��ݮ��Ƶ News - Human Technology Interaction

Add complementary content:

University of ��ݮ��Ƶ receives funding for dementia search-and-rescue initiative

Eugenia Xenos Anderson — Wed, 29 Jun 2022 13:08:19 +0000

Delays in finding people with dementia who go missing can result in tragic outcomes

Sixty percent of people living with dementia go missing at least once, and among them, some will get lost repeatedly. In Indigenous communities, the rates of dementia are disproportionately higher than in the general Canadian population.

That is why the federal government has announced $2.1 million in funding over three years for a search-and-rescue project led by Lili Liu, ��ݮ��Ƶ public health researcher and Dean of the Faculty of Health. Called Managing Risks of Going Missing among Persons Living with Dementia by Building Capacities of SAR Personnel, First Responders and Communities, the project will build capacity within the search-and-rescue community and with care partners to work with this population, build partnerships and increase coordination. It builds on the research Liu’s team has conducted over the past since 2015 through the AGE-WELL Network of Centres of Excellence program.

“The increasing number of Canadians living with dementia at risk of going missing is a public health concern,” said Liu. “We will build on existing expertise and partnerships to scale up strategies that enhance training, improve data collection, coordinate community resources and prevent repeat missing incidents.”

Liu noted that if a missing person with Alzheimer’s disease is not found within 24 hours, there is a 50 per cent chance that they will be found injured or dead from hypothermia, dehydration or drowning, making any search an emergency.

“Also, there is a myth that persons with dementia go missing only from their homes and that they are safe if secured in a monitored environment like a care facility,” Liu said. “But fewer than half of missing incidents occur at home, with 20 per cent from care facilities, 11 per cent from hospitals, and 22 per cent from the street, open or other spaces. Indigenous populations are under- or not represented in these statistics.”

In fact, much of the available data on missing persons with dementia is from the United States, so the project will involve data collection approaches to monitor the issue in Canada where climate, geography, funding and culture differ.

Minister of Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair was on campus to talk about the issue and the Search and Rescue New Initiatives Fund, which is designed to enhance the effectiveness, efficiency, economy and innovation of search and rescue in Canada.

“Our mandate is to keep Canadians safe from a range of risks,” Blair said. “Our population is aging and along with it, the number of people who go missing due to dementia is increasing. Our partnership with the University of ��ݮ��Ƶ through the Search and Rescue New Initiatives Fund is a significant step in helping these vulnerable members of our communities get to safety."

Among other initiatives, the project’s researchers will collaborate with partners to implement and evaluate dementia-friendly resources for first responders in six provinces beyond Ontario, including two Indigenous communities (Peguis First Nation in Manitoba and Kahnawá:ke Mohawk Territory in Quebec), to collect data to assess the issue in Canada, and to create a guideline to help prevent reoccurrence of missing person incidents.

Health

Community

AI platform prepares students for the future of work

Melanie Scott — Mon, 28 Feb 2022 19:06:13 +0000

1Mentor partners with higher education institutions to navigate a rapidly changing job market

Esteban Veintimilla (BMath ’18)
Graduate student, Faculty of Engineering
> Co-founder and CEO, 1Mentor
> Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Business

Advancing technologies, rapidly changing industries and the need for skill agility and transferability have made it challenging to continuously equip post-secondary students with the skills, knowledge and tools required by industry. 1Mentor, a Velocity startup company, is tackling the problem by building AI to understand industry's ever-changing requirements and empower students for success in their future careers.

“The goal behind 1Mentor is to help students understand what they need to land their first work experiences,” says Esteban Veintimilla (BMath ’18), CEO and co-founder of the company.

“Our platform uses AI to analyze higher-ed data and more than 100 million job postings. It finds and converts insights into information that students need to get hired.”

The idea behind the company began when Veintimilla, a current Master of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology student, was working with students in the University of ��ݮ��Ƶ’s Bridging Entrepreneurs to Students (BETS) program. While helping students with work placements, he learned that it was difficult to equip them with the right skills, tools and knowledge required by industry. After analyzing seven years’ worth of data, Veintimilla realized that students needed personalized training to be ready for job placements. Through various efforts, he tripled the number of students hired in the BETS program and began to think about what it would be like to provide personalized upskilling recommendations at a much larger scale.

