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.

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 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.

YouTube’s Hacksmith Industries creates “cyborg” with Indro Robotics arms

YouTube’s Hacksmith Industries creates “cyborg” with Indro Robotics arms

Nov 29, 2024 | Dave's Armoury, Hacksmith Industries, InDro News, Scott Simmie

By Scott Simmie

 

You’ll have fun with this story – we promise.

That’s because it involves engineering, entertainment – and a use-case you’ll have to see to believe. Specifically, it involves integrating a set of robotic arms onto a human being. A cyborg, if you will.

This is not the kind of work we do at Indro Robotics (though in the distant future, who knows?). But it is precisely the kind of work the engineers at Hacksmith Industries carry out all the time.

If you’re into engineering, wild builds and superheroes, odds are you’re familiar with their outrageously successful YouTube channel. Perhaps you’re even one of its 15.1 million – and counting – subscribers. As its website explains, “We make it real. We take ideas from the worlds of movies, TV, games, and comics to make real working prototypes! We make the impossible into reality every day.”

And they do.

Think of things like Thor’s hammer, from the Marvel Entertainment franchise. Or maybe Captain America’s shield. These are objects that the geniuses at Hacksmith create using solid engineering – combined with wry humour. The entire projects, from beginning to end, are documented on video and posted to YouTube, where they are tremendously popular. So popular, in fact, that Hacksmith Industries has grown from a small garage-based outfit to a full-fledged enterprise – with its own expansive facility and studio and now 20 employees. Not bad for content creators.

And to help with that content (not that Hacksmith needs the push), here’s an example of what they do: In this case, summoning Thor’s hammer. (And if you like this one, and we’re sure you will, there’s an entire series of other Thor’s hammers to keep you entertained).

THE BACKSTORY

 

Every Marvel or DC superhero has an origin story. And so too does Hacksmith industries.

It began with two guys – James Hobson and Ian Hillier. They were both builders/makers when they were younger. And in high school, the pair mused about someday working together. That would have to wait, however. Both attended Conestoga College in Ontario’s Kitchener, where they each graduated with a B. Eng. in Mechanical Systems Engineering in 2012.

And after that? Well, explains Hillier, they both took “standard nine-to-five engineering jobs.”

But while they were doing that, the pair worked together on their own projects for fun. And Hobson started making videos for YouTube. He grew that channel to about 60,000 subscribers and was clearly enjoying what he was doing. So he decided to quit work and produce videos full-time.

“And shortly after, I got jealous and quit my job and then joined him,” says Hillier.

With 60,000 subscribers, this wasn’t sustainable in terms of income – at least not without a huge leap in viewership. But they both had their eyes on that eventual prize and continued to push. They also found that doing builds related to superhero powers and other popular action/sci-fi zeitgeist seemed to really bring in views. The turning point, when they realised this could actually be a thing, was when two videos related to Captain America’s shield went viral.

And the rest, with a lot of hard work, is history.

“As we started posting more and more content…somehow that turned into what it is today,” says Hillier. “When I quit my job back in early 2016, I was just kind of thinking: Hey – I want to do this full-time. I wasn’t thinking: ‘Oh, let’s run one of the largest YouTube channels in Canada and let’s have a giant team, a giant facility.’ We do some incredible things here.”

That’s very true. Here’s one of those first viral videos – which Hillier says was one of two shield vids that opened the door to what Hacksmith Industries has become. You’ll note that in addition to the entertaining nature of the video, there’s also some good technical explanation, including how increasing the voltage ramped up the power of the electromagnet significantly. The tech explanations are part of each and every video, and clearly appeal to the inner geek in all of us.

THE INDRO CONNECTION

 

Many of us at InDro were already familiar with the channel, and Head of Engineering Arron Griffiths is a big fan. But a few members of the Hacksmith team were also somewhat familiar with InDro. In fact, Hacksmith Industries purchased some Unitree quadrupeds from InDro. Plus, InDro had done work with engineer Dave Niewinski, who also works frequently with the Hacksmith team.

But things really got rolling when InDro Vice President Peter King had a tour of the Hacksmith headquarters in Cambridge Ontario. What he saw led to a discussion about possible collaboration. And – fitting with the cool and unusual genre that appeals to Hacksmith team – it was eventually agreed that InDro would supply a pair of robotic arms, which Hacksmith would then attempt to integrate onto a human being.

