New InDro Sentinel has wireless charging enclosure for remote operations

New InDro Sentinel has wireless charging enclosure for remote operations

Jan 13, 2025 | InDro Autonomy, InDro Controller, InDro News, Scott Simmie

By Scott Simmie

 

If you follow our news, you’re likely familiar with our Sentinel inspection robot. It’s been built specifically for monitoring critical assets like electrical substations etc. – places where you need regular eyes on assets without the cost and inconvenience of having a human being on site.

We are pleased to announce that InDro Robotics has perfected an outdoor enclosure that keeps Sentinel protected from harsh weather, while allowing for wireless recharging.

“If you imagine a robot in any sort of demanding outdoor environment to improve the longevity of the equipment, you want to keep it away from the elements as much as possible – which is why the enclosure exists,” explains Luke Corbeth, InDro’s Head of R&D Sales.

“For any demanding outdoor application such as substation inspection, solar farm inspection, etcetera, you’re going to want to keep the robot out of the rain, away from the wind, out of direct heat. These elements are why the enclosure exists.”

And the best part? Sentinel can autonomously return to that enclosure to rest and recharge completely on its own. And that makes it perfect for even the most distant of assets. If there’s a cellular connection, Sentinel can be a totally remote employee.

Below: The new Sentinel enclosure, on site at our R&D headquarters at Ottawa’s Area X.O

Sentinel enclosure Ottawa Hydro

JANUARY, FEBRUARY, MARCH…

 

And what comes next? April, of course. And the reason we’re going down this road is because Sentinel finds its roost using a code known as AprilTags. They’re similar to QR codes, but have been designed for 3D orientation. Sentinel’s enclosure uses AprilTags – which are detected by onboard cameras – for the robot to find its way home, and snug up nice and close to its wireless recharging system.

“The robot is trained to know exactly what these tags look like from every angle,” says Corbeth. “And by looking at these tags, it’s able to determine: ‘Oh, I’m a little bit off in this direction, so I need to make this adjustment.’ That ensures that we have a smooth and reliable docking and undocking sequence every single time the robot goes in and out of the enclosure.”

There’s a slightly inclined ramp for Sentinel to access this tiny recharging home. And the floor is deliberately a bit slippery in order for Sentinel to fine-tune its docking procedure by, for lack of a better word, drifting inside the enclosure to get its bearings.. And the charging system? Amazing.

The Wibotic charger is incredibly efficient. One hour of wireless charging is enough for Sentinel to fully recharge and deploy on a five-hour mission. Let’s repeat that: One hour of wireless charging gives Sentinel five hours on the ground.

The other advantage is that, because it’s wireless, there are no mechanical interfaces. These can be a potential point of failure, which is the last thing you’d want on a remote, autonomous installation. The whole point of these installations is for a robot to take care of things on its own.

“Anytime you have a mechanical interface, there are usually prongs involved. These can get bent or damaged – which is the last thing you’d want on a remote installation. So wireless charging completely eliminates that potential point of failure,” says Corbeth.

Below: Sentinel in its enclosure. You can see one of the AprilTags, which are used for Sentinel to perfectly align with the Wibotic charger

 

Sentinel enclosure Ottawa Hydro

REAL WORLD DEMO

 

Sentinel has been through multiple iterations as platforms, sensors and  compute improve. The newest version uses a wheeled platform (though a separate version with treads is available). Compute is a powerful AI-enabled processor capable of many Trillions of Operations per Second (TOPS). And because we deploy with InDro Controller, our in-house user interface, Sentinel can be easily programmed to repeat highly complex tasks.

Say, for example, you are particularly interested in the reading on a gauge. The first time you deploy Sentinel using InDro Controller, you would manually adjust the Pan-Tilt-Zoom camera to capture an image of that asset. But once you’ve done it once? InDro Controller remembers the settings – so you can deploy Sentinel on an autonomous mission and it will remember all parameters. It will capture the same image, on its own, during any subsequent deployment. This applies to any sensor, capturing any data.

 

HYDRO OTTAWA DEMO

 

Recently, InDro got in touch with Hydro Ottawa. We were looking to deploy Sentinel in a real-world situation, and Hydro Ottawa has an electrical substation in the city. We were interested in testing Sentinel in that scenario, and Hydro Ottawa was interested in seeing what Sentinel could do.

We deployed over the Rogers 5G network, using InDro Controller to quickly plot its route and some specific Points of Interest (which did indeed include a gauge). Then we let Sentinel go about its business completely on its own with an autonomous mission.

The result? Phenomenal. Sentinel captured all the salient data, demonstrating its immense capabilities as a ‘set and forget’ robot. Now that the data is in InDro Controller, Sentinel can carry out the same mission on a schedule with zero human intervention. Data will be automatically uploaded – and Sentinel is even capable of sending alerts if, say, that gauge was sending a reading of concern.

