Matt Rendall, CEO of Clearpath Robotics, will represent Ontario in the national finals for the $100,000 Young Entrepreneur Award sponsored by the Business Development Bank of Canada.
“It is more validation that we are onto something really powerful,” Rendall said in an interview.
The bank said Clearpath Robotics made it to the finals for its work on autonomous mobile robots that are able to navigate warehouses and factories on their own.
This cutting-edge technology is a new focus within Clearpath that taps into a lucrative market in advanced manufacturing.
Until now, Clearpath has produced autonomous vehicles that can operate on land and water. They collect samples from toxic environments, perform tasks in underground mines and clear explosives.
But the Kitchener company’s latest technology push is all about mobile robots in warehouses and factories.
The Young Entrepreneur Award is open to individuals who are 18 to 35, who faced a turning point or decisive moment in their business, and came up with solution that puts the business on a new growth trajectory. Rendall’s turning point is the plan to develop autonomous mobile robots.
A national committee will evaluate the quality of the finalists’ projects and their evaluation will count for 50 per cent of the final ranking. The winner will be announced June 22. The runner-up receives $25,000 in consulting services.
Clearpath was founded in 2009 by Rendall and three other University of Waterloo mechatronics graduates.
The company, which now employs 80 people, has undergone “a huge transformation” in the last six months because of the program to develop autonomous factory robots, said Rendall.
“We are now working on significant industrial deployments of the technology,” he said.
Conventional materials handling technology in factories and warehouses involves what are known as automated magnetic vehicles or automated magnetic carts. They rely on a magnetic strip buried in the floor to help navigate.
These carts and vehicles cannot operate away from that magnetic field. If there are obstructions on the magnetic strip, such as a garbage can or pallet, the vehicle will not move.
“We are taking the train off the tracks, and allowing it to behave much more like a taxi,” Rendall said. “What that means is you can very efficiently route where a package needs to be from one location in a factory to another location.”
The robots are equipped with high-powered computers and sensors that mimic the eyes of people, letting the robot learn about their environment.
The Business Development Bank noted that developing autonomous robots is a challenging process. Among other things, the company must secure commitments from early adopters who “will help de-risk the process,” it said.
“Getting these prototypes to market will pave the way for the company to create a whole new industrial division and further expand into the manufacturing sector,” the bank said.