The concept was somewhat reminiscent of Otto Octavius, also known as Dr. Octopus, from the Spider-Man franchise, along with other multi-armed characters. So that was also a fit. The arms have six degrees of freedom (DOF), which is considered full articulation. That includes three rotational movements (rotating the arm itself, twisting and tilting) and all three linear movements (up/down, left/right, forward/back).

But how do you get robotic arms from the box to functioning on a person? The answer, it turns out, is hard work – including coding, creating a mountable external power supply that looks cool, and a lot of trial and error.

Overseeing the task fell to Charles Holtforster, the team’s Mechatronics Engineering Designer. A graduate of the University of Waterloo in Kitchener, Holtforster did two Co-op placements with Hacksmith while studying engineering and received an offer to be hired upon graduation. He’s been with the outfit since 2020.

“It’s certainly the best job I ever imagined – and it’s not something I ever really dreamed I’d be able to do for a full-time position or a career,” he says. “But, four years later, here we are.”

One of the first things Charles did when this project landed in his lap was to contact Dave Niewinski. Dave is also an engineer who has worked frequently with Hacksmith Industries, and is something of a specialist in robotic arms. He’s also the brains and the face behind Dave’s Armoury, a growing YouTube channel that highlights Niewinski’s own creations.

Dave did the coding to enable control of the arms via an Oculus Quest virtual reality headset and controllers. That meant a second person (Charles) would be responsible for holding those controllers and moving the arms where they needed to go (which resulted in some comedy gold). You’ll see that in a moment. You’ll also see that you can’t simply throw a set of arms on a person; a lot of work went into the right form factor for integration, as well as a power supply that would not only do the job but look Hacksmith-y slick.

 

R&D

 

The Hacksmith videos are all really fun. And while we have fun at our Area X.O headquarters, we’re generally working on either R&D for our own products or creating custom robotic solutions for clients. Hacksmith carries out a very different kind of R&D on its own projects, but totally gets the value of more conventional research and development.

“R&D is definitely essential and very, very important,” says Hacksmith Co-Founder Ian Hillier. “Without R&D, there’s no progress.”

Figuring out how to mount a pair of robotic arms on a human is definitely a form of R&D. But is there potentially a use-case? We put that question to Hillier.

“I think humanoid robots are are coming – so on the humanoid robot front I’d say yes,” he says. In fact, Hacksmith plans to do exactly that on a forthcoming video, integrating InDro’s arms with the bipedal Unitree robot you’ll see at the close of the video.

But what about a person?

“As for augmenting humans, I think that’s possible, but in very specific circumstances,” he says. “As an example, someone who has a limb difference. Having prosthetic hands is a perfect example. Or having an exoskeleton that could help with mobility or lifting heavy things.”

Did he say prosthetics? Limb differences? We’re glad he did. Because it reminded us of our personal favourite Hacksmith video. In this one, the team built a flashy prosthetic hand for a young UK YouTuber who was born without a fully-formed left hand. But it wasn’t just flashy; it was a state-of-the-art and fully functional prosthetic. And the team not only adapted it in the style of that YouTuber’s favourite game – they gave it to the young man.

It’s truly a moving video, and one that tells us something else about the Hacksmith team. We’ll drop that video here – right after the one showcasing the robotic arms supplied by InDro.

 

INDRO’S TAKE

 

While we’re not sure when – if ever – there will be human cyborgs with robotic arms, we enjoyed this collaboration with Hacksmith Industries.

“The entire InDro Robotics team really enjoyed the video – and seeing R&D from a very different perspective,” says InDro Robotics Founder and CEO Philip Reece. “Hacksmith Industries clearly has some top-level engineering talent. I’d say they’re the kind of people InDro likes to hire – which is true – but we’d have to significantly up our video game, and start leaning more toward superheroes. That’s not likely to happen, but this was a truly entertaining collaboration for us.”

One more thing. We forgot to mention that Hacksmith Industries has developed a very cool line of tech-related toys and tools. You can check out their line here.

