Enabling Next-gen Automation with Multimodal Cognitive Perception
The story of AFRoM Automation begins with Project neuroArm in Calgary, one of Canada’s pioneering AI-driven medical projects. The work progressed from research to real-world deployment in a neurosurgical device, validated live in operating rooms, and culminated in commercialization and multiple patented innovations.
Development and satisfactory pre-clinical trials of a teleoperative, neurosurgery-specific robotic system with haptic force feedback marked a major milestone. But the real impact went beyond technical success. Working at the intersection of human hands, intelligent machines, and life-critical environments revealed a deeper challenge: machines were powerful, yet still too hard for humans to truly communicate with.
That realization became the spark. It inspired the core team behind AFRoM to rethink how humans interact with machines, moving beyond code-heavy interfaces toward more intuitive, perceptual, and human-centric systems. The goal was clear: remove unnecessary complexity, give machines the ability to understand context, vision, and intent, and ultimately empower end users to do more with technology, not fight against it.
That philosophy continues to shape everything AFRoM builds today.
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The venture’s core team realized that if we want people to transition into the jobs of the future, jobs that require supervising automation rather than fearing it, we couldn’t expect people to change. The machines had to change.
This idea traveled with them to San Francisco in 2022, where the startup grew slightly, soaking up the innovative energy of the Bay Area. But the vision needed a home base to truly launch. So, in May 2023, AFRoM Automation was formally registered in Ontario, Canada.
The mission was simple but radical: Make friends out of humans and machines.
Traditional actuators are dumb muscles; they just move where they are told. AFRoM imagined something different. What if the actuator could see? What if it could listen to you, understand your native language, and reason through a problem?
By integrating real-time machine vision, LLM (Large Language Model) APIs, and cognitive reasoning directly into the hardware, AFRoM began building automation that acts less like a cold tool and more like a helpful companion.
The goal isn’t to build robots for scientists. It is to build automation intuitive enough that your grandma could work with it. Whether in medical fields, smart cities, retail, or industrial floors, AFRoM is building a future where you don’t need a PhD to work with a robot, you just need to say hello.
The venture’s core team realized that if we want people to transition into the jobs of the future, jobs that require supervising automation rather than fearing it, we couldn’t expect people to change. The machines had to change.
This idea traveled with them to San Francisco in 2022, where the startup grew slightly, soaking up the innovative energy of the Bay Area. But the vision needed a home base to truly launch. So, in May 2023, AFRoM Automation was formally registered in Ontario, Canada.
The mission was simple but radical: Make friends out of humans and machines.
Traditional actuators are dumb muscles; they just move where they are told. AFRoM imagined something different. What if the actuator could see? What if it could listen to you, understand your native language, and reason through a problem?
By integrating real-time machine vision, LLM (Large Language Model) APIs, and cognitive reasoning directly into the hardware, AFRoM began building automation that acts less like a cold tool and more like a helpful companion.
The goal isn’t to build robots for scientists. It is to build automation intuitive enough that your grandma could work with it. Whether in medical fields, smart cities, retail, or industrial floors, AFRoM is building a future where you don’t need a PhD to work with a robot, you just need to say hello.
We believe traditional automation is rigid and hard to integrate. AFRoM Automation is breaking that mold. We don’t just build machines that move; we use advanced AI to build machines that see, listen, and understand. Let us show you how intuitive automation can be.
We believe traditional automation is rigid and hard to integrate. AFRoM Automation is breaking that mold. We don’t just build machines that move; we use advanced AI to build machines that see, listen, and understand. Let us show you how intuitive automation can be.
Our CEO is a serial entrepreneur who carries a backpack full of lessons learned across Middle East, South Korea, Canada and California—USA. He wasn’t new to the game; in fact, this was startup number four. He had one tough failure under his belt (the kind that teaches you resilience) and one successful exit (the kind that proves you know what you’re doing).
Before AFRoM, he was the CTO of OrbSurgical Ltd in Calgary, a company that wasn’t just good, it was officially recognized as one of the best. He helped them into the top 100 med-tech companies and stood proud when they received the prestigious award for Best Company in Western Canada from the Governor General in 2018.
He looked around the industrial and tech landscape and realized something unsettling: Humanity and Automation were not getting along.
He crunched the numbers and found that only about 0.2% of people actually understand physical automation, the robotics, the control systems, the AI. That meant the other 99.8% were being left behind, expected to somehow learn advanced mechatronics, deep learning, or "vibe coding" just to keep up. It wasn’t practical, it wasn’t realistic, and frankly, it was stressful.
AFRoM's VLA approach addresses a real problem: the gap between robot capabilities and clinical adoption. The regulatory challenge isn't insurmountable - FDA's PCCP framework can handle adaptive AI - but the architecture has to limit 'no-code' flexibility to pre-validated task spaces. For rehab and elder care under IEC 80601-2-78, this could work well. ➡️ 💲 🙋
Many of us worry that AI and robots may take our jobs one day. Almost everyone feels this fear. But instead of fighting the future, we can learn how to grow with it. The team at AFROM Automation believes robots should support people, not replace them. Humans stays in control, skills are shared, and jobs are strengthened. This technology is built to be practical, secure, and ready for real workplaces, so visitors can trust that AFROM delivers not just ideas, but real solutions that work.
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