With support and investment from the University’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, as well as the ability to leverage guidance from a world-leading institution in co-operative education, 1Mentor, founded by Veintimilla and co-founders Martin Serrano (COO) and Diego Robles (CTO), has been able to grow rapidly in a short period of time.

“1Mentor has a talented and driven set of founders that understand the pressures universities and students face in keeping up with the changing work-talent landscape,” says Mila Banerjee a business advisor at Velocity. “Their platform empowers both universities and students to take action to fix any skill gap and be ready for the exciting world of work. It has been a treat to support them as they went from conception to making an impact with their pilot universities.”

The company is currently working with pioneering universities in the U.S. and Canada, including the University of ��ݮ��Ƶ. The participating universities are keen to innovate their approaches and practices to prepare students for the future of work. The platform provides insights that are specific to each institution.

“��ݮ��Ƶ allowed me the opportunity to combine my interests in math and entrepreneurship. That’s what drew me here, but the vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem, as well as the mentorship and experiential learning opportunities I’ve had through the Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Business and Velocity, have pushed me beyond what I could have imagined.”

Veintimilla strongly believes that work-integrated learning prepares students for the workforce. Before founding 1Mentor, he explored bringing co-op models to education institutions in Latin America, where he says students don’t have the same opportunities for work-integrated learning. 1Mentor aims to partner with higher education institutions around the globe to understand how their students are performing against industry requirements, while also allowing students visibility into the top skills, jobs and employers in their areas of study and interest.

When asked what the future holds for 1Mentor, Veintimilla says, "We want to catalyze academia's evolution to a place where post-secondary education and career services are in-sync with industry. We want to be the go-to place for students and alumni looking to progress their careers, creating space for them to complement their education with skill-based courses that prepare them for jobs they are passionate about."

Talent done differently

A talent evolution is underway, and the effects are being felt in every sector. ��ݮ��Ƶ’s robust talent ecosystem is equipped to respond — from world-leading co-operative education programs to research and innovations that drive real-world change. Learn how your organization can benefit.

Co-op and Experiential Education

Math

Entrepreneurship

A new chapter in manufacturing

Stephanie Longeway — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 15:18:39 +0000

��ݮ��Ƶ lab helps fill industry demand for experts in additive manufacturing

Mihaela Vlasea
Professor, Faculty of Engineering
>Research Co-Director, Multi-Scale Additive Manufacturing Lab

In recent years, factories have been steadily modernizing their facilities with more automation and manufacturing capabilities. With faster and better additive manufacturing solutions that can custom-make durable parts in one piece without the expense of the tooling, a new and exciting chapter in digital manufacturing has begun. This shift has attracted a new generation of engineers back to the shop floor.

“Additive manufacturing is reshaping the way manufacturing looks,” says Mihaela Vlasea, a professor in mechanical and mechatronics engineering and associate director at the Multi-Scale Additive Manufacturing (MSAM) lab at the University of ��ݮ��Ƶ. “It's bringing more excitement back into manufacturing, especially for this young generation of students who live in the digital space.”

The MSAM lab is Canada’s largest academic-based research and development facility in metal additive manufacturing. It has state-of-the-art machinery and custom 3D printers that work with composites such as graphene, polymers and ceramics. The lab offers research programs and courses in support of graduate programs and runs regular workshops benefiting professionals working across industry sectors.

“There is a huge need for people with skills in additive manufacturing processes, material science, design for additive manufacturing, data science and process optimization,” Vlasea says. “We are finding that we can barely hold on to our students as they finish their degrees. Sometimes they leave for industry and come back to finish their degrees part-time.”

Filling a talent gap

Additive manufacturing is a high-tech skill. But as more companies are scaling up production to fabricate parts and services for their customer base, finding experts with this skillset is not easy. People tend to think of metal additive manufacturing as a simple matter of pushing a button to have a perfect part pop out, but setting up a successful print requires multidisciplinary skillsets. “It takes a lot of effort to be able to define all of the little levers in the process to generate quality parts, but once you have your designs and process parameters optimized, which is where skilled workforce comes in, production is good to go,” Vlasea says.

Additive manufacturing requires multidisciplinary skills and integrates everything from materials science and product design to robotics and computational data analytics, she says. Even areas such as machine learning and computer vision are part of it.