And if you happen to be in the market for robotic arms – or anything else robot-related – we have an online store coming early next year. You don’t have to wait for that, however. You can check out our full line of accessories right here. (PS: The NVIDIA Jetson Orin AGX Developer Kit makes for a great stocking stuffer.)

Teara Fraser looks to give others “wings” and advance reconciliation

Teara Fraser looks to give others “wings” and advance reconciliation

Nov 21, 2024 | Aerial Evolution Association of Canada, Indigenous Peoples/First Nations, Industry News, Scott Simmie

By Scott Simmie

 

Aviation entrepreneur and Métis champion Teara Fraser has a lot say.

And, during the recent Aerial Evolution Association of Canada’s annual conference and exhibition in Ottawa, she took the opportunity to touch on a broad variety of topics – ranging from the impact of Residential Schools through to sustainable aviation, RPAS and Advanced Air Mobility.

She didn’t pull any punches. The land where the conference took place, she pointed out, is on unceded Anishinabe Algonquin territory.

“These are stolen lands” she emphasized bluntly.

To further stress the point, she encouraged attendees to check out the Native Land Digital website. It outlines, on a global scale, why the term First Nations exists: Indigenous peoples were, obviously, the original inhabitants far longer than the settlers who now occupy those lands.

It’s one thing to say it, but another to look at the website’s global map. It’s an eye-opener, and you can enter your own address to see who was here first:

Native Land Digital First Nations Indigenous

FRASER’S BACKSTORY

 

Fraser has had quite the journey.

Her Grandfather was born in remote Fort Chipewyan, a hamlet in northern Alberta colloquially known as Fort Chip. On the western tip of Lake Athabasca, it’s right next door to Wood Buffalo National Park – the second-largest national park in the world (44,741 square kilometres, or larger than Switzerland). That park is also home to half of the globe’s endangered wood bison population. It was established as a trading post back in 1788 and was named for the Chipewyan people who lived in the area.

Her Grandfather was raised in the Métis way, but – like so many Indigenous people – was taken from his home in the failed assimilation attempt of the Residential School system. Fraser did not elaborate on the impact, but few emerged from that horrific system without deep scars. She did, however, say that she grew up in “intergenerational poverty.”

By the time she was 30, she was a single mother of two who hadn’t finished high school. She was still struggling to make ends meet. But she had aspirations. And one day she sat down in a Chapters – in the self-help section – and wrote down a bucket list. It was kind of a dream, really, but she knew that one day she wanted to go to Africa, to see giraffes and zebras in the wild.

It felt so out of reach that she said “it seemed completely impossible…for someone like me.”

But – against all odds – she did go back in 2001. And, fortuitously, she took an aerial tour. From the moment she stepped inside that plane, her first experience in a small aircraft, It was breathtaking…and life-changing.

“To witness the land in that way changed everything for me. When I went on this flight, I was like: ‘I’m going to be a pilot. I will never forget that moment. I didn’t care what it would take to become a pilot – that’s what I was going to do.'”

But there was still that voice in her head, the one that told her such dreams were impossible. She recalls some negative self-talk: “‘C’mon, sweetie. Honey, you have no access to money, you have no education. It’s just not possible.'”

But she wasn’t going to let that stop her.

“Two weeks later, I went skydiving.”

If you’re starting to get a sense that you should never underestimate Fraser when she has a vision in her head, you’re on the right track.

“Less than one year later, I had my commercial pilot’s license and my journey in aviation was about to begin,” she recalled.

 

“GAVE ME WINGS”

 

Her aviation career included piloting the Dash 8 (Q400), a turboprop capable of flying at near jet-like speeds. She worked overseas in Nigeria, then eventually started a company in 2010 called Kîsik Aerial Survey (with her partner at the time) – which did large-format, precision captures. That company would last more than six years (she sold it in 2016), and was the beginning of Fraser’s driven work as an entrepreneur. She served as Director of the British Columbia Aviation Council from 2011 to 2013 (and again from 2018 to 2020).

While aviation has been central to her life since obtaining her license, that passion is shared equally with making a difference in the Indigenous community, and also helping others outside of that circle connect, engage with, and learn about First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples. To that end, she established the Indigenous Lift Collective in early 2018. The non-profit corporation’s stated mission is “collectively LIFTing, amplifying, celebrating, and connecting Indigenous peoples for a sustainable, thriving, and better world.​ Indigenous LIFT Collective is a collective that acts as a home to wide-ranging initiatives who ALL LIFT the voices, stories, businesses, communities and nations of Indigenous peoples.”

