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Your View: The business of robotics

Wednesday, July 18, 2007 | 09:22 AM ET

The robotics field in Canada is expanding, but is still growing slowly when compared to Japan and the United States.

According to the Robotic Industries Association, an industry trade group based in Ann Arbor, Mich., the robotics market saw 4,603 robots valued at about $274.5 million US sold to North American manufacturing firms over the first three months of 2007. But while Canadian schools are turning out graduates with the skills to bolster this industry, few of those sales are coming from the Canadian robotics industry.

What can be done to help a robotics industry develop in this country?

Click the 'Submit Your Comment' link below and tell us. And see CBC.ca's Robotics feature series here (new features will be added daily through July 20).

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Comments

Carolyn

Remember the Avro Arrow? Canada created something above and beyond the cutting edge in technology that made the headlines all over. It was ultimately cancelled, scrapped, and obliterated.

I'm not certain what Canada should do in regards to robotics; but I'm not sure we can do much at this point.

Posted July 18, 2007 10:06 AM

Monkey

Winnipeg

Keep in mind though, the Canadarm 2 sitting on the space station, isn't that a type of robot? We're still using it aren't we? Maybe people have started to let Canada build whatever it wants.

Posted July 18, 2007 12:03 PM

Carolyn

Yeah.. you're definitely right, Monkey. Sorry, guess I'm a little sore after having spent a few hours with my sis talking about the Arrow. Here's hoping Canada keeps up the hard work. :D

Posted July 18, 2007 12:36 PM

Sherry

Toronto

the phrase 'we eat our young' has been used to describe our approach to successful government funded technologies Canada has developed. I believe that unforunately when we do something to be proud of, it creates enough jeolousy to ensure its demise.

Canadarm2 and SPDM (Dextre) managed to make it past the jeolousy of the 1st Canadarm, which was quite an accomplishment in itself.

Posted July 19, 2007 11:05 AM

Tony

Halifax

If we in Canada did too much research on developing robots, I think the politicians would start to worry about their cushy jobs.

Posted July 19, 2007 04:46 PM

Monkey

Winnipeg

And the worst thing with that is that the Canadian population won't even notice the change

Posted July 19, 2007 05:21 PM

Carolyn

Good point, Monkey. Hell, I still remember the day we got a new fridge. Three days later, "WOAH! WHERE DID THIS COME FROM!?"
"You've been using it for three days."
"Oh, really? Huh. Well, that's cool I guess."
Of course, not many people consider a fridge an enormous leap in technological developments... ^^;

Posted July 20, 2007 09:43 AM

Sherry

Toronto

fortunately, the Canadian public does still remember the Canadarm, and the politicians are squirming a bit - not because of being noticed as spending money, but because the results have not been too visible. The auditor general's reports on the Canadian Space Agency were not glowing.

Posted July 20, 2007 10:16 AM

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