24 Fall / Automne 2017 level for roles in industry have always been a major concern for me; this concern is still there. My experience and career path would allow me to propose and support a preferred model of university research-industry interaction as discussed elsewhere in this article. ENTREPRENEURIAL STAGE I ESI grew into an exclu- sive small entity with international recogni- tion and a wide range of advanced technologies protected by a large portfolio of patents. ENTREPRENEURIAL PHASE 2 Emerging applications of intelligent robotics and automation can be found in several sectors such as space, operations, security and medical as decribed in this article. ENTREPRENEURIAL PHASE 3 In May 2015, the shares of ESI were fully acquired by a Chinese Consortium that included my obligation to lead the com- pany, now a subsidiary of the acquirer, for a period; retirement was not on the agenda. The acqui- sition led further at the end of 2016 to a public offering in Hong Kong. I became an Executive of a Public Company as Chief Tech- nology Officer. CONCLUSIONS, PART 1 I have experienced great learning, great employer – Canadarm, great academic life, and great business opportunities, and great family life; no complaints and I am extremely thankful. What made it possible? Personal initiative, no dull day and no static day, trust in gut feeling, great learning, great support at critical times, great life partner, natural restlessness, hard work, and some luck to be in the right place at the right time. ■ REFERENCES [1] Pressler, Erwin, “Robotics Academia and Industry: We Need to Talk”, IEEE R&A Magazine, Sep 2016, pp. 11 – 13. [2] Goldenberg, A.A., “Prototyping Robotic Systems: Methodology and Case Studies.” Chapter 36 in Small and Medium Enterprises: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications, Information Resources Management Associa- tion, IGI Global, pp. 715-760, April 2013. [3] Goldenberg, A.A., “Prototyping Robotic Systems: Methodology and Case Studies.” Chapter 1 in Prototyping of Robotic Systems: Applications of Design and Implementation, Ed. T. Sobh and X. Xiong, IGI Global, pp. 1-50, February 2012. [4] Goldenberg, A.A., “Robotics, Mechatronics, and Intelligent Automation” Chapter 20 in Marks’ StandardHandbookforMechanical Engineers, 11th Edition, Ed. Ali Sadegh, December 2006. Dr. Goldenberg is the founder of the field of Robotics at the University of Toronto where he has been since 1982 as a Professor of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (now Emeritus), cross-appointed in the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, and formerly cross-appointed in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He has supervised to date many graduate students: 46 PhD and 64 MASc. From 1975-1981 he was an employee of SPAR Aerospace Ltd., of Toronto, working on the development of the first Space Shuttle Remote Manipulator System (Canadarm). Dr. Goldenberg is also the founder of Engineering Services Inc. (ESI) established in 1982 and operating in the development of robotics- based automation. Under his leadership, the company has achieved significant growth and a global leading role in a wide range of industrial sectors. In 2015 ESI was acquired by a Shenzhen-based Chinese consortium, and as of November 2016 the company become publicly listed in Hong Kong. Dr. Goldenberg is the CTO of the public company. About the Author grounding of the boom and bucket, serious injuries of the operator result. There are also cases where the buck- et, the upper boom, or the operator contacts the cables. It should be noted that in most cases the cables carry 22.5 kV. While there is insula- tion, and grounding is assumed to be avoided, there are instances where the configuration of the system and the work of the operator generate electric shocks to that person. In response to concerns for work- er safety, a remote master- slave hydraulic manipulator was developed with the intent of relocat- ing workers away from the hazard- ous tasks. The operator is located on the truck platform away from the hazard, and is provided with a hand-held controller (the master) which controls the slave (a new five -joint hydraulic manipulator) that is attached at the end of the aerial boom, replacing the bucket where the operator used to be located. To control the slave the operator uses a second hand-held controller that is a replica of the slave. An assortment of hydraulic tools can be attached to the slave to enable its use in a var- iety of high-risk tasks. The slave is a five-DOF hydraulic manipulator arm, and the master is a five-DOF electric arm shaped as a reduced-size replica of the slave. The master is instrumented to pro- vide the operator with torque feed- back with respect to two axes of rotation. This allows the operator to feel the forces and moments along and about certain directions at the contact between the tool and branches. Such capability could be extended to a complete (six DOF) force and moment reflection onto the master. The communication between the master and slave is via a fiber-optic cable to ensure electric isolation between the tools and the ground equipment. ■ Utility companies must provide tree trimming near live aerial electrical distribution lines to avoid outages due to ruptured cables caused by erratic motion of tree branches dur- ing storms and other natural causes. The operation of tree trimming is usually done with hydraulic wood cutting tools by a trained operator stationed in a bucket mounted at the end of an “aerial boom” of approxi- mately 45’ in length. The boom is a two-link hydraulic arm with up to four joints that is mounted on a specially retrofitted truck. Two sets of controllers for the aerial boom are used in parallel: one in the operator bucket, and one on a panel aboard the truck, where a second operator (usually the driver) provides guid- ance and support from the ground. The operator has the ability to lift the bucket to a height of approxi- mately 45’. The operator carries in the bucket a set of tools: circular saw, linear saw, grappling hook, etc. The operator can connect one tool at a time to the source of hydraulic power available on the bucket. The tools are hand- held, and the operator can perform the cutting operations as needed. The above-mentioned operations have been proven to be dangerous for workers. Occasionally the operator’s tool touches live cables, and due to Slave manipulator mounted on the aerial boom High Payload Robot Arm HYDRAULIC ROBOT ARM FOR HIGH PAYLOAD HAZARDOUS TASKS 24 Fall / Automne 2017 Acknowledgements: The illustrations for this article come from the three different robotics corporations that I am CTO of. The task of collecting—and in some instancesenhancing—them has been a major undertaking. Much of this was achieved through the efforts of Mr. Ken Tang, patent specialist at Engineering Services Inc. His assistance has been greatly appreciated. ...Continued from page 23