A voice-controlled vehicle. A shape-shifting probe designed to squeeze inside aircraft. A blood-suctioning surgical assistant.
These were just some of the innovations on display at the recent Toronto Robotics Conference , where more than 300 researchers, students and industry partners gathered at the University of Toronto Mississauga to explore the future of intelligent machines.
Co-hosted by U of T Mississauga and the U of T Robotics Institute , an institutional strategic initiative , the two-day event featured talks, lab tours and hands-on demos highlighting how robotics is being applied to solve complex problems from the operating room to the far reaches of space.
That breadth of impact has made robotics a key research focus at the university, bringing together experts across disciplines to rethink how machines interact with and shape the world around us, said Alexandra Gillespie, U of T vice-president and principal of U of T Mississauga.
"This is a great opportunity for us at UTM to host this conference to discover, along with you, what's possible when we bring the most important fields for our future together," Gillespie said.
She noted that robotics and its related fields are an area of strength at U of T Mississauga, citing significant growth in computer science enrolments, the launch of new co-op programs and enhanced facilities like the Undergraduate Robotics Teaching Lab .
"Robotics researchers at UTM are tackling grand challenges in sectors like health care, manufacturing, sustainability and autonomous driving," said Tim Barfoot, director of the U of T Robotics Institute. "Their work reflects the strength of our tri-campus collaborations to advance robotics solutions, and I'm grateful to UTM for helping us showcase that collective impact."
Among the featured speakers were Mississauga Centre MP Fares Al Soud, researchers from the University of Victoria and the University of California, San Diego, and tech leaders from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), AEye and Magna International.
But the main draw for many attendees was the chance to see the robots in action. Here are some of the standout technologies:
Medical robots
The Medical Computer Vision and Robotics Lab offered a glimpse into what the future of medicine might look like - one where a surgeon's hands are supported by machines learning how humans operate.
Led by Lueder Kahrs, assistant professor of mathematical and computational sciences at U of T Mississauga, the lab develops computer vision and robotics systems designed to assist with, and ultimately perform, medical procedures. The goal, he said, is to push past the limits of human-led care to deliver faster, safer and more accessible treatment.
Visitors watched surgical robots practice wielding metal-tipped arms with the guidance of cameras. The machines learn through trial and error, using visual feedback to refine their movements over time.
Many of the lab's experimental tools are designed for procedures like endoscopies and laparoscopies, where even a single millimetre can make a difference. Eventually, Kahrs said, these tools could offer more consistent and controlled treatment than human hands alone.
PhD student JinJie Sun demonstrated an automated blood-suction system that, in trials, cleared nearly all fluids - a routine but time-consuming part of many surgeries.
Automating tasks like this could free up health providers for more complex care, improve patient outcomes and expand access to treatment in under-resourced or remote areas, said Kahrs, who co-chaired the conference alongside Steven Waslander, a professor at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS).
As Kahrs sees it, it's only a matter of time before robot-aided surgery becomes standard practice.
"It's very similar to what you are seeing in the automotive field, where we are already used to things like parking assist," he said. "Medical robotics will be like that in a few years."
Inspired by nature
In the Continuum Robotics Lab , robots don't clank and clang - they twist like elephant trunks, coil like tentacles and slither like snakes.
Director Jessica Burgner-Kahrs is leading the lab's efforts to build a new breed of bot that borrows its moves from biology. Instead of rigid joints and hard metal, continuum robots are soft, flexible and able to bend at any point along their length.
This freedom of motion allows them to navigate spaces too tight, delicate or complex for hard-edged machines or human hands - from the winding surgical path to the brain to the cramped compartments of an engine.
"As soon as you need to sneak into somewhere which is really cluttered, you need a tool that can snake through and turn corners," said Burgner-Kahrs, a professor of mathematical and computational sciences at U of T Mississauga. "And that's our whole inspiration."
Attendees witnessed the menagerie of machines in action during a lab tour.
Robotics engineer Puspita Triana Dewi showed a robot built from 3D-printed, stackable segments that link together to form a flexible spine. Designed to inspect the narrow interior of an aircraft wing, the bot can be assembled like Lego blocks to match the shape and length of the space.
Graduate student Mika Nogami invited visitors to try a handheld, tendon-driven device that mimics the smooth motion of an elephant trunk using spooled threads instead of motors.
"When you think about evolution, it's optimizing over years and years and years," said Nogami. "So it makes a lot of sense to design robots that borrow from that."
Learning to drive
"Hey robot, go to the parking lot."
With that simple command, a four-wheeled rover hums to life and rolls to its destination.
Outside the Maanjiwe nendamowinan building at U of T Mississauga, Aoran Jiao let conference-goers experience just how easy it is to drive a robot with your voice.
A graduate student at UTIAS, Jiao explained that the field robot uses a system called "chat, teach and repeat."
The process starts with the "teach" phase: Jiao manually drives the robot through an environment while its sensors - including cameras, radar, GPS and LiDAR - generate a detailed 3D map. In the "repeat" phase, the robot uses the map to figure out where it is and follow the path on its own, even if things around it have changed. Then comes the "chat" part: once it's learned the route, the robot listens for voice commands and goes to preset locations such as its "home" base at the demo site.
Mounted on a Clearpath Warthog ATV base built for rugged terrain, the technology could have applications in fields ranging from agriculture to space exploration, said Jiao, who is researching off-road navigation in the Autonomous Space Robotics Lab .
"It's very nice that the [Robotics] Institute gathers all the robotics researchers together so we can exchange ideas, collaborate on research and build on each other's projects," he said. "Also, we can showcase these demos to everyone."
