Laval University Robotics Laboratory
The Laval University Robotics Laboratory was founded by Professor Clement M. Gosselin in 1989 and is part of the university’s Faculty of Science and Engineering’s Mechanical Engineering Department. Since it was established, the team has produced several publications and technical achievements. Currently the team is made up of several graduate students and research associates.
The research made by the lab is being funded by several major funding agencies like the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada (NSERC) and the FQRNT, or the Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la nature et les technologies.
The Laval University Robotics Lab has also been into research contracts with the following: the Hydro-Quebec Research institute, Government agencies and ministries, the Institut de Recherche en Santé et Sécurité du Travail du Québec (IRSST), the Canadian Space Agency, CAE Electronics, Opal-RT, MDA Space Missions, and the GM Canada.
Overall the laboratory is geared towards the study of parallel mechanisms and articulated robotic hands. These areas have already given the lab much deserved accolade, not only in Canada but also internationally.
Helping them achieve such recognition are their advanced facilities, like their Personal Computers running under Linux and Windows, various serial and parallel robots, robotic hands, parallel processor systems for real time manipulation and simulation, fast prototyping machine and the wire EDM machine.
One of their most notable projects that have led to partnership with major industrial players and/or government organizations is the Robust Underactuated Robotic Hand, or the MARS hand, which was built back in 1996 and is the direct result of a partnership effort with the l'Institut de Recherche en Santé et en Sécurité du Travail (IRSST), the Institute of Health and Safe Work Environments research.
Here, the goal of the robotics laboratory is to develop and create a hand that is both robust and very dexterous in order to perform a wide array of tasks. Among the tasks includes performing under hostile environments, i.e. radioactivity or extreme temperatures, where it is deemed unsafe for humans.
To date, the Laval University Robotics Lab has already created 195 articles in scientific journals, 349 articles of scientific conference proceedings, published 8 books, and made 8 patents.
