Conestoga's Robotics Innovation Group (RIG) has partnered with Proto3000, a Vaughan-based engineering firm. Through the partnership, Proto3000 will provide $40,000 of engineering and 3D printing services to RIG to support the group as it builds and programs its humanoid robot, RIGbot.
RIG is a student group formed last year by School of Engineering and Information Technology faculty members Dalibor Dvorski and Jane Carr, and Computer Engineering Technology student Tarek Rahim. Their goal was to open up the realm of robotics to all students through extracurricular and multidisciplinary activities. The group provides students with training and access to robotics software and hardware to promote innovation outside of course work.
“The RIG/Proto3000 partnership allows our students to focus on building and programming the robot, and the creation of mobile and computer vision applications. At the same time, we will benefit from Proto3000’s expertise to evaluate and 3D print our models,” said Dvorski.
The group successfully built RIGbotArm, the arm unit of the humanoid robot, last summer (as reported in a previous Campus News story) and is currently building and programming the remaining parts of the robot. To date, there are only two other known academic institutions in Canada that have attempted the project.
“The coming together of Dvorski’s students and colleagues and now Proto3000, we believe, will result in very exciting robotics and engineering solutions that will be of great value to everyone,” said John Frangella, owner of Proto3000. “We believe this is only the start of a long-term partnership between Proto3000 and RIG.”
Following the successful completion of RIGbot, the group plans to build the second-generation robot, RIGbot2, using lessons learned from the first version.
Students that have contributed to the project include: Tarek Rahim, Roger Bongers, Marius Tocitu, Hassan Nahhal, Chaozhi Zhang, Mehmood Chaudhry and Jamil Aryan.
For more information about RIG, contact Dalibor Dvorski