Ten million dollars in prizes are at stake. Outreach Robotics hopes to reap its fair share, precisely by collecting samples and data from the top of the canopy of the most inhospitable jungles with an airborne robot.
News broke on July 24 that his team is one of six to advance to the finals of the XPRIZE Rainforest competition following the semi-finals held in May in the forests of Singapore.
Spanning five years, XPRIZE Rainforest is an international competition that aims to spark new technologies to increase our understanding of rainforest ecosystems.
The young Quebec company specializes in the manufacture of sample collection robots transported by drones in otherwise inaccessible places. In January 2023, she had been invited to join a disaster team of mainly American researchers, Team Waponi, who had reached the semi-finals of the competition, and who were looking for expertise in extreme robotics to continue their race in the finals.
They found her in Sherbrooke.
Outreach Robotics has its roots in the master’s project that Guillaume Brisson and Hugues La Vigne, respectively students in mechanical engineering and electronic engineering, carried out between 2017 and 2019: a robot device, suspended from a drone, which can collect samples from branches and leaves on top of trees.
Usually out of reach, these samples provide valuable information about the tree and its immediate environment, “much like blood samples from humans”, describes Guillaume Brisson.
The project quickly caught the attention of the Createk catalyst center for innovation at the University of Sherbrooke. “They pushed us a bit, saying, ‘Start your business, we’re going to give you $20,000 in funding.’ It was just enough to say: let’s go! »
What they did in 2019.
Their DeLeaves robot sampler, equipped with pliers and large-format pruning shears, is now marketed in a dozen countries.
“There are about thirty universities around the world on four continents that use our tool,” says Guillaume Brisson, now president of Outreach Robotics.
The company has even sold five devices to companies in Maine, who have found a unique use for weeding hard-to-reach branches.
Its reputation having spread in scientific circles, Outreach Robotique was contacted by the National Tropical Botanical Garden of Hawaii, which was looking for a way to collect samples of rare, even unknown plants, on the inaccessible cliffs of the archipelago.
The National Geographic Society provided a grant of US$143,000 in 2020 to initiate the project, followed by a second of US$100,000 in 2022 to finalize the development of the Mamba. Also suspended from a drone, the device is reminiscent of a dragonfly that would advance its mandibles to extract a plant from the cliff.
During trials conducted in November 2021 and March 2022 in Hawaii, the Mamba succeeded in bringing back a plant of a species that had never before been recorded.
“It positioned us a bit as experts in plant sampling with remotely controlled tools,” adds Mr. Brisson.
Hence the interest of Team Waponi, whose team notably includes biologists who have been carrying out research projects for decades in the upper Amazon basin in Ecuador.
Outreach has designed a kind of ultralight platform made up of rods forming an X. Various devices are hung on it: a sound recording system, a white canvas that attracts insects, cameras to film them, etc. The DeLeaves forceps were adapted to deposit and retrieve the device.
Of the approximately 130 teams registered for the XPRIZE Rainforest three years ago, 13 had reached the semi-finals.
“In Singapore, we were maybe ten people, whereas there were teams that almost moved labs there, with 30 or 40 people. We managed to get to the final, despite our small team. »
The Outreach delegation was entirely responsible for the data collection, which took place during the first 24 hours. “It was our pilots Hughes La Vigne and Julien Rachiele-Tremblay who piloted the drones,” says Guillaume Charron.
The final will take place in 2024 in a location to be determined.
Now with six employees, Outreach is currently hosted by the Interdisciplinary Institute for Technological Innovation (3IT) at the University of Sherbrooke, in whose laboratories it manufactures its products and prototypes.
“We use 3D printing a lot,” explains the president. Our tools must be extremely light and 3D printing is the perfect tool. »
He sees a new market in the inspection of structures that are difficult to access. “Our technologies for environmental sampling allow us to interact in contact with structures,” he points out.
To this end, the Sherbrooke company has specifically developed the Spy II robotic inspection camera, which moves up and down like a spider by unwinding its own thread.
The Mamba will also find a new mission there: it has already been used to inspect a wind turbine blade at the highest point of its trajectory.
Outreach today.
It’s not an insult, it’s the name of the company. The artisanal biscuit factory Les Sablés de l’Osti d’Français was founded by a Frenchman, as you might expect. Sébastien Romagny had done an internship in Quebec in 2016 and had decided “on a whim” to return in 2018, after being refused the extension of his studies in the agri-food field in France. “At the end of 2019, I started making some shortbread in my own apartment with a recipe for all-butter Breton shortbread, Quebec ingredients and sweet clover flower for the Christmas market at the retirement home where I worked. “, he said by email. The success of his shortbreads led him to increase his production and open a (very) small establishment, rue d’Aiguillon, in Quebec. “We make an average of 5,000 cookies a day and we sell them in more than 120 active points of sale in Quebec, including some food chains,” notes the pastry chef. This new success prompted him to move his establishment at the end of June to 120, boulevard René-Lévesque Ouest, his new biscuit factory. “We wanted to have some seating for customers and have a little gelato counter,” he explains over the phone. He has three full-time employees and one part-time. “All production is done on site,” he says. When customers come in, the smell of cookies makes all the difference. »
We should not wait for the French fry market to crumble. Lafleur restaurants reopened their branch on chemin de la Côte-de-Liesse in mid-July, with a fresh brand image that will now be extended to future establishments. The logo, a capital R followed by Lafleur, is still inscribed in a white oval, but it has moved away from the constellation of green tiles that surrounded it. The architecture of the building takes up the refined style of white and black panels and largely glazed walls that has been adopted for a few years. However, the entire layout has been redesigned by Groupe Leclerc in collaboration with Montarville and the design agency Cléo Katcho. On one of the interior walls is spread out in neon tubes the phrase “Salut mes p’tites frites!” the now-iconic greeting from waitress Lucie, a earthy 63-year-old character whose videos began appearing in the fall of 2022 on TikTok. This rejuvenation of image and tone has been on the menu since the acquisition in 2022 by brothers George and John Papagiannis of the brand acquired by their father in 2011. They plan to double the number of Lafleur restaurants, from 16 to 32 branches. within five years.
While the planet is suffocating in heat, the news hits the spot: Simard Transport announces the start of the electrification of its truck fleet. The Montreal company founded in 1943 “paves the way” for the energy transition in heavy transport, the press release informs us metaphorically, by acquiring four eCascadia trucks from the American brand Freightliner. Acquired from the Globocam heavy truck dealer network, the four Freightliner electric trucks are, it seems, the first to be delivered on Quebec soil by a Quebec dealer to a Quebec carrier. Simard Transport has also partnered with Cléo, a subsidiary of Hydro-Québec that helps companies electrify their vehicle fleets. Cléo’s turnkey service includes dynamic charging management thanks to an intelligent platform developed in Quebec. In addition to the four eCascadia trucks equipped with a 438 kWh battery, the project includes two 120 kW Detroit eFill terminals and two 24 kW ABB DC Wallbox terminals. No doubt it will be necessary to do a battery of tests.
Rounding Up: Montreal-based NeuroServo has announced the closing of a $2.2 million round to fund the commercialization of its miniaturized, instantaneous EEG (electroencephalography) device for intensive care, operating rooms and emergencies.