Canadian Robots Prepare to Confront Trump in the Arctic
Donald Trump’s belligerent stance has prompted Canada to increase its military spending and seek better surveillance of its territory. One of the results of this newfound resolve — robots entirely made in Quebec that could patrol the Arctic.
There’s a flurry of activity in the parking lot of Luqia in Quebec City—a research center formed by the recent merger of the National Optics Institute and the Montreal Computer Research Institute.
A robot perched on four wheels—let’s call it Gérard—is speeding toward the back of the parking lot as if trying to escape. Further on, one of its companions, whom we’ll call Monique, is circling aimlessly on its tracks.
Amidst this somewhat absurd mechanical ballet, three men seem to be having the time of their lives. Two of them, Simon-Pierre Deschênes and Patrice Lavoie, work for the startup Tessellate Robotics. The third, Benoit Ricard, is a defense scientist at the Valcartier Research Centre, a unit of Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC).
The researchers here believe that robots like Gérard, Monique, and Jean-Claude could soon be supplying soldiers, evacuating the wounded, and performing surveillance and reconnaissance tasks in the Arctic.
To see how the robots perform in an environment harsher than a parking lot, the military and researchers took them last March to a destination not known for its mild climate: Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, in the far north of the country.
“Minus 41 degrees! How did you like it, -41?” Benoit Ricard asks Simon-Pierre Deschênes, who responds with a strained smile that seems to evoke painful memories.
For the robots, however, it wasn’t the cold, the wind, or the snow that caused the most problems. It was the Northern Lights.
The solar wind that causes the Northern Lights is made up of electrically charged particles. This interferes with the GPS signal, resulting in significantly less accurate location tracking.
In short, the Northern Lights disorient robots, which then risk getting lost in the vastness of the snow-covered landscape.
Founded by two computer science PhD students at Université Laval, Tessellate has developed a system that allows robots to fire bursts of laser beams in all directions. These beams bounce off various obstacles in the surrounding area. By measuring the time it takes for beams to return to them, robots can assess the distance to terrain features and build maps that make them less dependent on GPS signals provided by satellites.
Tessellate distinguished itself in a competition organized by DARPA, the US military’s research agency. Since then, it has been identified as a strategic company by NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, and has attracted NATO’s attention.
Despite this international interest, technological development is conducted solely between francophone partners, and this is no coincidence.
“The magic words for Canadian forces these days are technological sovereignty. This emerged last year with the [Prime Minister] Carney budget. Before that, it was taboo. Sovereignty meant more expensive and longer. Now, we want to have this sovereign capability, this supply chain, within Canada,” says Benoit Ricard, defense scientist at the Valcartier Research Centre.
Tessellate, for example, does not manufacture the robots themselves, but rather the navigation systems. These systems, however, are mounted on robots manufactured in Quebec, notably by Beonyx, based in Saguenay, and Rheinmetall, based in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. Laval University and the University of Toronto are also collaborating on the project.
Defense spending now reaches $63 billion annually in Canada, and one can legitimately question whether this is the best possible choice given the pressing needs for infrastructure, healthcare, and housing, to name just a few.
But the repercussions of this momentum extend beyond the military sector.
“We’re seeing a lot of dual-use applications, not just in defense,” explains Patrice Lavoie, Director of Strategy and Investments at Tessellate.
“In the energy sector, we want to use our systems to inspect critical infrastructure—tunnels, dams, and electrical substations. We are also working on a project to inspect mining vehicles—large vehicles weighing 240 tons and more. This includes tire inspections and mechanical checks.”
Benoit Ricard also states that the military prioritizes industrial partners whose clients extend beyond the defense sector, so as not to become a “business killer” if it ends a collaboration.
We know how much Trump has damaged certain sectors of the Canadian economy. But seeing him act as a catalyst in other sectors can be seen as a partial victory.
The robots made in Quebec operating in the Luqia parking lot, in any case, reflect a vision of research that encourages Canadian partnerships. If we can learn from this and develop new collaborative approaches, that will be something.
Source: La Presse (in French)