“We were able to plot a full preventative maintenance mission – and then run it autonomously several times within a two-hour window,” says Corbeth.

What’s more? It was freezing cold, putting Sentinel to the test in a harsh environment. This is what this robot was built to carry out – and can operate in environments from -20C to +30C.

And the Hydro Ottawa people?

“They were blown away,” says Corbeth. “They even told me: ‘Luke, your team should be very proud.'”

We are.

Below: Sentinel at a Hydro Ottawa substation

 

Sentinel enclosure Ottawa Hydro

INDRO’S TAKE

 

Sentinel has been an ongoing project for InDro for several years. We have continually upgraded the product as newer sensors and AI compute capabilities have become available. In conjunction with InDro Controller, this is now a fully commercial product. In fact, we recently shipped three of these to a US client and look forward to reporting on this when they are first deployed (which is happening shortly).

“Sentinel is one of our core products,” says InDro Robotics Founder and CEO Philip Reece. “Our team, both at Area X.O and InDro Forge, have worked very hard on the design and integration of this product. And InDro Controller, under the hands of Head of Software RJ Bundy, is an extremely intuitive and powerful user interface. We look forward to manufacturing many more Sentinels in 2025.”

Oh. We almost forgot to tell you that Sentinel is available as a quadruped, so it can tackle stairs and more demanding environments. So cool.

Interested in learning more – including a remote demo where you can take control of Sentinel? Contact us here.

InDro Robotics looks back on 2024: It was a very good year

InDro Robotics looks back on 2024: It was a very good year

Jan 7, 2025 | Uncategorized

By Scott Simmie

We always like to pause at this time of the year and reflect; to look back on the year that was and celebrate the milestones and innovations achieved by Team InDro. It’s an exercise that’s always both satisfying and somewhat surprising, as we routinely forget just how much we managed to pack in. 

2024 was a very good year for InDro Robotics, as well as InDro Forge – our rapid prototyping and limited production run facility based at Ottawa’s Bayview Yards. 

Before we get into outlining all the specific projects and breakthroughs we’ve enjoyed during the year, it’s worth mentioning that while the focus of this story will largely be the engineering work carried out at our Area X.O research and development headquarters, InDro Robotics also has employees elsewhere in Canada, including Toronto, London, Alberta and British Columbia.

And – as you’ll see – they do cool stuff, too.

Below: The newest iteration of our Sentinel inspection workhorse

Industrial Inspection Robot

THE BIG PICTURE

 

The high-level view is a good one, and it’s this: InDro excelled in 2024 at putting complex robots and drones into the hands of clients across North America. These clients include others engaged in the R&D world – particularly universities and academics – as well as corporate clients and even global technology companies.

We’ve always done that. But there were two key factors that made for a difference in 2024. The first was that InDro Forge, our rapid prototyping and limited production run facility, truly came into its own. Forge, located at Ottawa’s Bayview Yards, is now our go-to for custom metal work, 3D printing and platform enclosures. (On the 3D printing front, we can fabricate objects up to one cubic metre.) The fit and finish of the products emerging from InDro Forge, whether for us or other clients, is exceptional.

The other big news from 2024 is about InDro’s growth and trajectory. We continued to expand our engineering team at Area X.O – and now have multiple high-level specialists in every sector of engineering: Mechanical, electrical, mechatronics, front-end software developers – the list goes on. So InDro scaled significantly in 2024 and has plans to continue in 2025.

We also developed new products in 2024 we’re confident will be commercially successful. As a result, there’s a shift coming in 2025. Yes, we’ll continue to do all the great R&D and custom robotics we’ve built our reputation on. But we’ll also be in a position, in conjunction with InDro Forge, to become a fully-fledged manufacturer.

Yes, we’ve manufactured before – sometimes designing and building multiple robots for a single client, or building our ever-popular InDro Commander. But we haven’t really manufactured at scale. This year, we’re confident we have the products, the capacity, the team and the vision for this to take place.

With all that context out of the way, let’s take a look at what we accomplished in 2024, starting with InDro Cortex – one of the products that has already generated significant interest and which we will manufacture in 2025.

Below: Rosie the dual manipulator robot – one of many complex builds for clients we carried out in 2024

Rosie

INDRO CORTEX

 

InDro Cortex is a very small, very smart box that will elevate the capabilities of any robot or drone. It’s also the logical successor to our popular InDro Commander. That product also made robots smarter – and far easier for anyone with even modest robotics knowledge to integrate.

Commander contains high-power AI compute. Cortex takes that up a significant notch. Its brains reside within the NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin Developer Kit, rated at 275 TOPS – that’s 275 Trillion Operations Per Second. Both the 8GB and 16GB versions will be integrated into Cortex, pending client needs.

