Funding for a robotic fabrication infrastructure @LAIR

The Canadian Foundation for Innovation announced the results for the John-R. Evans Leaders Fund competition. At University of Montréal 11 projects were chosen for funding and among them was the robotic fabrication infrastructure of LAIR the Laboratory for Architecture Informatics and Robotics. The project entitled “Digital fabrication for environmentally conscious architectural structures” submitted by Andrei Nejur, the director of LAIR, received 516 000$ for the creation of a robotic fabrication facility at the Faculty of Environmental Design. The robotic lab expected to be functional in Spring 2023 will contain two ABB IRB 4600 robotic arms, one ABB IRBP A250 two axis positioner and several end-effectors for architectural fabrication.

The investment in LAIR through the John-R. Evans Fund programme is supported by the Canadian Federal Government (40%) through the Canadian Foundation for Innovation , by the Québec Provincial Government (40%) and by University of Montréal (20%)

This infrastructure funding together with the operational funding from NSERC and FRQNT will provide LAIR with the required capacity to tackle important research questions related to digital fabrication, architectural prototyping, and the circular economy.