Vlasea is part of the MSAM team that includes research director Ehsan Toyserkani. The lab has a complement of more than 65 people including faculty, postdoctoral fellows and research associates, technicians, graduate and undergraduate students. The lab has graduated more than 57 MASc and PhD students from their programs and has employed 66 co-op students.

One of Vlasea’s current students, Roman Boychuk (‘BASc), is pursuing his master’s in mechanical engineering with a focus on simulating and predicting sintering behavior in binder-jet additive manufacturing. It is a cost-effective method of 3D printing that allows for fabricating parts out of powder media. Boychuk was drawn to this field in high school when he acquired a plastic 3D printer and began making protypes and parts for his drone. His hobby developed into a realistic career path through his undergrad experiences at ��ݮ��Ƶ.

“My co-op terms in manufacturing and the courses I took in materials, solid mechanics and automation furthered my interest in metal additive manufacturing, and perfectly coincided with learning about the MSAM Lab at ��ݮ��Ƶ,” Boychuk says. “My interest in additive manufacturing as a powerful enabling tool still remains and is one of my continuing motivations for helping to make additive manufacturing more accurate and affordable.”

Boychuk says that additive manufacturing is an exciting space to work in right now because it is such a powerful tool with potential to solve existing problems and opportunity for new discoveries. “I hope to follow up my academic work with experience in industry, helping to develop these tools and apply them to solve engineering challenges in a fast-paced environment.”

Talent done differently

Neurotech for intuitive human-machine interactions and faster gaming

Victoria Lumax — Mon, 10 Jan 2022 05:00:00 +0000

��ݮ��Ƶ’s Engineering Bionics Lab is a hub of innovation for interfaces and technologies that augment human capabilities

Ning Jiang
Professor, Faculty of Engineering
> Director, ��ݮ��Ƶ Engineering Bionics Lab
> Co-founder and CSO, Brink Bionics

Ning Jiang has an early memory of visiting the hospital where his parents worked in China and seeing someone walking with the aid of a prosthetic. This experience and others he had as the son of two physicians, led Jiang to begin thinking how technology could be used for good. A professor in the Department of Systems Design Engineering, Jiang is fascinated with devices and technology that can enhance human health and the way people experience the world around them.

Jiang is also the founder and director of the ��ݮ��Ƶ Engineering Bionics Lab, where new interfaces and technologies that augment human capabilities are designed and tested.

“My goal is to develop technologies that are easier to use and more accessible, technologies that will allow people to better interact with the external world, especially when there is a medical need but also for productivity and entertainment purposes.”

Advancing technology at the bionics lab

Operating since 2015, research at the ��ݮ��Ƶ Engineering Bionics Lab has focused mainly on building assistive and rehabilitation devices for persons with disabilities, such as upper-limb prosthetics or brain-controlled devices that aid stroke victims’ recovery. Research is also being done in other areas, such as health monitoring, a field of study in which devices provide feedback and data on human cardiac and cognitive stress levels and other measurements.

The bionics lab researches non-invasive neuro-signals that can enhance the performance of human-machine interactions. During these interactions, a brain-computer interface (BCI) extracts signals from the brain and immediately communicates to the technology so that it behaves exactly as the user intended. For example, a stroke patient or someone with spinal cord injuries may not be able to move their hands or legs. But the interface translates signals from the patient’s brain into a machine such as an exoskeleton, allowing the patient’s hands or legs to move.

Another example is patients with amputations. Using EMG signals from contracting muscles, the technology decodes the patient’s intention, such as moving a finger, and transmits the results to the prosthetic hand, which then moves exactly as the patient intended. The advantage of using these types of signals is that the technology can easily interpret human intentions. Prosthetics of this type are smoother and more intuitive for patients than typical prosthetics, which only use one set of muscles and require the patient to learn to control those muscles independently.

An entrepreneurial endeavour

The development of this neurotechnology led to the founding of the first company out of the Engineering Bionics Lab in 2018. Brink Bionics was founded by Ning Jiang, along with co-researchers Jiayuan He and Erik Lloyd (MASc ’19). It began as a bionic arm company, winning the Velocity Fund Pitch Competition, and has leveraged entrepreneurial support offered by the Velocity incubator. The company has since pivoted to use neurotechnology for gaming, filling a gap in the market left by conventional gaming controllers. Their commercial product, the Impulse Neurocontroller, allows for faster reaction time. The device, which is worn like a glove, uses sensors to interpret the movement intentions of the player before they move, allowing for reaction time that is up to 80 milliseconds faster than mouse-click actions. This increased reaction time provides significant advantages for gamers.

