$3.00M to the University of California San Diego — phase two of the TILOS AI institute, at the institution holding the most awards in these records (estimated total $15M)

1Awards gather at the same institution

The 120 NSF awards this site holds as of 2026-09-01 are spread across 93 institutions. Nineteen hold more than one and the remaining 74 hold a single award. The largest count is five, at the University of California-San Diego, and this award is among them.

Most of the 19 holding more than one are universities. In fields where research runs at scale, the next award tends toward places where equipment and people have already gathered. The concentration is a fact readable from the record; whether it is good or bad the record does not say.

2Phase two, built on five years

TILOS has already run five years, and this award covers its second phase. The abstract says the project builds on those first five years to move beyond learning-enabled optimisation.

The subject is physically embedded real-world intelligence: integrating AI and larger foundation models with physical embodiment so that decision making, control and interaction happen in real time inside complex environments. The direction reads as moving from answering on a screen to deciding inside something that moves.

Transportation, manufacturing, healthcare, energy systems and scientific instruments are named as the areas concerned.

3The obligation is a fifth of the estimated total

The obligated amount is $3,000,000 against an estimated total of $15,000,000. The period runs five years, from 2026-11-01 to 2031-10-31.

Among the 120 NSF awards this site holds as of 2026-09-01, the estimated total and the obligated amount match on 86 and differ on 34. On long, large awards such as institutes, only part of the total is typically obligated in the first year. The award date is 2026-08-14, leaving 79 days to the start on 2026-11-01; across the same 120 awards the median gap between award date and start is 19 days, so this one is longer.