Who are the Robot Manufacturers in Canada?
Robots Made in Canada
Canada is a hotbed of industrial automation, but did you know that Canadians also manufacture a host of different robots? Here is my list of manufacturers that make robots in Canada which include industrial robots, collaborative robots, autonomous robots aka AMRs and service robots.
Kinova Robotics is an innovative Montreal-based robot manufacturer. They manufacture ingenious robotics; dexterous and user-friendly cobots: Link6 and Gen2, Gen3. Beyond cobots they produce a line of assistive robot arms for wheelchair users and medical, surgical robots. https://www.kinovarobotics.com/
2G Robotics is now called Voyis. They are based in Kitchener, ON. They promise to do more with underwater laser scanners and imaging payloads you can find them at https://voyis.com
AEMK Systems based in Waterloo. They offer a Detla style robot, called DeltaBot in two designs, a patented cable-based DeltaBot, and their signature carbon fibre DeltaBot. https://www.aemksystems.com/
Attabotics. This very exciting company builds high density storage solutions, kind of based on an ant hill which inspired the founder and yes, they make their own robot for their own use. https://www.attabotics.com/ Check out my interview with Scott, Gravell, the CEO here.
Advanced Intelligent Systems was established in 2013 and is a custom robotics engineering firm that develops autonomous modular robotic solutions for clients. AIS creates customized and modular robotics solutions to automate business processes in industries such as horticulture, agriculture, health care, retail, restaurant, manufacturing, and warehousing. https://www.ai-systems.ca/
Avestec Technologies Inc. offers intelligent robotic solutions in remote non-destructive testing (NDT) for industrial asset owners and partner inspection service providers. Its flagship innovations include Skyron, a tethered, intelligent flying robot. https://www.avestec.com/
Avidbots manufactures the NEO line of floor scrubbing robots. These robots are meant for retail, educational, airports, malls and distribution centers. You can see NEO cleaning Eaton Centre although most cleaning robots come out at night. Avidbots manufactures in Kitchener, ON https://avidbots.com/
ARGO, or if you have lived in KW area, Ontario Drive & Gear Limited, ODG is New Hamburg’s well known manufacturer of gearboxes, 4, 6 and 8 wheeled vehicles. But did you know that they work with cool companies such as NASA? Enter the R8 Integrator. It is an autonomous robot. The ARGO R8 Integrator UGV platform is designed for the most demanding off-road, autonomous applications. https://argoxtv.com/ca/vehicles/r8-integrator
Aro Robotic Systems Inc. Based in Edmonton, Aro manufactures multitasking AI Robots: aro-s and aro-shelf as well as aro-manipulator all robots used in material handling automation. https://arosystems.ai/
AXYS Technologies Inc. AXYS Technologies Inc. designs, manufactures and deploys remote environmental monitoring systems worldwide from Sidney, BC. https://axys.com/
Clearpath Robotics are located in Kitchener as well and specialize in manufacturing the OTTO line of AMRs Autonomous Mobile Robots, used for material handling and mounting of robots on the AMRs. OTTO Motors / Clearpath Robotics
Canadarm. You have likely heard of the Canadarm or Canadarm1. The Canadarm is a series of robotic arms that were used on the Space Shuttle orbiters. They helped to deploy, manoeuvre, and capture payloads in space. https://mda.space/en/canadarm-canadarm2-dextre/
Canadensys Aerospace in Stratford, ON builds robots for space systems, space exploration and industrial defense. https://www.canadensys.com/
Cellula Robotics Ltd are based in Burnaby, BC. They are privately owned, and offer world leading marine technology company specializing in turnkey design and production of subsea robotic systems. https://www.cellula.com/
Copperstone Technologies Ltd. Copperstone manufactures the HELIX family of robots is named for its unique mobility. Helical, screw-shaped pontoons allow HELIX to float on water or scroll across any terrain, including mud, snow, ice, and rocks. https://copperstonetech.com/
Dianomix develops last-mile delivery solutions AMRs that allow shoppers to get goods quickly and safely while boosting brand loyalty for retailers. They use autonomous delivery robots housed at community retail stores to deliver goods purchased through the retailer’s existing web presence. https://dianomix.com/
Deep Trekker. This Kitchener-based company is one of the largest underwater robotics companies in the world. They make complex underwater missions easy. https://www.deeptrekker.com
Elmec Inc. From the creative minds of Elmec Inc., based in Grand-Mère, Quebec, ERION is the electric, self-driving tractor. https://elmec.ca
Human In Motion Robotics Human In Motion Robotics Inc (HMR), is a robotics company specializing in human-centric wearable robotic technologies (exo-skeletons). Their tech stack are designed to enhance human mobility, increase productivity, improve safety, and enable new possibilities across various industries. https://humaninmotion.co.kr
InDro Robotics. InDro Robotics provides a full-range of remotely-piloted ‘unmanned’ aerial, water and land services as well as various mission-specific sensor packages to address the globe’s most complex issues. They are part of the INDROCORP Group of Companies. https://indrorobotics.ca/