"During my time in the Engineering Bionics Lab, I was encouraged to pursue neurotechnology research that had the potential to impact lives beyond the conventional goals of scientific publications,” says Lloyd, CEO of Brink Bionics.

“Because of this entrepreneurial attitude, as well as the engineering resources and support made available by the University of ��ݮ��Ƶ, we founded Brink Bionics. To date, we have raised close to $500,000 in funding from pitch competitions and venture capital, and launched our first neurotechnology product. We are now in another VC fundraising round to build out the next version of our gaming gear for neuro-enhancement.

“The company continues to be a means for our team to explore big ideas, as we are developing both implanted and wearable neural interface technologies that will augment the way we interface with devices in every aspect of our lives."

Researcher and Brink Bionics co-founder and CTO, Jiayuan He holds a smart prosthetic prototype, designed in the Engineering Bionics Lab.

The future of bionics

Jiang says filling medical and health-care needs is still the main direction for the ��ݮ��Ƶ Engineering Bionics Lab, which partners with Grand River Hospital, McMaster University and the University of Toronto to conduct trials with patients.

Jiang remembers watching Robocop when he was a kid, a science fiction movie that left questions in his mind about the way technology can be used as a force for good or evil. He believes we will see a shift in the next few years in which bionics becomes a regular part of our lives and people increasingly incorporate biotechnologies into their bodies to enhance capabilities.

“Right now, things like electronic implants are more in the fringe or subculture of society,” he says. But humans will be integrating more technology and bio-machinery to enhance their functions in the near future. There is a lot of research happening in these areas and advances are being made at a fast pace.”

Be in the know

Get updates on the latest research and innovation at the University of ��ݮ��Ƶ. From breakthroughs in quantum technology and cybersecurity to leading-edge climate research and innovations in health care, you’ll get to know some of ��ݮ��Ƶ’s most inspiring minds.

Artificial Intelligence with human understanding

Victoria Lumax — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 05:00:00 +0000

To deliver on promised benefits, AI must be built to co-operate

Kate Larson
Professor, Faculty of Math
Cheriton School of Computer Science
> University Research Chair

Whether it’s a digital assistant, like Siri, predictive text, social media or a vehicle with autonomous functions, many of us use or rely on some form of Artificial Intelligence (AI) daily.

Within the next few years, AI systems will become even more complex in their interactions with people and other AI agents. We’ll see evidence of this in fields such as consumer and financial markets, law, cybersecurity and health care. Kate Larson, a professor in the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science, and her colleagues have argued that if AI does not engage well with humans, it could fail to deliver benefits. “There are ongoing issues of ethics, regulation and privacy,” she says. “If we don’t design AI systems people can trust, there will be a backlash.”

Larson conducts research on Multiagent Systems — AI systems that interact with one another — and recently collaborated on a research paper discussing the need for co-operative AI.

Co-operative AI refers to the ability of AI agents to work alongside or with other AI agents or people. It can also refer to AI that is used to better support teamwork and collaboration.

A need for AI with social understanding

Although it is used by billions of people daily, AI has limited understanding when it comes to interacting with humans and other agents. Early multi-agent research focused on AI that learns to beat an opponent — for example in two-player zero-sum games such as chess or Go. “This is a start, but it is not how the world works,” Larson says. “We need to look at how to change the questions and approaches we are taking when designing AI, so that we have a stronger focus on co-operative intelligence.”

Already, there is a need for AI that has social understanding and can interact with others. Autonomous vehicles, for example, are not driving in isolation. They’re driving alongside pedestrians, cyclists and other vehicles, and have human operators. We train them through simulations to show them the correct way of behaving to keep people safe.

“We’re seeing some unintended consequences of AI that doesn’t have social understanding,” Larson says, referencing social media algorithms that have contributed to the spread of misinformation. “Algorithms like these are meant to improve user engagement, but this may not be the metric we want to focus on. If we began AI design by thinking about cooperation and social factors, we might be able to better think through potential ramifications, rather than trying to reverse or fix negative societal or human impact later.”

