Ottawa dishes out $353K in innovation funding for two firms
by Canadian Manufacturing Daily Staff
Clearpath Robotics Inc. received $100,000 to help commercialize unmanned water-going vessel
KITCHENER, Ont.—A young Kitchener, Ont.-based startup has been awarded $100,000 from the federal government to help commercialize an unmanned vessel used for surveying inland waters.
Clearpath Robotics Inc. received the funding through the Build in Canada Innovation Program (BCIP), which looks to help “bridge the pre-commercialization gap.”
The funding will help the Clearpath team works its way through bringing its Kingfisher M200 unmanned surface vessel (USV) to market.
A portable robotic vessel, the Kingfisher is designed to measure and analyze inland waters like lakes, rivers, ponds and estuaries.
The Kingfisher is intended for use by researchers and environmental engineers performing lengthy or difficult surveying of inland waters.
It provides a safe and reliable method for collecting high quality data with more accuracy and at lower costs than the existing industry-standard techniques.
The Kingfisher has also demonstrated substantial benefits in terms of safety and water accessibility, as it is able to collect data from areas deemed impossible to reach by boat and too dangerous to enter on foot.
“This announcement brings great news for Kitchener, and great news for the Canadian economy,” Kitchener-Conestoga MP Harold Albrecht said in a statement.
“With more testing through this program, I hope it will bring great news for the many users who could benefit from this exciting new technology.”
Founded by four University of Waterloo mechatronics engineering students in 2009, Clearpath specializes in robotic solutions, including unmanned vehicles.
Its lineup includes the water-going Kingfisher and Husky and Grizzly ground vehicles, and a pair of in-lab robotics products.
Public Works and Government Services also announced it awarded a $253,233 contract to Plurilock Security Solutions Inc., of Victoria, B.C., to help that firm develop its Bio Tracker hacking detector.
Bio Tracker uses mouse and keystroke biometrics to detect threats to network attacks and web frauds.