In addition, Cortex contains a high-speed 5G/4G modem and antenna for remote teleoperation, GPS, the ROS1 and ROS2 (Robot Operating System) software libraries, along with multiple USB slots for rapid sensor integration and power supply. Someone purchasing a robotic locomotion platform could simply add Commander or Cortex – and then rapidly integrate multiple sensors. Those sensors are automatically detected, so it truly is a “plug & play” device. Pretty much every custom robot we build for clients has one of these boxes, and many clients purchase Commander as a standalone in order to simplify and speed their own integrations.

Because our motto is “Invent, Enhance, Deploy” we couldn’t stand on our laurels. As newer AI compute and other components came along, we knew it was time to improve an already-good solution.

“InDro Cortex grew out of the idea of making a general purpose backpack/module that any OEM could put on their motorized product – everything from a ground robot to even a golf cart, drone, car, truck or RC platform,” says Engineering Lead Arron Griffiths. “That single module makes any platform ROS-enabled, AI-ready and 5G connected.”

And it’s small. We designed four circuit boards to ensure smooth integration, top-speed remote teleoperation and even secure WiFi.

“It’s tiny so it fits on everything – whether that’s a ground robot or a drone,” says InDro Vice President Peter King. “So basically we can turn any platform into a very powerful robot without all the time and hassle.”

There’s been incredible interest in Cortex already. We plan on manufacturing and shipping to clients in Q3. Pre-orders are being taken now by Head of R&D Sales Luke Corbeth.

Below: An exploded view of InDro Cortex – the brains for your next robot, followed by our V1 enclosure

 

InDro Control Module ICM Cortex
InDro Cortex

INDRO CONTROLLER

 

Another highlight of 2024 was on the software side. Our clients were asking for an intuitive and secure mission planner/controller, something that would make it easy to plan even highly complex autonomous missions.

InDro Controller is a powerful desktop UI for operating any robot. With a highly secure data connection, InDro Controller automatically senses all key parameters of any robotic device. It detects any sensors, providing a data feed from all of them with minimal latency. It also checks out overall robot health and provides instant feedback for the operator.

“It can handle all sorts of data,” says Lead Software Engineer RJ Bundy. “It doesn’t matter if the robot has standard or custom sensors, InDro Controller can automatically detect and visualize them. For example, if you added a radar unit to an existing robot, the system will pick up on that immediately.”

We’re not simply talking about missions that go from waypoint to waypoint. InDro Controller will remember any specific actions carried out during a mission and save and repeat them. For example, imagine you have a pressure gauge on site that needs to be monitored. The first time that mission is planned, the operator would position the pan-tilt-zoom camera on that asset and capture the image. The next time your robot goes out? InDro Controller will recall all parameters and position the camera, zoom and shoot autonomously. The system can even be programmed to fire an alert if a parameter on that gauge is being exceeded (or if a component exceeds thermal limits, etc.).

A basic version of InDro Controller ships with every robot we produce for clients. The Enterprise version can be leased at an affordable price, with continuous upgrades down the road at no additional cost.

Oh. We also made incredible strides with our InDro Autonomy software stack. With this on board, you can carry out Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) missions in completely unfamiliar environments. Even GPS-denied locations can be navigated with ease.

Below: A look at InDro Controller – which pairs perfectly with InDro Cortex-enabled robots but is itself robot-agnostic

Remote Control for Robots

OTHER MILESTONES AND HIGHLIGHTS

 

Truth is, were we to spend even a couple of paragraphs on each of the many things accomplished in 2024, you’d be reading an opus that would take you well into 2025. We know your time is as valuable as ours, so we’ll touch on the highlights as briefly as possible, with links to complete posts if you’d like more information.

Let’s start with clients. These are some of the many robots we built and shipped in 2024. Some of them were one-off creations, while some orders were for multiple robots.

  • Rosie the Robot: A dual-arm manipulator robot built for the Intelligent-Cyber Physical System Lab, or I-CPS, at Polytechnique Montréal
  • Four swarm robots for North Carolina State University’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
  • The Street Smart Robot, built to autonomously detect and report anomalies on bicycle paths during winter to help keep cyclists safe
  • A total of 28 robots or platforms for Polytechnique Montréal‘s MIST Lab (Making Innovative Space Technology). Their team, using our platforms, was even featured on CNN
  • Multiple custom inspection robot builds for a major US client we cannot name at this time
  • The new Sentinel inspection robot for remote teleoperation in even the harshest of environments

There were more, but these hit the high points in terms of robots out the door that we can reveal without violating NDAs.