AI research at ��ݮ��Ƶ

Larson, who is a University Research Chair and was also appointed a Pasupalak AI Fellow, has always been interested in group dynamics and organizing groups of people to complete projects or take meaningful action. She is currently collaborating with other researchers on a climate change project that uses AI to predict wildfires and support their reduction and control.

She also supervises students who are interested in building and researching teams of AI agents and studying how they can learn to cooperate within their team, as well as students who look at using ideas from machine learning to learn better ways of voting.

��ݮ��Ƶ has a multitude of AI researchers, groups and initiatives, including the ��ݮ��Ƶ Artificial Intelligence Institute and the Artificial Intelligence Group. Larson is a member of both groups and believes there are many opportunities available on campus for further exploration of co-operative AI and interdisciplinary collaboration on the topic.

The future of co-operative AI

“There has been a paradigm shift in AI in the last decade,” Larson says. “AI has moved from research and labs and has become integrated into many facets of our society.”

Larson and her colleagues believe that co-operative AI is unlikely to emerge as a by-product of AI research and needs its own field of study. They warn that progress toward socially valuable AI will be stunted unless cooperation is at the centre of the research. To successfully build and design AI models that have social understanding and can truly benefit humanity, AI researchers will need to co-operate themselves across a variety of disciplines and fields.

“If we are going to make positive advances, we will have to take an interdisciplinary approach,” Larson says. “We’ll need to work closely with those in other fields, such as psychology, philosophy, law and policy, history and sociology. It’s essential to work alongside researchers that study and understand co-operation.”

Be in the know

Subscribe to get updates on the latest research and innovation at the University of ��ݮ��Ƶ. From breakthroughs in quantum technology and cybersecurity to leading-edge climate research and innovations in health care, you’ll get to know some of ��ݮ��Ƶ’s most inspiring minds.

Math

Can robots help level the playing field for children with disabilities?

Adriann Kennedy — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 22:47:26 +0000

A new basketball-playing robot called MyJay is part of a vision for a future in which social robots are accessible to children in public schools and libraries.

Kerstin Dautenhaun
Professor, Faculty of Engineering
> Social and Intelligent Robotics Research Laboratory (SIRRL)
> Learning Disabilities Society (LDS)

A new robot named MyJay that lights up when it scores a basket is just part of Kerstin Dautenhahn’s vision to build robots that give all children the ability to play games regardless of their abilities.

“I really believe social robots can make a positive contribution to society,” says Dautenhahn, a professor in ��ݮ��Ƶ’s Faculty of Engineering and Canada 150 Chair in Intelligent Robotics.

“I see how children respond to robots. I see the smiles on their faces, the laughing and excitement. I know we are on the right track.

“I want to use robots so children can not only learn but also have fun and play with others in ways that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to.”

Children with very limited mobility, who can perhaps only move their fingers, can direct MyJay to pick up a ball and shoot a basket. Dautenhahn and her team in the Social and Intelligent Robotics Research Laboratory (SIRRL) — Hamza Mahdi, Shahed Saleh and Omar Shari — are particularly interested in having children with special needs play games with friends and siblings who don’t have disabilities.

“Physical play is so important for the social and cognitive development of children and also just to learn about themselves and enjoy time with friends,” Dautenhahn says. “We want to give all children the ability to play — not just computer games but play games in the real world.”

Social robots for all at schools and public libraries

MyJay is part of Dautenhahn’s ambitious dream for a future in which social robots are available for all families who have children with physical disabilities or other special needs such as autism.

Social robots, that cost anywhere from a few thousand dollars to $10,000, are not accessible to most families but one day thousands of robots could be available in public schools and libraries that are staffed with technicians who can keep them tuned up. The schools and libraries could partner with local universities to bring ever more sophisticated robots to the general public.

“Social robots should not just be for the rich or privileged,” Dautenhahn says. “They should be for everyone.”

��ݮ��Ƶ robotics expert partners with Learning Disabilities Society

Recently, the Vancouver-based Learning Disabilities Society (LDS) partnered with SIRRL to study how assistive robot technology can be used by children with learning disabilities, neurodevelopmental challenges such as ADHD and speech language impairments.

The LDS is hoping to incorporate state-of-the-art assistive robotics to advance the children’s social skills and emotion control.

LDS executive director Rachel Forbes said collaboration with ��ݮ��Ƶ’s social robotics research group “could be game-changing for our student community.”

