This video features Avidbots, a Kitchener-based robotics firm and the maker of Neo, the first fully autonomous floor-scrubbing robot for large commercial environments, such as airports, universities, hospitals and malls.

In 2014, Pablo Molina (co-founder and CTO) partnered with his University of Waterloo Mechatronics engineering classmate, Faizan Sheikh (co-founder and CEO), to create a robotics company with the goal of expanding human potential and enabling people to do higher value tasks. Their signature product, Neo uses AI to constantly learn from its environment. Unlike traditional floor-scrubbing machines that follow a teach/repeat methodology, Neo dynamically plans how to clean the floor and avoid obstacles.

Now with 130-plus employees, Avidbots produces the Neo at its 40,000-square-foot facility and has sales in more than 10 countries, including Canada, the U.S., France, Singapore, Japan, Norway and Israel. Watch their journey here.

Video by Sara Jalali.

More on Avidbots.

Article by Craig Daniels.

We wish to thank everyone who supported the production of this video.