Just a month after launching that initiative, she founded Iskwew Air (pronounced ISS-KWAY-YO) – a Cree word for ‘woman.’ As its website explains, “The name was chosen to celebrate the first Indigenous woman-owned airline, all women, and all those lifting women. It was chosen as an act of reclamation of womanhood, matriarchal leadership, and language.”

Fraser received her operating certificate for that airline October 19, 2019. And, of course, it wasn’t long before COVID-19 upended the entire world.

“An airline startup is even harder in a global pandemic,” she said dryly. Soon, Iskwew air was delivering PPE and other critical supplies into Indigenous communities.

Iskwew Air now carries out six flights daily between the town of Qualicum Beach on Vancouver Island and Vancouver, with four flights daily on weekends. In June of 2024, Raven Indigenous Capital Partners announced a $1,750,000 investment in Iskwew Air.​​ In addition to that equity investment, Iskwew announced the addition of the third Piper Navajo in its fleet, named “Baby Bison.”

But Iskwew air doesn’t simply transport passengers and goods. It also helps Fraser in her vision of encouraging young Indigenous people who have an interest in aviation, via her Indigenous Lift Collective. You’ll see Teara Fraser in this video:

WAIT, THERE’S MORE

 

Fraser has already accomplished more than many will in their lifetime. But she’s not finished yet.

She is also the CEO of elibirdaero, which offers flight training and everything from ground school courses through to Private Pilot License, Commercial Pilot License, Night and Instrument Rating – even aircraft maintenance (elibird is a BC training centre for the Foundational Training Program (FTP) Aircraft Service Technician (FAST) with the approval of the Canadian Council for Aviation and Aerospace.

And yes, there’s even more. elibird aero has put down a deposit on two electric training aircraft, part of its commitment to sustainability and respecting the planet. Fraser is emphatic on the company’s desire for minimal impact on the natural world, and sees that as a driving force for plans to expand fully into the coming world of sustainable Advanced Air Mobility. elibird aero’s long-term roadmap includes just about everything related to the world of AAM, including RPAS, aerodromes, aero technology and more.

While on that path, she’s mindful of her commitment to First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples, and wants to see these technologies benefit them. In fact, she gave the conference a brief outline of the “Highway of Tears” – a 719-kilometre road between Prince George and Prince Rupert in BC that passes through 23 First Nations communities. More than 40 people, mostly Indigenous and mostly women and girls, have been murdered or gone missing along that route since its completion in 1970. How, she wondered, might RPAS technology be implemented to potentially keep this road safer?

 

RECOGNITION

 

Fraser has received multiple honours for her work. But there’s one she’s particularly proud of. DC Comics produced a graphic novel featuring Wonder Woman on its cover. It’s called: Wonderful Women of the World.

“Wonder Woman has been an inspiration for decades, and while not everyone would choose her star-spangled outfit for themselves, her compassion and fairness are worthy of emulation,” says the DC website. “We’ll be presenting tales of the real-world heroes who take up Diana’s mantle and work in the fields of science, social justice activism, diplomacy and more!”

The book is divided into five sections: Strength, Compassion, Justice, Truth and Equality. It includes profiles of former Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, environmental activist Greta Thunberg, space shuttle astronaut Ellen Ochoa and even Beyoncé. And at the top of the list in the DC synopsis? Teara Fraser.

“It was an incredible honour to be included in this anthology,” Fraser told the audience.

Below: The cover of the DC Comics graphic novel

Teara Fraser DC Comics

NEXT STEPS

 

Teara Fraser, obviously, has many plans for her companies and advocacy. But, she emphasized, those in attendance at the conference can make their own contributions on the path toward reconciliation and inclusion.

First off, she encouraged people to learn. Whether it’s checking out the Native Lands Digital website mentioned above or reading the summary of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report, she suggested that the first steps include gaining some knowledge –and then putting that knowledge into action.

“Who are the Indigenous businesses in this space, and how are you supporting them?” she asked.

