Kitchener startup Clearpath robotics to open Silicon Valley office

Canadian robot manufacturer Clearpath Robotics is rolling into Silicon Valley with a new office.

The Kitchener, Ont.-based company says it plans to open a product design facility in the San Francisco Bay Area before the end of the year.

It would be Clearpath's first office outside the Kitchener-Waterloo community where the startup launched about six years ago.

Clearpath makes driverless vehicles for mining companies, the agriculture industry and the military.

The company was started by four University of Waterloo students who decided to build a robot in their downtime after, they say, they became bored with their internships.

Its flagship Husky model is standing in for the Mars rover in a space simulation project run by the University of Toronto and the Canadian Space Agency.

Clearpath has 80 employees at its assembly and design offices in Kitchener and plans to use the new California office to recruit talent.

The company aims to hire another 40 people before the end of this year.