We also put in a lot of time with our partners at Cypher Robotics. Cypher is a separate company, but InDro is the technology incubator, assisting Cypher with challenging builds and testing. We are very proud of our work in helping to bring its cycle-counting/precision scanning Captis solution from plans to reality. This autonomous robot has been tested in massive Canadian warehouses, and picked up a ton of buzz at the MODEX and AUTOMATE conferences. Cypher Robotics was even invited to New Zealand, and has partnered with that country’s leading telco provider Spark.

Similar to our technology partnership with Cypher Robotics, InDro has also been assisting the great team at Real Life Robotics – a startup making great inroads in last-mile delivery services. Real Life’s engineering team drew up plans for its newest version of delivery robot “Bubbs” – and InDro Robotics and InDro Forge executed those plans. The result? An autonomous delivery robot that’s been making the rounds (and receiving a lot of coverage) delivering food for animals at the Toronto Zoo.

 

BUSY BUSY BUSY

 

While most eyes seem to be on our work at Area X.O (where we invent, design and build robots), InDro is always busy on multiple fronts. We are constantly involved in research for such bodies as the National Research Council, the Ontario Vehicle Innovation Centre, and more. One of the many interesting projects we began in 2024 (and which continues in 2025), is carrying out precision agriculture missions at cherry and peach orchards in British Columbia. It’s a collaboration between InDro Robotics and the City of Kelowna (enabled with funding from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Agriculture Clean Technology Program).

Yes, we’re using a drone to capture multi spectral data. But – in what we believe is a Canadian first – we’re also deploying ground robots to capture additional plant health data. The missions and analysis are being carried out by our Chief of Flight Operations Dr. Eric Saczuk (who holds a PhD in remote sensing and runs BCIT’s RPAS Hub).

“This is a way of doing ground-based validation of what we’re seeing from the air,” says Dr. Saczuk.

And that’s just one of many interesting projects we were (and are) involved in. These include:

And yes, there’s more.

Our own Kate Klassen, Canada’s most well-known drone instructor (she’s also a multi-engine rated flight instructor with traditional aircraft) continued her exceptional training and advocacy work. She carried out seminars (including a recency session at the Aerial Evolution Association of Canada’s annual conference in Ottawa), took part in highly complex RPAS missions, and even expanded offerings on her already-comprehensive online drone instruction portal, FLYY. 

The newly launched Compass Series of courses is geared to help those who are recently certified to “find direction” or “get their bearings” (we see what you did there, Kate). Based on interviews across her network of experts, you can now learn the fundamentals of what it means to use drones in forestry, C-UAS, LiDAR, AAM and photogrammetry – with more to come!

Klassen (and InDro) are looking forward to new Transport Canada regulations that will enable non-complex BVLOS missions in 2025 without the need for a Special Flight Operations Certificate (SFOC). InDro, if you’re not aware, was the first company to obtain a blanket BVLOS SFOC from Transport Canada, and was the first company to obtain a drone cargo license from the Canadian Transportation Agency. So drones are a deep part of InDro’s DNA.

But so is fun. And to that end, we partnered with the immensely popular Hacksmith YouTube channel – providing a pair of robotic arms that were, well, integrated onto a human. You can catch all the laughs (and challenges)  in the video below. Part II is coming this year!

 

INDRO’S TAKE

 

We have to say it’s pretty satisfying to reflect on the year that was. Team InDro has gone above and beyond once again, hitting multiple significant milestones for ourselves and our clients. What’s more, we had fun doing it.

“I’m immensely proud of all the hard work carried out by our team,” says InDro Robotics CEO and Founder Philip Reece.

“And while it’s an impressive list of accomplishments, the big story is really about growth. InDro has scaled significantly and is now poised to start expanding with manufacturing in 2025. There’s already significant demand for Cortex, and we look forward to seeing that box come off production lines later this year.”

And a quick personal note from the author. I always enjoy interviewing our engineers and learning more about our latest projects. But I also like to focus on InDro’s people from time to time. Two of the stories I really enjoyed this year are these profiles of two team members who made their way from India to InDro…and this look at Head of Engineering Arron Griffiths. Oh – and let’s not forget about Artist-in-Residence Stephan Tzolov.

We look forward to 2025, which – in more ways than one – promises to be an exciting New Year.

Cypher Robotics partners with New Zealand’s leading telco provider Spark

Cypher Robotics partners with New Zealand’s leading telco provider Spark

Jan 1, 2025 | Captis, cycle counting, Cypher Robotics, Industry News, Scott Simmie

By Scott Simmie

 

Cypher Robotics, a Canadian company specialising in supply chain and precision scanning solutions, has partnered with New Zealand’s leading telecommunications provider, Spark.

We are pleased to see this, as Cypher is a client of InDro’s – and our Area X.O engineering headquarters is the incubator for Cypher’s technology. We helped Cypher develop and build its flagship product, Captis. And Spark? It’s a big deal, too – as we’ll explain later on.