“The country is built on the genocide of Indigenous peoples… Co-creating the conditions for Indigenous business to thrive is the single most natural, swift, and effective pathway to economic reconciliation in our country. Indigenous people bring so much wisdom; we have so much to learn from Indigenous people.”

Over the years, there have been many outstanding speakers at the annual conferences of the Aerial Evolution Association of Canada. Never has one held such undivided attention of the audience. You could literally hear a pin drop through the presentation, which was greeted with the most extended standing ovation seen at this event.

Immediately after she finished speaking, she helped moderate an Indigenous panel. She was joined by Darcy Hunt, Founder and CEO of Aboriginal Training Services Limited and Kimberly Mike, an Advanced Pilot with Stinson Aerial Services. The trio sat on stage, with a fourth empty chair. Audience members were invited into that circle to discuss any topic – whether related to RPAS, Canada and Indigenous Peoples…anything.

It was powerfully symbolic of reconciliation, the path forward – and the work that still remains to be done.

Teara Fraser AEAC

INDRO’S TAKE

 

We were pleased to see Teara Fraser make such an impactful presentation at the AEAC Conference and Exhibit. As both an entrepreneur and advocate, she’s made (and continues to make) a big and positive difference in the aviation, AAM and Indigenous spaces. InDro Robotics has long tried to work closely with First Nations peoples whenever possible. We remain particularly proud of our work during the COVID-19 pandemic, when we transported test kits from Penelakut to and from the mainland with BVLOS drone flights. This enabled a healthcare worker to remain at the clinic and serve the community, rather than take the long ferry ride twice a day to hand-deliver.

“Teara Fraser is an impressive individual and I’m proud to call her a friend,” says InDro Robotics Founder and CEO Philip Reece. “Her impact on the aviation world in BC cannot be overstated, and the same goes for her advocacy and mentorship. We look forward to future opportunities to work with, collaborate with and engage with First Nations communities, and with Teara herself.”

We encourage readers to take Teara’s advice on that path to reconciliation, starting with the websites she mentioned..

InDro explores USV marine sector – and speaks with a PhD researcher on their work

InDro explores USV marine sector – and speaks with a PhD researcher on their work

Nov 13, 2024 | Engineering, Industry News, Marine USVs, Scott Simmie

By Scott Simmie

 

At InDro Robotics, there’s nothing we love more than research and development.

That shouldn’t be a surprise, because that’s how the company was built. From our early work building and modifying Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for clients and service provision through to a wide variety of Uncrewed Ground Vehicles (UGVs) we have invented or customised for customers, R&D has always been the heart and soul of InDro. That’s why we have a large and continually scaling team at our Area X.O operations in Ottawa.

We’ve previously done work on the marine side of things and have built and tested Uncrewed Surface Vehicles. Our ‘Talos” USV was remotely piloted and carried a sonar that was deployed via winch. We successfully deployed that on multiple missions, mapping lakebeds and vegetation. Its capabilities were excellent, but our priorities shifted to the aerial and ground side of robotics due to client demands. But we’ve always kept a close eye on marine robotics developments, particularly when it comes to R&D.

There are some really exciting companies in this space in Canada, including Open Ocean Robotics. We are very impressed with its DataXplorer, a solar-powered and self-righting autonomous vehicle suited for long-range data acquisition in the open ocean. It’s a brilliant design, and Co-Founder and CEO Julie Angus is a very impressive individual. With an MSc in Molecular Biology, she’s both a serial entrepreneur and was the first woman to row across the Atlantic Ocean from mainland to mainland. She’s a director on NATO’s Maritime Unmanned System Initiative Innovation Advisory board and was honoured with National Geographic’s Adventurer of the Year award for her trans-Atlantic achievement. Like we said, impressive.

Another company that has caught our attention at conferences is Deep Trekker. It has a solid lineup of ROVs, and we were able to operate its smallest offering at a couple of different trade shows. Recently, it launched an Uncrewed Ground Vehicle that is also submersible. We can see a wide variety of use-cases.

Below: An Open Ocean Robotics video shows off DataXplorer, followed by the InDro Robotics Talos

InDro Robotics Talos

THE R&D FACTOR

 

Of course, companies can’t create products like these without a significant investment in research and development. This is something we truly understand.

