It was a hectic but exciting scene on the Mars landscape as several robots in various shapes, sizes, and styles of locomotion, including flying, made their way around and over obstacles.
It actually wasn’t Mars of course, but inside a special, purpose-built facility called the MarsDome at the University of Toronto
Recently the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council held its Canadian Field Robotics Network (NCFRN) field trials at the University of Toronto and at York University also in Toronto.
The week-long event featured talks and presentations, workshops, networking events and opportunities for collaborative fieldwork and demonstrations, which were of course a big hit,
The MarsDome is part of the University of Toronto’s Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) . Some 11 research labs based in eight Canadian universities took part, along with representatives from 11 industrial partners and three government partners.
It was the first time all the significant field robotics capabilities in Canada (universities, companies and government organizations) were brought together in one place. The events included Experts in sensory perception, artificial intelligence, mechatronics, autonomous robots and advanced control systems technology.
At the Mars Dome, robots were sent on sample-return missions over a mock planetary landscape. Their goal was to seek out certain rocks, image them and return to their starting locations.
Although some robots were tested in the MarsDome, they are in fact being developed for applications here on earth.
These earthly tasks range from inspecting pipelines, to monitoring water and shoreline conditions. Other robots were tested at a specially built pond and field at York University’s Keele campus
“These organizations, and the specific representatives, constitute the cream of the crop in terms of Canadian researchers and developers doing outdoor robotics,” said Gregory Dudek of McGill University who is the NCFRN scientific director
(with files from UofT, York U media)
University of Toronto Engineering Robot Field trials video-
(video Roberta Baker, Deb Hazlewood)
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