Korechi Innovations Inc. Korechi Innovations Inc. specializes in the design of autonomous robots for farming and recently, golf. They manufacture Pik’r and RoamIO. https://korechi.com/
Kracken Robotics is based in Mount Pearl, Newfoundland. Their motto: Underwater, understood. They manufacture many standard products such as Katfish, AquaPix Minsas and Man-Portable SAS. https://krakenrobotics.com
LoopX AI startup robots use a hybrid drive system with three modes of operation: autonomous, teleoperation, and collaborative drive. LoopX won the top prize in the 5G Transportation Challenge sponsored by Rogers and the Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network (OVIN) in June 2022. They are located in Waterloo. https://www.loopx.ai/
Mecademic Robotics from Montreal are makers of the smallest and most accurate 6 axis robot in the market today. Meca500 is the model number and they have just released a SCARA model called MCS500. https://www.mecademic.com/
Mycionics Inc is located in Putnam, ON. They make mushroom picking automation and have developed a mushroom picking robot, scanner and automated cutter. https://mycionics.com/
Noovelia. As the first AGV/AMR manufacturer in Quebec, Noovelia offers self-guided material handling vehicles to significantly optimize your production flow, without any major investment. https://www.noovelia.com/
Novarc Technologies. The team at Novarc is making complex welding easy with collaborative robotics. https://www.novarctech.com/ and you can check out my podcast with Soroush Karimzadeh, Co-founder of Novarc Technologies here.
Nexus Robotics Inc. Farming without weeds. Need we say more? I am going to anyway. Le Chevre (the goat) mechanically picks weeds from farmer fields. Think less spray, less cost, more crop. https://nexusrobotics.ca/
NeuPeak Robotics. This Burnaby start-up offers fully autonomous strawberry picking greenhouse autonomous robots. https://www.neupeak.com/
Open Ocean Robotics. Based in Victoria, Open Ocean collects real time ocean data with our solar powered autonomous boats, transforming how we understand our oceans. https://openoceanrobotics.com/
Planar Motor. This Richmond, BC based company builds a sophisticated robot, but it doesn’t look like a bot. It has 6 degrees of freedom and features intelligent routing, is IP67 safe, and revolutionizes moving product through a machine or factory. https://www.planarmotor.com/
Real Life Robots. A new entrant into last mile delivery, BUBS will deliver mail, food and intra office supplies to start. I expect big things from Cameron and his team. They are located in Cambridge.https://www.real-life-robotics.com/
Robotics Design Inc. Designs and builds custom robots for HVAC, security and tactical, aquaduct and sewer, educational and research, custom and material handling industries. https://www.roboticsdesign.qc.ca/
SewerVUE does the difficult work of inspecting sewers. This Coquitlam, BC based company offers advanced pipeline condition assessment services using multiple sensing technologies including CCTV, LiDAR, Sonar, and PPR https://sewervue.com
Sanctuary AI. creating a bi-pedal, retail assist robot for the partner; CTC or Canadian Tire Corp. The bot is specifically working for Marks Work Wearhouse chain. The bots are remotely piloted or supervised by people and are designed to both train and work alongside them, people that is. https://www.sanctuary.ai/
SWAP Robotics. Swap Robotics has quickly grown to become the a leader in outdoor robotics for multiple work purposes. As of 2021, there were a dozen paid 100% electric, commercial-ready robots in the fleet, more than any other robotics company for snow removal. As of Spring 2022, the primary focus is on solar vegetation cutting robots. They are working with several of the largest solar asset owners and solar O&M providers from North America & Europe. https://www.swaprobotics.com
Tellext. Tellext is an innovative company based in Vancouver. They are dedicated to improving the quality of humans’ lives by innovating and commercializing integrated systems. Tellext is the creator of Canada’s first Mobile Security Robot, Guardamate. https://guardamate.com/
The Rubic. Unlocking the potential of automation with a warehouse-agnostic, autonomous robotic system, designed to operate seamlessly within your existing facilities, exactly as they are. Based in Calgary. https://www.therubic.ca/
Tiny Mile. This pink food delivery robot has been spotted in Toronto and Charlotte for many years. Toronto City politicos are working out who owns the sidewalks and whether a clean, battery run robot delivery bot is better than another car on a street, but in the meantime, Charlotte has welcomed Tiny Mile with open arms. https://tinymile.ai/
Trexo Robotics manufactures mechanical suits for children with disabilities. I love this company and love their work and their mission. They are transforming lives. https://trexorobotics.com/
Triton Innovation Inc. Steve Spanjers from Triton Innovation in Tillsonburg together with Harvest Corp Technology’s Rick Derycke are solving the challenging picking of asparagus. Find out more at https://www.tritoninnovation.com/
Special Mentions, robot software, accessories and enabling technologies for robots and automation:
These Canadian based companies do not specifically make a standalone robot, but they facilitate others by being the brains of the robot, the wrists, the component suppliers or make a special component that fits into a system.