We also know that many innovations have their genesis in a lot of hard work from graduate students and those holding PhDs, who often put in untold hours on projects that can lead to commercial breakthroughs. So we thought it would be enlightening to spend some time talking to one of those people.

We sat down for a chat recently with Thomas Sears, a PhD candidate in Electrical and Computer Engineering with Queen’s University’s Offroad Robotics and Ingenuity Labs Research Institute. He holds a Master of Applied Science in Aerospace Engineering and is a Professional Engineer.

And he’s really, really interested in boats and waves. Specifically, working with USVs to learn more about predicting wave patterns and – ultimately – creating algorithms so that autonomous or pilot-assist systems can anticipate what waves might be coming and how best to orient a boat depending on what those waves are likely to do and the desired outcome.

Sears is a really good explainer. And he started the conversation by talking about humans anticipate and react to waves when they are in the water.

 

HOW PEOPLE REACT

 

“As humans when we go to the beach, we can kind of intuitively feel the waves coming and we know, OK, it’s probably four more seconds for another wave,” he says. “How do we give the boat that intuition to know: If I felt a wave here, if I move forward three meters, I’m probably going to feel in four seconds that wave is going to hit me from the side.”

That takes a lot of math, plus a bunch of sensors. But to what end? Is it simply to help ensure a boat might not capsize in rough water?

Well, explains Sears, there are a wide variety of use-case scenarios. Understanding waves, being able to predict them, could for example be of great use to Kingston colleagues who are coastal engineers and study the impact of waves on the coastal environment. A deep understanding of the math and physics involved could be highly useful in predictive models. What’s going to happen to this coastline over time? During a powerful storm?

But there are many other applications. Returning to the human example, Sears points out when a wave is approaching, a human being carries out their own calculations and braces themselves for impact.

“I’d like the boat to be able to do the same thing. If the boat can be out in the water and it can start to notice this trend, whatever the trend is, maybe I can then take an action on that trend,” he says before outlining multiple options for how a boat might respond:

“‘Aha, I’m about to get pushed by the wave.’ Maybe I’d like to surf the wave. Maybe I’d like to push against the wave. Maybe I’d like to turn so I’m safer, whatever that is. That’s sort of for the next person to work on.”

But the work being carried out by Sears will lay the foundation for that next step. He can see, even with an identical set of waves, there might be different optimal autonomous responses depending on the scenario.

“We could see this getting scaled up to crewed vessels…The boat could essentially say: ‘OK, well, we’re worried about passenger comfort.’ Or ‘We’re worried about fuel efficiency’, whatever it (the use-case) is. I’d like to just dial in that option and then the boat can start to go: ‘OK, well, given these wave conditions, here’s how we might want to act.'”

But to get there, you need research, data and predictive models.

“Without the ability to make those predictions of the waves, we have no information to act on. We would just be acting reactively. So we would just say: ‘Oh, I just got hit by a wave, do something quickly’.”

In other words, the boat has to understand what’s coming. And here, things get even more complicated. A boat doesn’t respond immediately to inputs the way an electric car does.

“When you start energizing the motors, it doesn’t move instantly. It starts churning water before something happens. Boats have a bit of a spin-up.”

So that, too, has to be factored into the equation(s) – and would have to be factored into future algorithms suited to specific boats.

“It’s the opportunity to look not just forward in time, but look around the boat for maybe a nicer spot to sit; to let me take an action before the motors are ready to go. So I can I can sort of pre-empt things, which is a sort of a superpower that I’d like to give these boats.”

Below: Thomas Sears with the USV, followed by the USV on a calm day (photos courtesy of Offroad Robotics). YouTube video shows Sears explaining his research

Kingston University Thomas Sears USV
Kingston University Thomas Sears USV

A CUSTOM USV

 

This is the perfect kind of research for an Uncrewed Surface Vehicle. But to get the right USV took a lot of work from Sears and his team.

They initially were looking for an off-the-shelf USV that would come with most of what they needed. And those needs included the Robot Operating System (ROS) software. They had plans to purchase something from a Canadian robotics company, but it had just ended production on its USV. So they were left with simply finding a base platform and doing all the modifications themselves. Researchers often prefer to put their time into algorithms and R&D rather than building and integration, but that was the option they were left with. Thankfully, with his background in Electrical Engineering this was a task Sears was capable of carrying out.

