Provincial funding granted for companies creating innovation in agriculture to strengthen B.C.’s food security and support economic recovery.
BURNABY, BC – Advanced Intelligent Systems (AIS), a leading custom robotics company, announced today it is a recipient of funding provided by the B.C. government’s Agritech Grant program, for its commercialization of its autonomous robot for the agricultural industry.
“We are honored to be selected to receive a StrongerBC Agritech grant. Advanced Intelligent Systems will help improve food security in British Columbia by creating an indoor, driverless, autonomous electric vehicle to transport produce within greenhouses for processing, packing, and shipping,” says Afshin Doust, CEO of AIS.
“The pandemic has reinforced the vital role our province’s agricultural sector plays in ensuring that British Columbians have access to safe, reliable, and sustainable food,” said Ravi Kahlon, Minister of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation. “These investments will strengthen our province’s food security, catalyze innovation and ensure the agritech sector will play a key role in our economic recovery.”
The need for labour in the horticulture industry has been steadily climbing, however, finding workers to perform the repetitive and physically demanding tasks in nurseries and greenhouses operations is extremely challenging. AIS’ autonomous robot – with customizable software and modular parts – will provide the industry with an affordable solution.
As part of its inaugural work, the Agritech Concierge will support grant recipient companies to scale up, expand and develop technologies to help increase regenerative and sustainable food production in B.C. It will also facilitate pathways for international and out-of-province companies to locate and expand within B.C.
AIS is honoured to help B.C. and the Canadian food industry with its autonomous robot, to create and maintain jobs, and strengthen the supply chain.
“We remain fully committed to increasing our food security in B.C.,” said Lana Popham, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries. “Agritech is one of the ways to do that, and by supporting agritech businesses and entrepreneurs, we can continue to develop and create a world-leading agritech sector that will help increase our domestic food production, strengthen our domestic resiliency and expand our reach into international markets.”
The Agritech Grant program is part of StrongerBC: BC’s Economic Recovery Plan. The plan focuses on recovery that is innovative, sustainable and inclusive.
ABOUT ADVANCED INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS:
Advanced Intelligence Systems Inc. (AIS) is a private company specializing in autonomous mobile robotics to solve real industry problems. Headquartered in Burnaby, British Columbia, AIS leads the Canadian market for creating customized and modular robotics solutions to automate business processes. The AIS team has superior intellectual property and patents which are currently being applied to develop custom robotic solutions for various industries such as horticulture, agriculture, and healthcare industries. AIS’ autonomous robots have the intelligence to perform repetitive or dangerous tasks with exceptional dexterity and precision. Collectively, the AIS team has decades of experience in robotics engineering, management, and operations. https://www.ai-systems.ca
For more information, please contact:
Debra Hadden | DEBRA HADDEN COMMUNICATIONS | 604.240.3196