First though, some background: Captis is an autonomous mobile robot (AMR) designed for large warehouse spaces. It does three things, and does all of them very well. One of its key value propositions is that Captis can scan everything on warehouse shelves – even products some 10 metres off the ground – autonomously. It does so by moving up and down the aisles on missions that can last up to five hours.

The real magic is in how Captis scans, even at height. It does so by using a drone attached by tether to that AMR base. The drone ascends while Captis moves down the aisles, with the tether both supplying power for the drone (which enables long missions without the need for battery swaps) and carrying out data transfer. The drone scans all of the bar codes on products, with the data securely transferred in real-time to the client’s existing inventory software. That means – even in massive warehouses – that the client has up-to-date cycle counts every time Captis is dispatched.

But Captis also has two other tricks up its sleeve. The robot can carry out autonomous precision scans to produce an exact 2D or 3D digital copy of even huge warehouses. And, by removing the drone and adding an RFID module, can autonomously scan inventory using RFID tags with that data also integrated seamlessly into existing warehouse management systems. Captis has been proven during nearly a year of trials at one of Canada’s largest retailers.

And now, it’s had its debut in New Zealand. Cypher Robotics was invited to the inaugural Spark Accelerate event – a major show that attracted business leaders from across New Zealand to learn about how AI and automation can help transform the way their companies do things. Here’s a highlight reel from that event.

 

NETWORKS

 

You’ve no doubt heard of leading North American telecommunications providers like T-Mobile and Rogers. These are the big players in the telco world – and, coincidentally – are also partners with InDro Robotics.

While many of us tend of think of these companies as simply the networks for our daily phone use, they are far more than that. In conjunction with hardware providers like Ericsson (also an InDro partner), they build the infrastructure that enables nationwide coverage with cellular networks. And as the world transforms to a future of increased automation, the Internet of Things, Smart Cities and AI, these networks will be its crucial backbone.

For larger companies that rely heavily on technology, as well as government, there’s demand for high-speed networks devoted solely to their own needs. And so companies like T-Mobile and Rogers are increasingly being called upon to set up private 5G networks for those clients. This ensures a secure, 24/7 high-bandwidth pipeline for dense data and communications.

Building and maintaining these private 5G networks is not something most phone users are aware of – but it’s a significant part of the revenue and business model of major telecommunication companies. So it’s not surprising that those companies are always on the lookout for technologies that can be put to use in an Industry 3.0 setting. In fact, T-Mobile regularly puts on large events to showcase these technologies to business leaders and analysts, because it’s ultimately good for their own business model.

It’s also a tangible way for these telcos to illustrate to companies what these networks can do for them. In the absence of real-world products and applications that can be demonstrated, private 5G networks are kind of an invisible concept. So showing clients technologies that could be put to use over a private network is a great way for telcos to let companies see the value proposition.

InDro has twice been invited to attend T-Mobile events and demonstrate our own products. Most recently, Tirth Gajera from our Area X.O headquarters took a Unitree GO2 quadruped we had modified with an InDro Backpack. This is a module that enables 5G teleoperation and the rapid integration of additional sensors. In short, it gives an already-capable platform superpowers – enabling the GO2 to be dispatched on autonomous inspection missions. Here’s a picture of our modified GO2, waiting to take to the stage.

Unitree GO2 InDro Backpack T-Mobile

CYPHER ROBOTICS AND SPARK

 

When Cypher Robotics first unveiled its Captis solution at the big MODEX show in March of this year, it gained a *lot* of attention – including this article in TechCrunch. The solution was not only innovative and very hi-tech, but people could immediately see the value proposition it held for companies. No more manual scanning of inventory, no more putting people at risk doing the unsatisfying job of hand-scanning from height, and immediate and accurate cycle counts from barcodes or RFID tags (plus precision scans!).

Cellular hardware and software giant Ericsson learned about Cypher Robotics and made the introduction to Spark. From that initial introduction multiple meetings ensued, and Cypher has now partnered with Spark – which invited CEO Peter King to New Zealand to showcase Captis at its inaugural Spark Accelerate event in November in Auckland.

That show brought together leading experts on AI and automation, along with top business and government leaders from across New Zealand. They came to learn how new technologies and automation can help benefit their companies in an Industry 3.0 setting – and how private 5G networks are a key part of the solution. And Spark? It was the perfect company to host the event.

“We are the largest provider in New Zealand and also probably the oldest. It started off of the old post box exchange and has evolved over the years as the technology has changed,” explained Spark Product Manager Monique Strawbridge during an interview from Auckland.

“We say our ambition is to help all of New Zealand win big in a digital world. We operate on both the consumer side and right up to the government and enterprise markets.”

It’s a big company, with some 5,000 employees. And it’s always looking toward the future – both in terms of clients and its own strategic growth.

