Robotics experts to assist in tech development.

The Northern Centre for Advanced Technology (NORCAT) is set to lure the largest world supplier of shotcrete applications and the makers of the Canadarm to Sudbury as major anchor tenants for their residency program.

Darryl Lake, NORCAT's president and CEO, intends to finalize agreements shortly with Master Builders Inc. of Cleveland OH and MD Robotics, Canada's leading advanced robotics experts to assist them in developing high-end technology prototypes and new products for the mining and construction industry.

NORCAT needs to think on a global scale, "not just limit ourselves to Northern Ontario,"' says Lake, who modelled the anchor tenant concept from a government subsidized technology park he toured in Oulu, Finland.

"We need to spin off new products to local enterprise that fit our industries here and partner with them for added value," Lake says. The Sudbury non-profit corporation has developed an impressive track record over six years as a local driver for economic development. Situated next door to Cambrian College, one of their partners, Lake estimates about 120 high tech jobs and 18 small companies have been spun off by NORCAT and its partners and clients since 1995. He says this latest endeavor could add 10 to 12 small-business support jobs and 4 to u5 new products.

NORCAT has made its mark as the development and testing department for many small and medium-sized local companies and budding entrepreneurs either strapped for cash or without the needed technical know-how to develop their product.

The major drawing card for their new venture partners is NORCATs underground centre, a retired mine in nearby Onaping Falls used for training and prototype-development testing.

Lake says the idea behind selecting the anchor tenants was to attract large reputable international companies inclined to do a substantial amount of business in the mining industry or in the Sudbury area. It's hoped these additions will develop a batch of products and spring off a number of new and existing Sudbury businesses to support them.

The partnership deal with Master Builders has already received the blessing of Mines and Northern Development Minister Tim Hudak last October at MINExpo International 2000 in Las Vegas.

Master Builders Inc., a Zurich-owned company with international trade connections, already has long-standing ties with NORCAT in developing and testing products such as shotcrete and membrane technologies that could be used in underground mining. Lake says likely project scenarios under discussion involves shipping material from Master Builders' research facility in Cleveland to Sudbury for testing at the underground centre while they maintain an office suite at NOROAT.

Lake was scheduled to meet with Master Builders officials in late January to map out a list of possible projects in the areas of "visionary and robotic systems."

He is also hoping to attract CANMET, the research arm of Natural Resources Canada, into the relationship to expand their local presence beyond their Sudbury mining research facility. "They're also into pastefill and membrane technology and use the chemical additives that Master Builders makes."

The second potential anchor tenant, MacDonald Dettwiler Robotics Ltd, is best known for developing the Canadarm for National Association and Space Administration's (NASA) space shuttle program. Currently the Brampton-based firm is leading a team of Canadian companies which, are designing and building a mobile servicing system, Canada's contribution to the international space station. The company wants to expand their robotics and visioning systems technology into the mining and medical fields.

"With all their expertise, they feel limited in space," says Lake. "They develop first-class robotics technology that's applicable to the trend toward autonomous mining and tele-operated mining."

A third anchor tenant possibility, which Lake considers a "long shot," is the inclusion of NASA and the Los Alamos National Laboratories. The two U.S.-government funded agencies have been working with NORCAT and a consortium of other companies on the development of their Asteroid Prospector Mission.

The plan is to take a diamond drill and shrink it down to fit inside the payload bay of a space vehicle or lander for a rendezvous with a planet or asteroid for deep-space exploration drilling. The objective being to drill for minerals or water ice, a precious commodity that can be used for life support and for chemical rocket fuel. A core sample would be extracted and transferred to the orbiting International Space Station for analysis.

By capitalizing on Sudbury's expertise in hardrock mining, Lake believes NORCAT and its local partners can play a vital role in the eventual establishment of a lunar base since moon rock is quite similar to Sudbury basin rock. "If Sudbury can be even a small part of that kind of operation, it sets up a future that exists beyond this basin."

Besides enhancing NORCAT's reputation internationally, the addition of anchor tenants should provide new revenue streams through rentals from 12 new office suites being built as part of an in-house expansion connected to Cambrian College's $25 million Superbuild project. As a non-profit corporation, Lake says any new revenue streams will be earmarked back into subsidizing NORCAT's prototype-development programs.

NORCAT already has some funding proposals tabled with various levels of government to assist with significantly larger projects in the future.

Developing prototypes by taking existing technology and tweeking it for other uses is a large portion of the type of work NORCAT does. They've assisted in the development and testing of 66 prototypes either in their Barrydowne Road shops or at their underground centre.

"It's a tough job when you don't get any bottom line support," says Lake. "So we have to support ourselves by having lucrative businesses in some areas to support our not-so-lucrative, risk businesses developing new products. That's why we need anchor tenants."

Now entering its sixth year of operation, Lake says NORCAT has exceeded all of their original targets and is now self-sufficient with an operating budget of $2.2 million, relying on revenues from its fee-for-service contracts and some rent from small companies in their residency programs.