Dautenhahn says she is looking for more partners, both industry and non-profit groups such as LDS, to accelerate research.

Social robots build connections in long-term care homes

Dautenhahn is also researching how social robots can be used in long-term care homes for games among seniors and their grandchildren. “The idea is we design games that are enjoyable and benefit both the grandparent and the grandchild,” she says.

Like so many other research programs, Dautenhahn’s team’s intergenerational research project was paused in 2020 because of the global pandemic. But COVID-19 also inspired research that found resistance to social robots is easing as people either experience isolation themselves or see how it is affecting others during lockdowns.

The study, led by Moojan Ghafurian, a research professor of electrical and computer engineering in the SIRRL lab, found that openness to buying and using social robots increased significantly among those who have been both positively and negatively affected by the pandemic. Ghafurian, who collaborated on the research with Dautenhahn and Colin Ellard, a ��ݮ��Ƶ professor of psychology, found participants who reported high levels of loneliness were more likely to say they would purchase a robot for companionship.

Dautenhahn said that while she has been passionate about social robotics for a long time, the pandemic has increased interest about how robots can be used as companions during times of crisis.

Watch video on YouTube

Kerstin Dautenhahn reminds us that the future of robotics is in our hands. “We build them and it is up to us to decide what they will become.”

How the pandemic will open the door to an AI and robotics revolution

Adriann Kennedy — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 22:44:59 +0000

Canada has a historic opportunity to emerge from the public health crisis stronger than before with innovative policies and investments that embrace change

Joel Blit
> Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Faculty of Arts
> Alumnus, Faculty of Engineering (MASc ’99)
> ��ݮ��Ƶ.AI
> Centre for International Governance Innovation

While many people hope to get back to normal after the pandemic, economics professor Joel Blit (MASc ’99) sees an unprecedented opportunity for Canada to transform its economy.

The pandemic has forced businesses to do things differently and often better. Firms have digitized processes and automated workflows to survive the economic crisis and address its health risks.

“We are in the midst of a historic opportunity. The artificial intelligence and robotics revolution that we have been expecting is now at our doorstep,” Blit says. “We must start shifting from COVID-19 economic policies that aim to maintain the status quo to policies that embrace change.”

The harsh reality of the pandemic is that millions of people have lost their job, and due to automation, many of these jobs will never come back. But trying to restore the old normal is a losing proposition that would only ensure Canada’s loss of global competitiveness, Blit says. Instead, we must promote this economic transformation, while supporting people through the transition and beyond.

The COVID-19 recession: Why it’s different

With a background in computer engineering, business and the economics of innovation, Blit is an integral part of the conversation about the future of work. He’s advised senior policy-makers such as the G7 Sherpas and has been invited to speak at high-profile events including the OECD Global Forum on Productivity.

When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the economy, Blit’s work shifted to examining the impact that this health crisis would have on an economy on the threshold of an artificial intelligence and robotics revolution.

“In every recession since the beginning of the information and communications technology revolution, the Canadian economy has undergone significant technological automation and resource reallocation,” Blit says. Historical data shows that each recession saw a permanent drop in routine jobs — jobs that typically involve a lot of structure, repetitive tasks and predictable routines that can therefore more easily be replaced by machines. Meanwhile, non-routine jobs were less likely to be affected by a recession, and if they were, typically bounced back quickly after the recession.

“This COVID-19-induced recession will be no different, and in fact, will trigger an even bigger economic transformation due to the added health-related incentives to automate. If you are a manager, the best way to protect your people and operations is to replace worker-worker interactions with worker-machine interactions, or better yet to replace workers altogether,” Blit says. “The transformation is likely to be greatest in the retail and hospitality sectors, because these industries have strong health incentives to automate and automation is feasible given current technologies.”

We’re already seeing how businesses of all sizes are changing, from family-owned bricks-and-mortar shops going online to retail giants such as Walmart piloting stores without cashiers, and wholesalers replacing warehouse workers with robots.

“Even sectors such as health and education, that have historically seen relatively little technology-driven transformation, are seeing rapid changes because these industries face the most significant health risks,” Blit says, adding that advances in telehealth and online education will endure after the pandemic and catalyze further waves of innovation.