“Mobile plans and broadband plans kind of get cheaper all the time with competition in the market. With business (clients), there’s that opportunity to really leverage the new capabilities of networks as they mature. When you match up with a solution like Cypher Robotics, you can really make sure that your customers are driving new productivity gains or efficiencies  – as well as creating new revenue streams for our operation as well.”

Cypher Robotics CEO Peter King says his company’s initial plans were focussed on North America. But demand for Captis has come from many parts of the world – including Dubai. Partnering with Spark seemed like a perfect fit.

“I met with Spark through Ericsson – and Spark really liked our solution,” he says.

 

SCANNING

 

It’s one thing to attend a conference and talk about your product. It’s quite something else to actually demonstrate it. With the assistance of Spark, Cypher Robotics actually deployed while King was in New Zealand. We can’t give away too many details, but he oversaw successful technology demonstrations at two large warehouses.

And that’s just the beginning. Early next year, the company will fly back with Captis and set up a full install at a massive warehouse. That install will include the wireless docking station so that Captis can head out on missions and return autonomously to charge prior to its next cycle. Once that mission is wrapped, we look forward to sharing details.

Below: The Cypher app during a demo at a large New Zealand warehouse, along with a screengrab of CEO Peter King. 

 

Cypher Captis App
Cypher Captis App New Zealand

INDRO’S TAKE

 

InDro Robotics is obviously pleased to be the technology incubator for Cypher Robotics. It has been a highly complex and technically challenging build, but the market is showing phenomenal demand for this solution.

“When Cypher Robotics first knocked on our door, we were impressed with the concept and knew this could be a product with multiple use-cases,” says InDro Robotics Founder and CEO Philip Reece. “We are so pleased to see that the market has embraced Captis – and believe this company is on a really solid trajectory.”

You can learn more about Cypher Robotics and its Captis solution here.

InDro’s new Street Smart Robot built to keep cyclists safe in winter

InDro’s new Street Smart Robot built to keep cyclists safe in winter

Dec 10, 2024 | Uncategorized

By Scott Simmie

 

If you’re in the Northern Hemisphere, Winter is Coming.

And if you’re a diehard cyclist, that also means you’re going to face challenges beyond the cold. Bike paths – just like the adjacent roads – can get mucked up with potholes, ice, and (like your driveway) blocked when a snowplow makes an errant dump.

In the future, cities will have a new tool at their disposal to help ensure cyclists can have the best thoroughfares possible in the depths of winter. It’s called the Street Smart Robot, and it was designed and built by the InDro Robotics engineering team at Area X.O in Ottawa. We believe it’s a great example of how robotics can help make future Smart Cities safer, more efficient, and more liveable for all of us.

It was a complex build from the ground up, requiring a lot of work on Machine Vision and obstacle detection and avoidance. Here’s a sneak peak we released while development was still underway:

 

FUNDING

 

Research and Development companies like ours are often fortunate enough to receive funding to assist with projects like these. Our concept for the Street Smart Robot caught the attention of the Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network (OVIN). Its website describes the agency as “Ontario’s flagship initiative for the automotive and mobility sector…driving economic development and catalyzing a future that builds safer, cleaner, and more efficient transportation.”

OVIN committed $465,000 to the SSR project.

“With a world-class innovation ecosystem, Ontario continues to lead in the development of new mobility technologies and solutions,” said Vic Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade in our news release about the project. “InDro Robotics’ prototype Smart Street Robot represents the best of our province’s cutting-edge tech research and development that is creating solutions for real-world challenges, and we congratulate them on this milestone.”

OVIN also weighed in:

“Ontario is home to innovators and game-changers that are shaping the future of mobility on the global stage. The growth of multi-modal transportation, combined with weather-related challenges, presents a unique opportunity for Ontario companies to commercialize leading-edge solutions that make our roads safer and travel more efficient,” said Raed Kadri, Head of OVIN. “This groundbreaking technology showcases the unparalleled caliber of Ontario SMEs in addressing significant mobility challenges—and more broadly, the province’s capacity to foster innovation and accelerate their time to market.”

 

NETWORKING

 

Robots like the SSR require more than just good sensors and compute. They also require an exceedingly reliable 5G network in order to accommodate the dense data throughput required. Here, we partnered with Rogers Communications for networking hardware and technical support.

“Rogers is proud to work alongside InDro Robotics and OVIN to improve public safety,” said Tom Turner, President, Rogers Business. “By leveraging the Rogers 5G Hybrid Wireless Private Network, we’re able to help build safer communities through real-time detection and reporting.”

Robust, high-speed networks are crucial for Smart Cities – where a multiplicity of interconnected devices will be constantly relaying data. This will be especially true as more connected and autonomous vehicles like the Street Smart Robot start sharing roadways (or bicycle paths) with people and other traffic..