“The boat that we purchased was not designed for robotics research,” he says. “We had to take on a lot of the non-recurring engineering work of turning it into a research vessel. I’ve been involved in everything from the algorithms that are running on board to picking the computer that is running those algorithms. I happen to come from a background where that’s a comfortable thing for me.”

Doing that work, says Sears, was a “considerable time-sink” – but having a ROS-based platform was critical to the research. They not surprisingly went with ROS 2, the latest iteration of the Robot Operating System. The team actually wrote the interface software themselves, and released it on GitHub.

Then there was the sensor integration: The hardware, the wiring, the software. Plus, of course, making everything waterproof. There was a high performance Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) and a 16-beam Velodyne LiDAR. It was only when the USV was dispatched that they discovered the LiDAR beams were absorbed by the water. It was, he says, a “weird” thing.

“So unlike our our ground vehicles, where we see the ground, we see the floor, the boat is just floating in nothingness. But the really cool thing is we can leverage that because now if we see something, we know it’s not water. We just see objects – so we don’t have to worry about segmenting out ground and objects.”

That has been particularly useful in research by others using the same USV that involves identifying the coastline. The USV also carries a dual-antenna RTK-enabled GPS receiver.

“That’s critical on a USV platform because you can move sideways on a boat, if the water pushes you sideways, you can move sideways,” he says. “And that fuses with the gyroscope and with the accelerometers on board to give us a really good position measurement.”

For the data to be useful. Sears has to know precisely where the USV is at any given moment – both in terms of its absolute position and its position relative to the waves. There’s also a sonar unit, which is of great use to researchers on the civil engineering side of things. There’s also a camera on board, though Sears laughs that watching its feed is “nausea-inducing.”)

With Queen’s University’s proximity to Lake Ontario, Sears and others can literally launch the USV in about 20 minutes. They also do research inside a wave tank at Queen’s.

 

THE BIGGER PICTURE

 

As mentioned, other researchers at the university also capture and analyze data from the USV. All of them have a deep appreciation for the importance of Lake Ontario – and not just as a shipping corridor.

“Lake Ontario is full of life. It’s our source of water for drinking and agriculture, so it needs to be monitored and protected,” says Sears. “Having these water drones watching the lake on our behalf is going to help us ensure that the lake stays healthy, that we stay healthy, that wildlife stays healthy.

“We‘re working toward monitoring this very large space uninhabited by humans that we take for granted in daily life.”

Below: Queen’s University researchers look at data being collected by the USV

 
Kingston University Thomas Sears USV

INDRO’S TAKE

 

Marine robotics are kind of the third leg when it comes to uncrewed vehicles. And, given our reliance on water, a very important one. Our initial vision for InDro Robotics was that we would develop products for all three realms – and we’re still quite proud of our Talos USV.

But during the company’s initial growth we made the decision to put our energy into UAV innovations such as remote teleoperations, deliveries, enhanced service provision and more. (InDro was the first company in Canada to operate UAVs over 4G and 4G, and was the first to obtain a cargo license for drones from the Canadian Transportation Agency, among other firsts). This decision was largely driven by customer demand at the time, as well as our then-startup status.

InDro has now scaled sufficiently that we are once again exploring the marine sector.

“We will have some ROS-based offerings soon that we can customize to enable R&D researchers and commercial clients to carry out complex data acquisition in a marine environment,” says InDro Robotics Founder and CEO Philip Reece. “We’re testing the waters, so to speak, but are optimistic this could be the  next sector for our engineers to tackle.”

Already, we have some platforms available that can be used for cleaning surface garbage and cutting aquatic vegetation that’s impinging on the surface. But, like all of InDro’s offerings, these can be customized with additional sensors and teleoperation capabilities based on client needs.

“We have had a mandate since Day One that we want to be experts in unmanned systems,” says Head of R&D Sales Luke Corbeth. “To date, that’s really meant just UAVs and ground robots. But ultimately, we want to be experts on land, air and water. This is our first move into water, and I’m incredibly excited.”

We all are. If you’re interested in our offerings, contact us to learn more.

Feature image at top of story shows the DataXplorer in action; photo courtesy of Open Ocean Robotics