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 robotics 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/
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
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
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
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/
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/
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/
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/
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/
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/
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
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/
Sanctuary AI, creating a bi-pedal, retail assist robot for the partner; CTC or Canadian Tire Corp. The bot is specifically working for Marks or 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/
Special Mentions:
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/
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/
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/
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/
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/
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
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
If I have missed your company, 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.