While some people view this trend toward automation negatively, Blit sees it as an opportunity to bolster flagging productivity and increase the standard of living of Canadians. “We should embrace this revolution by removing barriers to technological change, by helping to finance investments that make our firms more competitive, and by mobilizing the knowledge that resides in our universities and institutes.”

Making sure everyone benefits

Innovation may be the silver lining to the COVID-19 recession, but Blit’s research also considers how to avoid the inequalities that can arise from technological change. We’ve already seen how the COVID-19 recession disproportionately affected low-income earners, and a massive wave of technology adoption could make things worse.

“Not only will their jobs be disproportionately impacted, they are also less likely to have the skills to easily transition to the new economy,” Blit says. “Retraining is part of the solution and universities have a crucial role to play. But the reality is that we also need to consider other programs such as a guaranteed basic income. Fortunately, COVID-19 also presents a historic opportunity to reimagine our social contract.”

“Recessions’ periods of rapid automation and reorganization are important to long-term productivity and growth,” Blit says. “Change is coming. Our choices are twofold: how quickly to make the transition, and what governance to put in place so that all Canadians benefit.”

Be in the know

Arts

Tried, tested, and true

MSC MSC MarComm Co-op — Thu, 12 Mar 2020 17:22:31 +0000

How ��ݮ��Ƶ’s startup and co-op connection is future-proven

Since 1957, co-operative education has been a cornerstone  of the University of ��ݮ��Ƶ’s history. 

For Ingrid Roorda, ��ݮ��Ƶ’s co-operative education program has been on her radar for more than four years. Now a 4B Mechanical Engineering student at ��ݮ��Ƶ, Roorda considers the co-op program an essential part of her educational experience, citing the unique  opportunity  to travel and try out different careers as a way of helping her find what she is genuinely passionate about.  

“While I knew I wanted to do a STEM degree at the University of ��ݮ��Ƶ, I realized at the same time that I wanted to  work with my hands,” Roorda says.

Roorda’s  craving for a hands-on experience was soon fulfilled through her first co-op experience at a creative technology studio based in Toronto. Hired initially as a creative technologist for wonderMakr, Roorda wore many hats  on a team of fewer than 15 people. 

One of Roorda’s  favourite aspects was just how much responsibility was given to her — from solo travelling or individual projects.  

“wonderMakr put a lot of trust in me,” she says. “I travelled — often solo — to Quebec City, as well as Edmonton and around Toronto.”

Attendance at big design expos, events at Yonge and Dundas square and a phone release party to run an installation were just some of the highlights of her experience. 

“Every day was different,” she adds.

Roorda  credits her co-op experience for genuinely changing how she saw her future.  

“Before my internship at  wonderMakr, I wasn’t sure how well I fit into mechanical engineering,” she recalls. “At  wonderMakr,  I found I could be creative while still doing technical tasks. I felt a more human connection with my work. It heightened the independence and confidence I had in myself to take ownership of projects”.

Since then, Roorda has gone on to complete co-op work terms at startups in Munich, Berlin and San Francisco.

��ݮ��Ƶ helps students find their niche

Start-ups give students valuable experience

It’s no surprise that driven students like  Roorda  are drawn to startup companies such as  wonderMakr.  When working for these technology companies,  students are given the unique  opportunity to work closely in open-concept incubators, led by young, driven and passionate entrepreneurs.  

No  one  is more familiar with this than Jay Shah  (BASc11’), one  of  the first co-op students at  Clearpath  Robotics, a ��ݮ��Ƶ startup that went on to be a hugely successful company. Shah’s early experience at  Clearpath  gave him the foundation and confidence to found  Bufferbox  in 2010, a startup that was acquired by Google in 2012.  

“��ݮ��Ƶ’s co-operative education program significantly enhances the output of Velocity and other entrepreneurship programs because our founders have real-world, lived experiences in the industry. They know what industry’s problems are and how the industry actually works,” he says.

Shah was the Director of ��ݮ��Ƶ’s Velocity program from 2016-2020, mentoring entrepreneurs and co-op students on the road to success. In this role, Shah saw first-hand the impact ��ݮ��Ƶ co-ops can make to a business’ talent pool and bottom line. A recent study by Deloitte showed that for every $1 a business invests in a co-op student, there is a $2 economic gain.

