Making welding robots more adaptable

CEO and co-founder Matt Khoshdarregi was an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. when he founded the Intelligent Digital Manufacturing Laboratory, where he and his team explored how AI and 3D vision could make manufacturing systems more intelligent and adaptable.

Through the lab, Khoshdarregi worked closely with Manitoba manufacturers. Again and again, he heard that companies wanted to automate more of their labour-intensive and hazardous processes, but conventional robots required too much programming and could not easily adapt to variations in production.

That feedback helped shape the lab’s research and showed Khoshdarregi there was a need for a commercial solution. He later  co-founded TetraGen with Michael Newman and Bhavin Dharia and develop technology aimed at solving that problem. 

His time at UM also gave TetraGen an important starting point. Khoshdarregi had built relationships with local manufacturers through the university, so the company already had connections to the industry it wanted to serve. TetraGen also had access to UM equipment for some early testing, and the university provided support during the initial stages of a patent filing.

TetraGen’s systems are now being used by manufacturers in Manitoba, bringing the technology from early research and testing onto factory floors.

The company recently raised $1.8 million in seed financing to expand across North America and grow its team. TetraGen is now focused on bringing the technology to more manufacturers and building on the foothold it has established in Manitoba.