Shaun Ghafari, left, dean of engineering at Humber Polytechnic, and Francis Syms, associate dean, information and communications technology, with a large commercial drone, on Jan. 27.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
In a university lab, a drone with four propellers, two standing legs and a cord-like robotic arm, dangling unassumingly from its underbelly, represents the next frontier of drone technology in Canada. It’s called an aerial compliant manipulator, and its flexible, continuous arm is ideal for operating in constrained spaces.
technology is still in its infancy, Farrokh Janabi-Sharifi’s lab at Toronto Metropolitan University is leading globally in its development.
“Drones these days are used for imaging, taking pictures, mapping, mapping degeneration and so on. But here, the big difference is that we physically interact with the environment, and this is important for tasks that are costly, hazardous or even impossible for humans,” said Dr. Janabi-Sharifi, a professor of mechatronics engineering at TMU.
He is part of a collective of researchers who are advancing drone technology in Canada to make the country more competitive on a global scale, in anticipation of expanding federal regulations and growing industry demand for a new generation of flying robotics.
Backed by $5-million from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and provincial funders, researchers from seven postsecondary institutions are positioning Canada’s drone industry at the forefront of the global market by developing unmanned aerial manipulators – a device they say combines the agility of a drone with the dexterity of robotic arms.
Titled Canadian Advanced Research Infrastructure for Aerial Robotic Manipulation (CANARI-ARM), the project will see each institution complete its own research related to five key themes: perception, control, human-robot interactions, communications and technology applications.
In addition to TMU, the project also involves researchers from Dalhousie University, Humber Polytechnic, Ontario Tech University, University of Ottawa, University of Regina and York University.
Their goal? To position Canada as a leader in aerial robotic manipulation through patentable techniques, new products, licensable software and job market growth in industries such as agriculture, construction, mining and logistics, which currently contribute more than $600-billion to Canada’s GDP, according to Dr. Janabi-Sharifi.
For now, most of their work remains in the lab. But once it’s ready for market, Dr. Janabi-Sharifi said, unmanned aerial manipulators could be used, for example, to inspect and repair power lines, keeping workers out of dangerous situations, or to take and analyze soil and crop samples on-site for quality control and disease, saving the cost of transporting samples to a lab.
In 2024, Canada ranked second in drone readiness, according to an index by Drone Industry Insights. The ranking considers factors such as where and how drones are allowed to operate, social acceptance of the devices, and how specific or new regulations governing them are. The previous year, Canada became one of the first countries to propose comprehensive regulations for lower-risk drone operations beyond visual line-of-sight.
Aviation Regulations to make it easier for drones to be flown beyond an operator’s line of sight at a low altitude and away from populated areas and certain airfields. As of Jan. 21, Transport Canada said it has issued 130,756 drone pilot certificates and 108,225 drones have been registered in the country.
The aim of these proposed changes is to simplify operations such as package delivery in remote areas, wildfire and oil and gas surveys, and first responder work. But to realize these benefits, drones must improve at operating autonomously, away from their operator’s eyes.
Shaun Ghafari, dean of engineering at Humber Polytechnic, said this is why the work being done through CANARI-ARM is so important. It’s teaching students how to build, service and repair the latest drone technology, which increasingly includes AI and cybersecurity, he said.
At Humber, a new drone lab is being built to focus on developing AI-driven control systems in unmanned aerial manipulators.
“We’re going to need practitioners at every level, at the trades level, at the engineering level and at the software development AI level,” said Francis Syms, associate dean of information and communications technology at Humber.
Part of Transport Canada’s proposed regulations includes an increase in the acceptable weight of drones from 25 kilograms or less, to up to 150 kilograms for certain operations. This will make a big difference to researchers who are adding sensors and robotic arms to make the devices more autonomous and useful to industry, said Declan Sweeney, executive director of the Aerial Evolution Association of Canada.
“Going up to 150 kilograms means that you can put an awful lot more sensors on there,” he said.
While most of Transport Canada’s proposed changes are focused on broadening the scope of lower-risk operations, Mr. Sweeney said he hopes they’re a step toward writing similar regulations for higher-risk operations, such as in urban areas or airspace.
“We’re still only scratching the surface when it comes to that, in terms of technology improvements that far exceed the regulatory framework, which is constantly trying to catch up,” he said.
Dr. Janabi-Sharifi said the technology being developed in his lab, once brought to market, would solidify Canada’s position ahead of its competitors, most of whom are in Europe.
“In some aspects, we are ahead, but in some aspects, they are ahead of us. So, we hope that through this infrastructure, we gain and we put ourselves in front,” he said.
However, even if Canada does manage to come out on top, tariffs charged by the U.S. government could serve as a major deterrent to buying Canadian, said Dan Mashatan, senior manager of autonomy and AI at imaging technology company Teledyne FLIR and chair of the Canadian Robotics Council’s industrial committee for outdoor applications.
Speaking generally about the country’s robotics industry, Mr. Mashatan said Canada isn’t great at buying its own innovative products and instead sells a lot to the U.S.
With U.S. tariffs, he said, “our robots to the U.S. will become 25 per cent more expensive and it will deter U.S. end-users from buying from us.”
To bolster the domestic use of Canada’s homegrown technology, Mr. Sweeney said, it’s important for more academic institutions with specializations outside of tech to embrace drone training.
For example, an agricultural college could teach students how to use drones to monitor crops for disease. Those students would then graduate with a coveted skill set that allows them to implement new technology into their work, as federal regulations continue to broaden the scope of what’s possible.
It’s this multidisciplinary, multi-institute approach that will guarantee Canada’s success in this domain, Dr. Ghafari said. That, and a healthy dose of government funding, Mr. Syms added. “Investments like this, by the government, are what’s needed to make Canada leaders in this technology space.
Silicon Valley companies to bring the technology to us, but we’re defining what that technology is and how it should be used. Because if we don’t, the market will come and take it from us.”
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