TORONTO, April 18, 2013 – The NSERC Canadian Field Robotics Network (NCFRN) will be hosting a robotics field trials media event on Monday, April 22 at York University and the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS).

NCFRN, a network spanning eight universities and 14 partner organizations, brings together academic, government and industrial researchers in the area of field robotics to develop the science and technologies that will allow teams of robots to work collaboratively in outdoor environments, communicating critical information to the humans who operate or use them.

The upcoming field trials will help test a diverse range of robotics technologies, with applications ranging from environmental monitoring around Canada’s extensive coastlines – including in the far North, where harsh conditions make human research complicated and costly – to mining and resource identification, planetary exploration, pipeline monitoring, border surveillance, search and rescue, and even dealing with environmental disasters such as nuclear accidents.

“These organizations, and the specific representatives, constitute the cream of the crop in terms of Canadian researchers and developers doing outdoor robotics,” says NCFRN scientific director Gregory Dudek. “The vehicles they will be using at the field trials span ones that walk, fly and swim, and the scientific and technical leadership will be among the best in the world.”

Schedule of events:

York University

11am-12:15pm Stong Pond and west side of Keele campus (see map)

Robots to be demoed at this time include:

Eddy: Eddy and the Minnows are a collective fleet of autonomous surface robots that are being used to develop hardware and algorithms suitable for providing sensor coverage of a body of water. Imagine trying to monitor an event (pollution, etc.) on a water body. Rather than sending a single robot to deal with the problem, it can be more efficient and cost effective to deploy a fleet. This work seeks to address technical problems related to this type of implementation.

Grizzly: Imagine trying to maintain a geographically extensive infrastructure (pipeline, hydro corridor, etc.). How can we build robotic systems that can monitor over such large areas? Grizzly is a large robot that is being outfitted in order to perform such tasks.

UTIAS

1-3pm – MarsDome, UTIAS (see map)

The NCFRN field trials at UTIAS will involve a small planetary exploration scenario. Participants will use their robots to search for a collection of rocks hidden in the MarsDome, which contains a mock planetary landscape. They must seek out the rocks, image them and return to their starting locations. The Lunar Exploration Light Rover, built by MDA for the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), and one of the CSA's Juno research robots will be two celebrity robots attempting the challenge.

York University is helping to shape the global thinkers and thinking that will define tomorrow. York’s unwavering commitment to excellence reflects a rich diversity of perspectives and a strong sense of social responsibility that sets us apart. A York U degree empowers graduates to thrive in the world and achieve their life goals through a rigorous academic foundation balanced by real-world experiential education. As a globally recognized research centre, York is fully engaged in the critical discussions that lead to innovative solutions to the most pressing local and global social challenges. York’s 11 faculties and 28 research centres are thinking bigger, broader and more globally, partnering with 288 leading universities worldwide. York's community is strong − 55,000 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, and more than 250,000 alumni.

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Media Contacts:

Robin Heron, Media Relations, York University, 416-736-2100 x22097 / rheron@yorku.ca

Terry Lavender, Communications & Media Relations Strategist, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, University of Toronto, 416-978-4498 / terry.lavender@utoronto.ca