Independent Robotics Secures $2.28M Federal Contract to Bring Conversational AI to the Field

Independent Robotics Inc., a Canadian technology company specializing in advanced artificial intelligence, has been awarded a $2.28 million contract by the Government of Canada. The contract will support operational testing of IMPAC, Independent Robotics’ natural-language command and control software for autonomous robots (uncrewed systems). Funded through the Innovative Solutions Canada (ISC) program, this contract bridges the gap between laboratory research and real-world application. 

IMPAC enables human operators to interact with complex robotic systems through natural, conversational language rather than complicated instructions or computer code, keeping multi-robot operations synchronized and mission aligned. By turning natural language commands into executable plans across multi-agent and multi-domain environments, IMPAC reduces cognitive load and acts as a force multiplier for existing teams. 

Administered by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), this contract secures the delivery of configured autonomous marine vehicles and field-ready IMPAC software licenses to Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) for active field testing at DRDC Atlantic Research Centre in the Halifax region. IMPAC is designed to process artificial intelligence locally on the robot itself, allowing it to function in crucial situations requiring remote access or secure environments where cloud connectivity is unavailable or compromised. 

"This federal contract is a vote of confidence in Canadian innovation," said Julian Ware, CEO of Independent Robotics. "The ISC program allows homegrown companies like ours to work directly with federal partners, rapidly validating technologies that have massive commercial and operational potential globally". 

The year-long project, launched in February 2026,primarily focuses on defence applications, but the underlying technology holds potential for broad civilian applications, including infrastructure inspection, search and rescue, and environmental monitoring.