Department news

University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) news

UTIAS Invaded by Crawling, Swimming, Flying Robots!

Robots of all shapes and sizes crawled, swam and flew at U of T’s Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) and York University recently as the NSERC Canadian Field Robotics Network (NCFRN) field trials came to town. The field trials took place from April 17–23 and featured talks and presentations, workshops, networking events, and opportunities for […]

Communitech and UTIAS: Tapping the Potential of Space

The first things you notice upon entry to the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) Space Flight Laboratory are the bright flecks twinkling against the inky blackness – in the granite floors, not the sky. This is, after all, an Earth-bound facility, though its work is all about space. It is here that […]

Robots Help Celebrate the Institute for Robotics & Mechatronics

The appetizers may have been organic, but the server was mechanical at a reception held April 15 to celebrate the University of Toronto Engineering’s Institute for Robotics & Mechatronics. The reception was held to celebrate the Institute, which was established in 2010 to bring focus on research and education in the fields of robotics and […]

National Engineering Month 2013

National Engineering Month (NEM) is the biggest national celebration of engineering and technology. Across Canada, engineering schools and volunteers stage more than 500 events and activities to bring more awareness to the exciting and rewarding world of engineering. This year’s NEM theme is Design the Future – something U of T Engineering certainly knows a […]

No Robots? No Problem!

When UTIAS Professor Reza Emami began teaching a new AER525 Robotics course recently, he had a problem: No robots. At first, Emami and his students had to make do with rudimentary simulations. Eventually he managed to procure a few tabletop robots. However, these were too simple to allow him to demonstrate all aspects of industrial robotics. But […]

UTIAS Shines BRITE With World’s Smallest Space Telescopes

A pair of space telescope satellites, designed by U of T Engineering’s Space Flight Laboratory (SFL), are now circling the Earth, prepared to find and study the brightest stars in the sky. Measuring only 20 centimetres a side, and weighing less than seven kilograms, the nano-satellites are the smallest astronomical satellites ever built. They were […]

UTIAS Graduate Talks Women in Engineering to ‘TEDxYouth@Toronto’

Women need to embrace curiosity and risk taking if they want to excel in science and engineering, says U of T Engineering alumna Natalie Panek (AeroE MASc 0T9). Panek, a systems engineer at MDA Space Missions, emphasized her desire to see more young women become scientists and engineers in a recent TEDxYouth@Toronto talk. “For me, […]

David Zingg receives the 2012 McCurdy Award from CASI

Professor David Zingg (UTIAS) has been named the 2012 recipient of the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute (CASI) McCurdy Award. One of CASI’s most prestigious awards, the McCurdy Award is presented for outstanding achievement in the science and creative aspects of engineering relating to aeronautics and space research. The award commemorates the many contributions made by U […]

International Aviation Body Confirms Human-powered Ornithopter Achievement

An historic human-powered ornithopter flight by the Toronto-based Snowbird in 2010 has been certified as a world record first by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI). The Snowbird is a human-powered flapping wing aircraft that was designed and built by and Todd Reichert and Cameron Robertson of AeroVelo, while they were University of Toronto Engineering graduate students at the Institute for Aerospace […]