“The Street Smart Robot is designed to greatly enhance the safety of bicycle lanes, particularly during winter. InDro is pleased to have partnered with Rogers and OVIN on this endeavour,” says InDro Robotics Founder/CEO Philip Reece.

Below: The SSR incorporates LiDAR and 3D depth cameras to help sense its surroundings – and to avoid cyclists, pedestrians and obstacles

Street Smart Robot LiDAR
Street Smart Robot

INDRO’S TAKE

 

This is actually just the beginning of the Street Smart Robot’s journey. This is the prototype version, and we are already looking at ways to further enhance the product prior to commercial deployment. We’ve learned, for example, that while the existing tread locomotion is great for heavy snow and ice that an all-wheel drive wheeled platform will provide greater agility and speed. We are also looking at a smaller and more human-friendly form factor.

That being said, our SSR V1 has proven itself for Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (SLAM), as well as detecting hazards that could cause cyclists problems.

“Safer streets for everyone – including cyclists – are part of the Smart City of the future,” says InDro Robotics Founder and CEO Philip Reece. “The Street Smart Robot is an important step along that road.”

We’ll have more to say about our Street Smart Robot when we release V2 in the future. So stay tuned – and, if you’re cycling, stay safe.

InDro Robotics positions itself for the next phase of growth trajectory

InDro Robotics positions itself for the next phase of growth trajectory

Dec 4, 2024 | InDro Forge, InDro News, Industry News, Scott Simmie

By Scott Simmie

 

We’ve just hired more bright people at InDro Robotics: Four engineers in total, with another one coming soon.

That’s a significant investment in our staff, and in our company. And while we’ll introduce a few of them here, this post isn’t really a “get to know you” story. It’s a broader narrative about growth, strategy and trajectory.

If you follow InDro Robotics (and presumably that’s why you’re here), you’ll know we’ve grown from a startup to a what’s known as an SME – a Small to Medium Enterprise. You’ll also know that our motto is: Invent, Enhance, Deploy.

That is, and will continue to be, our ethos. We invent our own products and market them – and build custom robots and drones for clients (including for some of the biggest technology companies on the planet). We also do highly specialised service provision and run the Drone and Advanced Robotics Testing and Training Zone (DARTT) at Area X.O, where clients can test robots on a course that meets the demanding criteria set out by NIST, the US-based National Institute of Standards and Technology. The drone section features a large netted enclosure, allowing operators to carry out training or even test drones with new technologies without the need for a Special Flight Operations Certificate from Transport Canada. It’s a very cool facility.

At our Area X.O engineering headquarters, we’ve grown from three engineers a little over three years ago to a staff of 20 (in addition to other operations elsewhere in Canada). Because so many components come into our shop – and so many robots go out – we have a full-time Supply Chain Manager and Logistics Coordinator. We have a Head of R&D Sales. And, of course, we have InDro Forge – a full-service rapid prototyping and limited production run facility that has every high-end fabrication tool you could think of (including a 3D printer capable of printing at volumes of up to one cubic metre).

It has been a steady and calculated growth trajectory so far, says Engineering Manager Aaron Griffiths:

“It’s been very strategical,” he explains. “We’ve been looking for robustness and longevity rather than speed.”

And – up until now – that growth has been reflective of our core tasks: Building custom products for clients and inventing our own products.

We’ve done that very well – and will continue to do so. But the long-term InDro roadmap has always included more. And we have now reached that stage.

Below: Team InDro at the opening of DAART in June of 2023

Area XO DARTT

INVENT, ENHANCE, MANUFACTURE

 

InDro has created some landmark products in recent years – with more to come. We can’t discuss all of them due to NDAs. But some public highlights that immediately come to mind include InDro Commander, InDro Pilot, InDro Controller, our Sentinel remote inspection robot, and much more.

Most of what was just mentioned are InDro innovations – meaning we have invented or developed these products with clients in mind, but not specifically as one-off projects. In other words, they have been built with an eye to actually producing and selling these products at scale.

Don’t get us wrong, we have certainly sold each of these products. But we’ve now reached a stage where demand – as planned – dictates that we expand in order to be able to run as a manufacturing facility while still retaining our ability to build custom robots and drones.

“If you want to turn out 10-20 robots over a few months, that requires a whole production team,” explains Griffiths. “That would be an additional five to 10 people just to do that kind of work.”

And not just a production team. As we continue to deploy more robots in the field, InDro now sees the need to start expanding our team to include Field Engineers.

“So you need a production team to make the things – and then a field engineering team to maintain and run them on client sites,” he adds.

