A team of Waterloo Engineering researchers attended the finals of the prestigious KUKA Innovation Award competition. Team Collaborative Deliciousness, led by Dr. Yue Hu, created the IISYest Baker, a robotic solution that enables human-robot interaction to create artisanal-grade pastries.
KUKA, an international leader in robot-based automation, launched the award in 2014 with the goal of accelerating the pace of automation innovation. The theme of the 2024 competition was “Robots for the People” , with teams encouraged to develop applications for KUKA’s iiQKA operating system and the lightweight robot LBR iisy.
In addition to Hu, Team Collaborative Deliciousness includes Dr. Francisco Javier Andrade Chavez (post-doctoral researcher Human-Centered Robotics Lab), Jeffrey Lee (MASc candidate, mechatronics), Mennatallah Rihan and Cheng Tang (BASc candidate, computer engineering). The team’s project aims to revolutionize the baking of artisanal grade pastries by automating thousands of repetitive tasks while maintaining efficiency and precision.
Team Collaborative Deliciousness were one of three teams to be invited to the award finals at Hannover Messe, one of the world's largest industrial trade fairs. Hu, Lee and Tang presented their application to an international panel of judges. Although they did not win the overall competition, as one of three finalists in a very competitive field they returned home with a Finalists Cup award.
Go to Team shines in prestigious international competition for the full story.
Thursday, May 9, 2024