Sherbrooke, Quebec – Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Today, Élisabeth Brière, Member of Parliament for Sherbrooke and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development and to the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health, on behalf of the Honourable Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, announced the 5 projects that will receive up to $1 million in funding each under Phase 2 of the Innovative Solutions Canada (ISC) program – Challenge Stream. The announcement was made at Exonetik Inc., one of the Phase 2 winners.
The 5 projects, approved for funding by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, will target the Canadian meat processing industry and the Canadian controlled environment agriculture industry with the goal of advancing automation and robotic technologies. These companies have developed ideas to address challenges such as work productivity, labour shortages, and operational efficiency.
Under the Canadian Meat Processing Technology Development Challenge, projects include:
- Exonetik Inc. - Developing a low-cost, collaborative robot to help automate tasks
- E.O.I Technologies Inc. - Developing sensors to collect data on fast moving conveyor systems
Under the Enhancing Automation in Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) Farming Challenge, projects include:
- Exonetik Inc. – Developing a robotic arm to work alongside humans to harvest fruits and vegetables
- Mycionics Inc. – Developing a robotic mushroom harvester, packer and harvester lift
- Kinova Inc. – Developing a robotic arm to pick, harvest and de-leaf cucumbers and strawberries
Source : Canada.ca