Startups add connection

These budding businesses often embrace  an  “all-hands-on-deck”  approach, offering  workers the  chance  to  try various roles  within the team.  For  Computer Engineering alumnus  Alan Wang  (B.A.Sc. ’19),  the experience  was no different.  

Wang spent a co-op term working for  Evichat, a startup  that collects and manages  digital  evidence  for  officials working in  law. During his work term, Wang mobilized his interest in computer engineering in a completely new way.  As one of four team members,  Wang was  given  real-world  tasks to complete and developed  skills  that  he says  served him  well post-graduation.  

“The skills I gained there are necessary for anywhere,” Wang says.  “They  would say, okay, this is a feature we want you to build, and I would just have to do it.  It was fun  because  I was learning a lot of new  things,  but  it was definitely  challenging.” 

During those  times, Wang says  he was supported by another  ��ݮ��Ƶ alumnus  on the  team, Nilesh Pandey. Pandey is co-founder and chief technology officer at  Evichat. 

Wang is grateful he was able to spend a co-op term at a smaller startup, as it helped him secure his current full-time position at Boosted.ai, a young company based in Toronto.

“Working at  Evichat  gave me the experience  to learn  how to  problem-solve  on my own,” Wang says.

With a 96 per cent employment rate  six months after graduation, it is clear that ��ݮ��Ƶ prepares talent ready for the  rapidly  changing  industry and  work place  landscape. 

Co-op and Experiential Education

Campus

Entrepreneurship

Robotic exoskeleton helps children take their first steps

Stephanie Longeway — Thu, 02 Jan 2020 16:06:07 +0000

Trexo Robotics has engineered a wearable solution for kids living with mobility challenges

Manmeet Maggu
Alumnus, Faculty of Engineering (BASc ’13)
> Co-founder, Trexo Robotics

Manmeet Maggu remembers being a fourth-year University of ��ݮ��Ƶ student when his nephew, Praneit, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. With an illness that affects muscle tone, movement and motor skills, Maggu’s family braced for the reality that Praneit would never take his first steps.

Studying to become an engineer at the time, Maggu and classmate Rahul Udasi (BASc ’14) began searching for solutions. After no suitable options appeared, the pair put their mechatronic skills to work, applying what they had learned at ��ݮ��Ƶ to address a global problem.

“Cerebral palsy is the most common physical disability among children with more than 500,000 cases in just North America,” Maggu says. “We soon realized that essentially for a child, it means they’re restricted to a wheelchair and we wanted to change that — we wanted to bring more options forward and enable the benefits of walking for him.”

Incorporating this challenge into their fourth-year engineering design project, Maggu and Udasi set off to Delhi, India to test their first robotic exoskeleton prototype on Praneit. Although a few ideations of the product were necessary, these initial efforts became the genesis of Trexo Robotics.

“At first, it did not work,” Maggu recalls. “Thankfully my brother has a workshop there, so we were able to fix the issues. We watched Praneit take his first steps. That was the proudest moment of my life.”

Today, the device is incorporated into Praneit’s daily activities, with the now 11-year-old taking more than 500 steps per session at home or even outside at a nearby park. It’s an experience that wasn’t a possibility before Trexo.

“For us, Trexo is more than just a product. We think of Trexo as a lifestyle companion, designed with the child’s needs in mind,” Maggu says. “Every time we have a family coming in to try the device, watching the smiles on the parents’ faces as well as the kid’s face is always the best moment for us.”

Watch video on YouTube

There are 26 Trexo devices currently being used between hospitals and families, with another 40 reservations for the coming year. Every device is carefully developed by a skilled team in Mississauga, Ontario, custom-fitting the unit to each unique user.

“To build a batch of Trexo devices it takes us about two months,” Udasi says. “Once we order the parts, we get them in about a month-and-a-half. During this period, we also do a lot of internal manufacturing, so we 3D-print a lot of parts that go on the device and once we have all the parts, it takes us about two days to put a Trexo together.”

With the robotic exoskeletons yielding high success already, Maggu says he sees a potential for Trexo Robotics to serve older clients, adding value to all walks of life including those with disabilities and the elderly.

“Building a wearable robot that works so closely with the human body is an incredibly challenging task. Everything really needs to come together in perfect unison in order to get to the final goal, which is walking,” Maggu says. “But, we see a future where any repetitive task can actually be augmented through robots. That’s what Trexo Robotics wants to build.”

Entrepreneurship