 

FIELD ENGINEER

 

Our first Field Engineer hire is a familiar face to InDro. Liam Dwyer, who graduated from Queen’s University Canada in June of this year with a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering, previously carried out a 16-month co-op placement with InDro at Area X.O. But he’s heading into a very different role, suited to InDro’s growth.

“I’m going to be an on-site support and integration person to either get the client set up with the robot, supported with the robot, or to repair robots that may have been either damaged or just need maintenance,” he says.

He also recognizes the significance of his role in the bigger picture.

“I think the fact this title now exists at InDro really shows a lot of growth as a company. The fact there is now a full-time role to move and support these robots really means that the reach of InDro has gone pretty far – the name has gotten out.”

It’s also – both for Dwyer and InDro – a perfect fit.

“I’m a big fan of travel and I like field work, so I’m very excited for it,” he says. “It really puts a lot of emphasis on your individual ability to solve the problem and produce a solution. I was able to do some field work during my placement here, and I really like this kind of challenge.”

There are already plans for a second Field Engineer hire. And that’s on top of three other recent hires at InDro, including the highly experienced Steve Weaver in the senior position of Embedded System Engineer. He’s been in this space for some 25 years.

“Steve has been hired as a senior engineer for his wisdom,” says Griffiths. “He knows what to do and – just as important – knows what not to do.”

He’s joined by Nathan Sun, who has less long-term experience but has been working with all of the latest and greatest tools in AI and brings a fresh approach to things. Sun is also an Embedded Systems engineer, and should make the perfect work partner for Weaver.

“Nathan is the other side of the coin to Steve,” says Griffiths. “Together they’ll make a great team because they complement each other very well.”

That’s not all. Just prior to these three new hires, InDro also brought Sebastian Mocny on board in the role of Robotics Software Engineer. He’s currently busy taking Cypher Robotics‘ Captis cycle-counting AMR to the next level. InDro has an incubation agreement with Cypher Robotics, which also taps into the expertise and gear at InDro Forge. So that’s four engineers in short order, with more to come.

Below: New hire Liam Dwyer (R) during his co-op at Area X.O, with Tirth Gajera

Liam Dwyer and Tirth Gajera

BUILDING A TEAM

 

It’s been quite a voyage at Area X.O, with a lot of growth over the past few years. All of the hires go through Founder and CEO Philip Reece, as well as Vice President Peter King. But it’s generally Arron Griffiths who has to ultimately determine if prospective employees will be a fit for the Area X.O team culture InDro has worked so hard to foster (and where Griffiths works daily).

With a very low attrition rate and high job satisfaction, InDro is clearly selecting the right people – and building the right environment.

“It’s really all about personality,” say Griffiths. “It boils down to people’s mental state, their values. I would argue that if they’re driven, if they’re kind, if they’re a proactive learner, if they have empathy…the qualities you look for in a nice person are typically what you’ll find in a good and productive employee.”

One of the big projects for next year will be the push to manufacture the recently-announced InDro Cortex. It’s a small but exceedingly powerful brain box for computer customisation that allows for rapid sensor integration and contains power management for multiple sensors along with ROS2 files. The Plug & Play (or Plug & Work) device follows on the incredible success of InDro Commander – and there’s already impressive demand. It also enables teleoperation and is the perfect match with InDro Controller – our intuitive dashboard for even highly complex autonomous missions.

And while we’re proud of the engineering work that has gone into Cortex, Griffiths says products like this “stand on the shoulder of giants” in the engineering world. And here, he’s referring to the tremendous advances in AI compute and other technologies that allow Area X.O engineers to truly work with the most advanced tools available.

“We have good and talented engineers,” explains Griffiths. “but we are definitely aware that other engineers out there have helped enable us to be on the leading edge of things. We’re hitting that very sweet spot in terms of technology maturity that’s enabling us to do this right.”

Below: InDro Cortex

 

InDro Control Module ICM Cortex

INDRO’S TAKE

 

We’re obviously pleased to announce these four new hires – and to welcome these talented individuals to our team. We are equally proud to have reached a stage where we’re in the position and have the name recognition to forge ahead into manufacturing at greater scale. It’s a testament to the dedication of all of our employees – including administration, sales, logistics, marketing and management. (Oh yes, and content, too.)

“As we prepare to push into manufacturing and dedicated employees for onsite customer field support, I’m grateful to everyone for their hard work – and to our clients as well,” says InDro Robotics Founder and CEO Philip Reece.

“And to those clients who have relied on us in the past for custom solutions? Don’t worry. We’ll still be doing that with the same care and attention to detail. This simply marks a new expansion into manufacturing for InDro, which will continue to put significant resources into custom builds and R&D. Onward.”

Interested in exploring a solution from InDro? You can contact Head of R&D Sales Luke Corbeth right here. He’s incredibly knowledgeable and loves nothing more than helping clients find the perfect solution.