When You Set a Clear Goal, Amazing Things Can Happen

What did you want to be when you grew up? Boisbriand, Que., native Charles Deguire had his answer before he had even turned 10. In his youth, Deguire watched three of his uncles live with muscular dystrophy, and he could plainly see the tools at their disposal could use improvement. He had a clear goal from early on. “I decided to become an engineer," says Deguire, “because I wanted to apply technology to help people."

In school, the gap between what was possible and what was available became all the more apparent to Deguire: “During my engineering degree, we were working on robotics projects, sending robots to space," says Deguire. “Yet, my uncles didn't have a viable option to help them drink a glass of water." Teaming up with a fellow student, Louis-Joseph L'Ecuyer, Deguire took on the challenge. “We said, we're pretty sure we can apply robotics to help people in wheelchairs much better than anything that has been done up to now," he recalls. In a single weekend, the pair mocked up an assistive arm that looked viable. “Once we realized that we could do it, there was no reason not to jump in."

And jump in they did. “At first we were still students, working 80 hours per week in the university basement to just make a prototype," says Deguire. Four years of toiling got their assistive arm, JACO, to end-user state, but that was the just beginning. Next came building a business, another challenge the partners took head on. “When we had to learn about electrical engineering or robotics," says Deguire, “we learned it with a systematic approach and by working with experts. We then did the same thing with market development, international business development and contract negotiation."

Today, the duo's award-winning company, Kinova, has clients all over the world in multiple industries, and is among Canada's fastest growing businesses. Still Deguire and L'Ecuyer continue pushing forward. “We are immersed in the robotics world, but we force ourselves out of it often," says Deguire. This is how the duo identifies new opportunities to apply robotics to aid humans, like assisting in surgery or toxic material management. For Deguire and L'Ecuyer, the question is always the same: “How can we apply robotics to make an impact? That's what drives us."