3DEEIT is a Squamish, BC based technical animator that works with companies all over the world to help communicate complex electro mechanical systems, especially robot animation. https://3deeit.com/
A&K Robotics was founded based on the shared idea that robotic technologies can drastically improve our world and quality of life. They have developed an intelligent navigation system that transforms manual machines into self-driving robots.https://www.aandkrobotics.com/
Anubis 3d. Anubis 3D is a leading Additive Manufacturer-3D printing service provider for rapid End of Arm Tooling EOAT and On-Demand industrial components either prototypes or low volume production. https://anubis3d.com/
Forcen is a Toronto based manufacturer of force sensing and haptic force control, a digitally manufacturable transducer film; Multi-Point 2-6 DOF sensing in a single film. The tech includes an array of sensors integrated with a sealed electronics module that calibrates, measures, and converts the sensing array signals to noise-free force measurements for industry. https://forcen.tech/
Robotiq Inc. Montreal based Robotiq frees human hands from repetitive tasks and it wouldn’t feel right to create a blog about robot manufacturers without including Robotiq. https://robotiq.com/
Nexera’s NeuraGrasp technology platform is comprised of a unique combination of software and hardware. Both elements need to be present in order to truly unlock the potential of robotic grasping in the most challenging applications. https://nexera-robotics.com/
Northstar Robotics makes our list. This Winnipeg based company uses QNX operating system to create an off-highway autonomous vehicle platform that could be retrofitted on existing vehicles or integrated into new OEM platforms. The platform has been proven in the field running on small agricultural machines to large off highway snow removal equipment. https://northstar-robotics.com/
OCTOPUZ is an intelligent offline robot programming software that enables path-sensitive, complex robot applications to be programmed without disruption to your manufacturing process, and without the need for an onsite robot programming expert. https://octopuz.com
RoboDK. RoboDK software is a company based in Montreal. Their software makes it easy to simulate and program industrial robots. With the software you can simulate over 700 robots from 50 different robot manufacturers and generate error-free robot programs (called offline robot programming or OLRP, OLP) for any robot controller. https://robodk.com/index
Sarcomere Dynamics is based in Edmonton. Their product is an agnostic robotic hand that provides near-human functionality. Using our proprietary actuator technology, they can provide our customers a compact, lightweight, strong, and highly dexterous robotic hand that matches human performance and functionality. Our customers can finally automate tasks that are too complex for conventional robotics. https://sarcomeredynamics.com/
Vention. Think Amazon delivery and Lego for the automation industry. Vention is a Montreal-based mature startup that is building components for robot integrators, EOMs and manufacturers. Vention started building simple components for table bases and guarding and is building up their components to include conveyor and well, robots. Most of their robots will be gantry style bots, but bots non the less. https://vention.io
Adding our facilitating organizations:
Automate Canada. Automate Canada is dedicated to keeping members up-to-date on industry related news, activities and legislation. As a member of Automate Canada, you become part of an informative community of industry professionals. https://www.automatecanada.ca/
Canada Robotics Council. The Canadian Robotics Council was formed with a mission: to help Canadians benefit from the robotics technologies that are poised to fuel economic development, global competitiveness, productivity, and improved safety. They have hosted Symposiums in 2022 and in 2023. You can check out the executive committee here. https://www.roboticscouncil.ca/
REAI in Montreal. Regroupement des entreprises en automatisation industrielle. A non-profit organization, the Grouping of Industrial Automation Companies has a mission to represent the intelligent automation industry of Quebec, to make their know-how and member skills known to manufacturers, government organizations, financial institutions and socio-economic decision-makers. https://reai.ca/en/
First Robotics Canada. FIRST® inspires young people to be science and technology leaders and innovators by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering, and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership. How can you get involved? There are lots of ways: money, volunteering, mentorship. https://www.firstroboticscanada.org
If I have missed your company, or organization, let me know over email via / info at customerattraction dot com.
If you would like to check out Canadian Food Innovation Network, aka as CFIN’s Robots in Action, Seeing is Believing presentation on food and automation You will see lots of Canadian tech and robots in the film: Gastronomous, Anubis 3D, Tinymile.ai, Mycionics Inc, and many others. You will also see me, Jim Beretta, Tharwat Fouad, and many others.