Cyberworks Robotics receives CFIN funding to pilot self-driving tech in F&B facilities

The Canadian Food Innovation Network (CFIN) invested $1.1 million into five projects, through the organization’s FoodTech Next Program to help early stage companies pilot their innovation in operational food sector environments.

Cyberworks Robotics received $227,946 in funding for their autonomous self-driving technology that allows existing manual tow tugs and forklifts to become fully automated without changing facility infrastructure. Tow tugs and forklifts are normally operated, steered, or pushed by a human. The self-driving technology serves as a solution to labour shortages, reduces operating costs, improves worker safety, and increases operational efficiency.

Self-driving robots currently in the market use features inside a facility to understand their location in the building. Unfortunately, if the camera’s line of sight to these key features is blocked, then the self-driving technology will not work.

Vivek Burhanpurkar, CEO of Cyberworks Robotics tells Food in Canada that reliability makes their technology unique.

“Cyber Robotics has developed a new kind of self-driving technology that prevails even when key features in the building are blocked or changed. The technology is still able to operate the vehicle. This is the level of reliability needed for self-driving technology to be useful in manufacturing industries or warehousing,” said Burhanpurkar.

Cyber Robotics will use the FoodTech Next funding to integrate their self-driving technology into a conventional manual tow tug system or forklift and pilot test in food and beverage facilities.

“We are going to use the funding to work with leaders in the food and beverage industry to optimize our self-driving tow, tug, and forklift technologies for their industries. We are going to run pilot projects with our technologies and their manufacturing facilities and warehouse distribution facilities to better understand the nuances of their industry and how they need self-driving technology to work to be useful to them,” explained Burhanpurkar.

Looking to the future, Cyber Robotics plans to apply their technology to all kinds of equipment that will be useful in the food and beverage industry.