Program to drive space telerobotics and telemedicine research

St-Hubert, QC November 3, 2003 The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Systems (IRIS) today announced the creation of a new program that will fund Canadian University space researchers and encourage them to build industry alliances.

The C$350,000 CSA-IRIS cooperation program will provide academic researchers in Canada with one year funding to investigate new research opportunities in advanced intelligent systems technologies in space telerobotics and telemedicine.

“The Canadian Space Agency is proud to support the research and development of emerging space telerobotics and telemedicine technologies through this initiative with IRIS,” says Marc Garneau, president of CSA. “The projects chosen through this program will have the potential to develop into larger targeted research efforts benefiting Canada’s space industry.”

The CSA-IRIS cooperation program is open to all academic researchers in Canada who meet the general eligibility criteria. The call for studies has been issued with a deadline of December 1, and award recipients will be announced in March 2004.