream and engineering a more efficient method of stream interference at the nozzle. TEEX PDC provided third-party evaluation of the industrial fire suppression characteristics associated with the Drago Cannon. This evaluation was performed at the TEEX Brayton Fire Training Field in College Station, Texas and was conducted under the guidance and direction of the Product Test Plan developed by the PDC. The purpose of this evaluation was to assess the capability of the Drago Cannon during operational industrial fire scenarios. The overall evaluation was based on the experience of Subject Matter Experts (SME) and data collected during the evaluations. Scenarios were developed to examine the capability of the system to deliver improved fire suppression in those scenarios.
FLAIM Trainer is a Virtual Reality (VR) training system that combines virtual visual and sound environments and hands-on equipment/gear to provide an immersive experience. FLAIM designed the system as a safe and cost-effective way to train and refresh firefighters of various skill levels and disciplines. The TT&IC received the 2022 system to conduct an operational assessment using reviewers and firefighters ranging from academy students to experienced volunteer and career departments from municipal, industrial, wildland, Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF), and military disciplines.
The TEEX Testing & Innovation Center teamed with Texas A&M University's Internet2Technology Evaluation Center (ITEC) and the George H.W. Bush Combat Development Complex (BCDC) to perform a developmental assessment of the Squishy Robotics Stationary Robot and 4-GasPLUS sensor payload. Professionals representing the targeted user base participated in the assessment using representative scenarios, appropriate protective distances (a.k.a. stand-off distances), and procedures. Scenarios were designed to focus on hazardous material missions requiring protective distances between the simulated incident and cold zones. Operational environments included a petroleum/chemical processing unit, petroleum/chemical tank farm, freight train derailment involving a DOT111 tank car, and a subterranean tunnel system. The Squishy Robotics System was deployed by hand or by UAS based on best practices determined by emergency response personnel.
The TEEX Testing & Innovation Center performed as part of a team of four universities and two private companies in a National Science Foundation Convergence Accelerator grant to develop a mixed-reality learning environment with physical, augmented, and virtual reality components for first responders to learn to work effectively with nascent human augmentation technologies called LEARNER. TT&IC provided technical expertise planning and developing this three year, 5.2-million-dollar project alongside faculty from Texas A&M University, Virginia Tech University, Clemson University, and the University of Florida. The TT&IC leveraged their emergency response operations expertise, world-class facilities, and nationwide network of first responders to guide the research team through the intricacies of training curriculum development and emergency operations to facilitate workshops and product demonstrations.
The TEEX Testing & Innovation Center, with the help of the Bush Combat Development Complex, conducted a performance assessment of the InVeris SURVIVR VR Law Enforcement Training System to provide training and acquisition decision-makers with information regarding the product’s operational performance. The TT&IC designed scenarios and invited current and former municipal, county and state law enforcement personnel to assess the tool. The two-trainee system tested by the TT&IC included VR headsets, tracking sensors, computers and software, and a variety of weapons that operate realistically in the VR environment, including rifles, pistols, pepper spray and tasers.
Purdue University and TEEX, through the TEEX Testing & Innovation Center, teamed to develop a web-based, virtual-reality first responder training course called Cyber Resilience Adaptive Virtual Reality Experiences (CRAVRE). This project was funded through a FEMA sponsored Competitive Training Grant (CTG) process. TEEX provided curriculum development technical assistance to guide Purdue’s content developers through the intensive federal curriculum development process as they pioneered the first web-distributed virtual reality course. TEEX’s exercise development teams were used to develop the course’s many application activities to provide high-fidelity scenarios. After the course receives its certification, TEEX will provide course management assistance by providing customer service to course participants and reporting course performance metrics to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The TEEX Testing & Innovation Center was chose by Paragon Systems to plan and facilitate a three-day summit for public utility providers in the State of Texas. The summit had more than 110 attendees, featuring more than 30 speakers, and two tabletop cybersecurity exercises. The TT&IC guided the Paragon Systems team through speaker recruitment, marketing, and the programming of the summit. Additionally, TEEX designed and facilitated the two, four-hour exercises at the world-class Emergency Operational Training Center, adjacent to Disaster City. The TT&IC provided additional technical assistance through participant registration and assistance with on-the-ground logistics, including organizing bus transportation for the summit participants.
The TEEX Testing & Innovation Center facilitated a development test of an MSA gas detector system at the Brayton Fire Training Field in College Station, TX. TEEX collaborated closely with MSA to design and build a robust steel infrastructure capable of exposing a propane gas valve and varying its amount of gas leakage. Throughout the three-day testing process, our team’s testing coordinators, prop technicians, firefighters and safety officials worked diligently to provide support and expertise. As a result of the test, MSA was able to effectively collect valuable data for product development and refinement.
Use of the Registered Trademark
At the conclusion of a TEEX TESTED® project, you will be provided a final report in which TEEX Testing & Innovation Center will affix the TEEX TESTED® mark. Use of the TEEX TESTED® mark will require one of the following disclaimers:
“The Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) developed aspects of this report and data for (Insert name of company). No other recipient of this document may rely upon the data or any representations made in this report for any purpose. TEEX hereby disclaims and any recipient of this report waives any warranties whether express or implied including without limitation any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. Any recipient of this report accepts the report ‘as is’ and acknowledges that TEEX has no responsibility or liability to the recipient. TEEX does not in any way endorse the Product.”
“The (system, product or technology) has been TEEX TESTED® to (Insert Standard or parameter). This testing does not constitute an endorsement by TEEX.