IHMC was founded by Dr.
Kenneth M. Ford, Dr. Alberto Cañas, and Dr. Bruce Dunn on the campus of the
University of West Florida, in 1990. IHMC was among the first interdisciplinary academic research institutions that allowed computer scientists, philosophers, and cognitive psychologists to collaborate on human centered computing projects. IHMC was an early pioneer in human-centered AI, computer-mediated learning, knowledge-based systems and knowledge acquisition, natural language understanding, as well as the philosophical foundations of AI. Early IHMC researchers include
Henry E. Kyburg Jr.,
Clark Glymour,
Pat Hayes,
James F. Allen, Robert Hoffman, and
Joseph D. Novak. Over the years, IHMC has developed three core pillars of research: artificial intelligence, robotics, and human performance and resilience. These three research pillars continue to support the original research goal of IHMC, that being to employ science and technology to extend human capabilities. In 2004, the Florida Legislature, under the K-20 Education Code, established IHMC as an independent, statewide research institute. IHMC maintains research affiliations with multiple Florida universities. In January 2010, IHMC opened a 28,000 square foot research site in Ocala, Florida, strategically located near three major university research partners as well as the central Florida technology corridor. IHMC's Ocala facilities support computer scientists, engineers, and linguists engaged in research spanning machine learning, natural language understanding, natural language understanding for social cybersecurity, and speech analysis for physiological state determination. In 2010 IHMC had been recognized by the U.S.
Economic Development Administration for the institute's impact on downtown Pensacola. The profile of IHMC's robotics program was enhanced by the team's participation in the DARPA Robotics Challenge which involved a series of global robotics competitions. This three-year competition pushed humanoid robotics to the realm of usability for first responders in disaster scenarios, partly motivated by the
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. The Virtual Robotics Challenge, the first of these challenges, saw 26 international teams work to program a virtual humanoid robot avatar to complete multiple tasks modeled after real world challenges that first responders experience. The IHMC Robotics team finished first in the Virtual Robotics Challenge, putting the team among eight groups awarded an
Atlas robot built by
Boston Dynamics and funding to compete in the
DARPA Robotics Challenge. In December 2012 the IHMC Robotics team placed second overall in phase two, the DARPA Robotics Trials, and were awarded the funding to compete in the final, three-year leg of the competition. On June 8, 2015, the IHMC team earned second place in the
DARPA Robotics Challenge, overcoming a series of falls on the first day of the competition that left their
Atlas robot with major structural damage. In 2016 IHMC completed construction on the award-winning Levin Center for IHMC Research 30,000-square-foot building with expanded laboratories, research areas and offices. IHMC's paraplegic mobility research team participated in the inaugural
Cybathlon in 2016. The Cybathlon was the world's first international competition for cyber-assisted athletes, and like the
Olympics takes place every four years. Exoskeleton pilot Mark Daniel utilized IHMC's fourth paraplegic mobility device MinaV2 to compete in Cybathlon 2016 and the Quix Mobility Platform developed for the Mobility Unlimited Challenge sponsored by the Toyota Mobility Foundation to compete in the Cybathlon 2020. In 2024, the $40 million Healthspan, Resilience, and Performance complex opened on IHMC’s downtown Pensacola campus. The new facility aims to be a hub of biomedically focused research in the region, fueling collaboration across all of IHMC’s core disciplines to improve the understanding of aging, neurodegenerative diseases, musculoskeletal diseases, and chronic metabolic conditions. This effort, funded in part by a grant from Triumph Gulf Coast will help diversify and strengthen the region's economy. Triumph Gulf Coast is responsible for spending $1.5 billion in BP money in Northwest Florida. It was created in the wake of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. ==Scientific and technical staff==