Vankleek Hill man vying for invention prize for robot
CBC News
Posted: Jun 1, 2012 3:59 PM ET
Last Updated: Jun 2, 2012 9:55 AM ET
Miguel Clement's invention, a special robot that cuts steel beams based on instructions from a computer, is up for the BDC Young Entrepreneur Award in June. (Ashley Burke/CBC)
A Vankleek Hill man is one of eight finalists vying for a $100,000 prize for a new invention.
Miguel Clement is hoping that his invention, a robot designed to cut steel beams, will garner the most votes online so he can win the BDC Young Entrepreneur Award contest.
The arm of his robot can carve out any design the architect draws.
“It's a machine that will scan the beam and put in all the holes and all the features required from a building, directly from a computer,” Clement said.
His company, Inovatech Engineering Corp. has sold eight of these robots to date.
Clement said the robot is making the industry safer and more efficient.
“You can't find as much manual labour as before,” he said. “This is a hard industry to work in. The robot takes a lot of those hard and dangerous tasks of doing structure steel.
The president of Carlton Iron Works said he used the robot to build the Ottawa International Airport’s new multi-million dollar roof, adding that it sped up production and helped eliminate manufacturing errors.
Online voting for the contest ends on June 19 and the winner will be announced on June 25.
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