About us
Independent Robotics Inc (IRI) evolved out of a 25 year collaboration between two Canadian robotics researchers. Building upon a background in Intelligent Systems, Professors Gregory Dudek (McGill University) and Michael Jenkin (York University) have joined with research engineer Chris Prahacs and entrepreneur Martin Stanley to form Independent Robotics Inc. Based in Montreal, Canada, IRI brings together a unique set of talents with the goal of developing unique robotic systems and technology to address real world problems in complex real world environments. Each of the principals brings their own unique skill set to the IRI family.
Gregory Dudek, President IR
Gregory Dudek, Ph.D., is a Professor with and current Director of McGill University's School of Computer Science. He directs the McGill Mobile Robotics Laboratory (MRL) and is a member and former director of the McGill Centre for Intelligent Machines (CIM), a 30 year old inter-disciplinary research facility. He is also an associate member of McGill's Department of Electrical Engineering. In 2002 he was named a William Dawson Scholar, and was made James McGill Chair in 2008. In 2010 he was awarded the Fessenden Professorship in Science Innovation as well as receiving the 2010 J. Armand-Bombardier prize for technological innovation from ACFAS. In the same year, he was also awarded the Canadian Image Processing and Pattern Recognition Award for Research Excellence and also for Service to the Research Community.
Gregory has been on the organizing and/or program committees of Robotics: Systems and Science, the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robotics and Systems (IROS), the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI), Computer and Robot Vision, IEEE International Conference on Mechatronics and International Conference on Hands-on Intelligent Mechatronics and Automation among other bodies. He is president of CIPPRS, the Canadian Information Processing and Pattern Recognition Society, an ICPR national affiliate.
Michael Jenkin
Michael Jenkin, P.Eng., Ph.D., is a Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, and a member of the Centre for Vision Research at York University, Canada. Working in the fields of visually guided autonomous robots and virtual reality, he has published over 150 research papers including co-authoring Computational Principles of Mobile Robotics with Gregory Dudek and a series of co-edited books on human and machine vision with Laurence Harris.
Michael's current research interests include work on sensing strategies for AQUA, an amphibious autonomous robot being developed as a collaboration between Dalhousie University, McGill University and York University; the development of tools and techniques to support crime scene investigation; and the understanding of the perception of self-motion and orientation in unusual environments including microgravity.
Martin Stanley
Martin Stanley, MSc., has over thirty years of business experience founding, investing in, growing and managing businesses. He has extensive expertise in the global technology marketplace, specifically all facets of building and managing technology enterprises including startup, enterprise sales and licensing, OEM channels and retail distribution, product management, product development, web deployment, marketing, operations, financing, acquisitions and divestitures.
As a successful entrepreneur in high and low-tech businesses, he founded and served as CEO of a custom cabinetmaking firm offering high-end custom designed furniture, fittings and fixtures to interior designers, architects, as well as select private and commercial clients. After earning a Masters degree in Computer Science from the University of Toronto, he was a founder and CEO of a software re-engineering spinout company. He guided the company in bringing multiple products and services to market and successfully sold its advanced re-engineering technology to a US-based public company.
Martin has provided advisory, management consulting and/or director services to such companies as Fibonacci Technologies, The Medea Group, Braithwaite Technology Services, various venture capital firms and government high-tech funding agencies. In addition, he has appeared as an expert witness on Forensic Software Analysis in a software piracy case.
Chris Prahacs
Chris Prahacs is a graduate of Mechanical Engineering (Honours program) from McGill University, with specializations in design and technological entrepreneurship. He has been designing advanced electromechanical systems for over a decade, and has been closely involved in the AQUA project and the RHex vehicle family for over nine years. Chris has been responsible for the hardware design of AQUA robots since 2003, implementing several revisions of both the mechanical and electrical systems. In addition, he helped to design and build the "SmartWheeler" robot wheelchair platform.
