Monday, April 22, 2019

New Canada Excellence Research Chair to focus on humanizing machines

Die Roboter: two droids do the robot in Waterloo's RoboHub.

This is a version of an article originally published on Waterloo Stories.

An international robotics expert from Germany is joining the University of Waterloo to lead a multidisciplinary research program backed by $10 million in funding from the federal government.

Katja Mombaur, now a professor at Heidelberg University, will take up the new post in March following her appointment to a prestigious Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) in Human-Centred Robotics and Machine Intelligence.

She is one of eight new chairs recently named by Kirsty Duncan, the Minister of Science and Sport, under a government program to attract world-renowned researchers and their teams to Canadian universities.

Five of the eight appointees, who work in areas including the precision design of cancer drugs and Arctic ice and climate change, are women. In addition to Germany, they come from as far away as Denmark, Greece and Finland.

“This talented and diverse group of research leaders is an excellent example of how when we bring together new points of view, we make science and research stronger,” Duncan said.

As a cross-appointed professor of systems design engineering and mechanical and mechatronics engineering at Waterloo, Mombaur will collaborate with colleagues in diverse fields including engineering, mathematics, health and cognitive sciences, philosophy and ethics.

“The idea is to bring all of them together to develop human-centred technology that will be accepted by society and improve our quality of life - and I think this will be a great place to do that,” she said. “Waterloo Engineering is very famous for robotics, for artificial intelligence (AI), and there are so many people I can connect with.”

Federal funding over seven years will be augmented by more than $15 million in support from the University. Nine new faculty positions targeting robotics and AI will be created in mechatronics engineering, biomedical engineering and a new area in human-machine interaction.

“Professor Mombaur’s vision is completely aligned with our own, and represents a strategic investment in research excellence and cutting-edge technology, purposely designed to accommodate everyone and enrich all our lives,” said Feridun Hamdullahpur, president and vice-chancellor of Waterloo. “We eagerly anticipate bringing her to Canada to lead this ambitious research program.”

Questions at the heart of Mombaur’s work involving wearable and humanoid robots include how increasingly intelligent machines can operate safely and efficiently in a complex human world, and how they should behave in that world.

A mathematician as well as an engineer, she uses mathematical modeling to teach robots how to move and to design the best possible assistive devices, such as exoskeletons and prosthetic limbs, for the elderly and disabled.

Her research program will focus on what Mombaur calls “motion intelligence,” a particular kind of AI that incorporates understanding of human movement and anticipation of human actions.

“Teaching autonomous robots to walk and act safely and reliably extends the limits of technology,” she said. “It will allow them to assist humans with dangerous, tiring or repetitive tasks, to work remotely or hand-in-hand with human collaborators.”

Read the rest of the article on Waterloo Stories.

Are we all a little guilty of denying climate change?

This is an excerpt of an article originally published on Waterloo Stories.

It’s easy to spot traditional climate change denial. Just read the comments on social media or comments from public officials. Deniers say it’s a hoax, a cash grab or a natural process. They’re wrong.

Most data suggests that all but a handful of Canadians accept that human behaviour impacts the climate. But that doesn’t mean we’re past climate denial. According to University of Waterloo environmental humanities professor Andrew McMurry, we’re eager to accept that something bad is happening, but are in denial about what’s actually threatening us and that we need difficult transformative action to beat climate catastrophe.

“Our failure to act could be a rhetorical problem,” argues the author of Entertaining Futility: Despair and Hope in the Time of Climate Change. McMurry, who has a background in biology and a long-held interest in conservation, examines how language, narrative and cultural tradition shape our beliefs and understanding about the environment.

And it’s never been more crucial. Nearly everything we do — the food we eat, the goods and services we rely on — produces greenhouse gases. Trying to fix this problem requires a top-down reordering of how we live, especially how we produce and consume energy.

So why aren’t we doing it?

Read the rest of the article on Waterloo Stories.

'Professionalism in context' workshop series a success

Postdocs and PhD students learning how to fold their napkin at a Dining Etiquette workshop on April 2.

On April 2, Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs (GSPA) hosted its fourth and final workshop in the “Professionalism in Context” series, a workshop series funded by Waterloo International through its Internationalization Fund.

Designed for emerging scholars who are soon going to be entering careers in industry, government, or academia, the workshop series covered four key areas of professionalism: workplace best practices, intercultural communication, professional appearance and dining etiquette.

To Angela Rooke, Manager, Graduate and Postdoctoral Experience, who wrote the successful proposal for the series, the dining etiquette workshop was a highlight. “PhD students and postdocs were able to enjoy a three-course meal at Fed Hall after the dining etiquette workshop, which covered some really challenging topics such as who pays the bill, how to hold your silverware, and the proper way to eat soup.”

She points out that emerging scholars are expected to exhibit a high degree of professionalism at conferences, interviews, business lunches, and meetings, but this kind of training is not generally provided to them. This becomes especially challenging when cultural norms and expectations are at play. The workshop series was tailored to Waterloo’s culturally diverse group of PhD students (nearly 40 percent international) and postdocs (55 percent international). By facilitating a smoother transition to professional contexts, both in Canada and abroad, this workshop series further enhances Waterloo’s reputation as a preeminent source of highly-trained, professional, and culturally diverse researchers.