News

Researchers at Waterloo Engineering have created a new material that can go from a soft gel to a hard solid and back again at the same temperature.

The switchability of the material - a combination of supercooled melted salt and polymers that the researchers call sal-gel - means it has two stable and reversible solid states for potential use in a range of technologies including soft robotics, adhesion and adhesives, and aeronautics.

A local education technology startup with a strong Waterloo Engineering connection is part of a three-month Amazon Alexa accelerator program taking place in Seattle.

YourIKA, short for Your Intelligent Knowledge Assistant, combines artificial intelligence and instant messaging to provide students with tutoring help. The company was one of nine out of 1,200 applicants to be chosen for the program that began July 15.

In what could have a fairy-tale ending, four recent engineering alumni are advancing their school project at the Hult Prize Startup Accelerator located in a 16th century English castle.

A mechanical engineering Capstone Design team that created a wheelchair with enhanced comfort, speed and control has won a top prize in the Innovative Designs for Accessibility (IDeA) national competition.

Teams with ties to Waterloo Engineering took three of four $5,000 prizes on the line this week at the summer edition of the Velocity Fund Finals pitch contest.

Insula Medical, WatFly and Emergency Response Africa (ERA) competed against seven other early stage startup companies with three-minute presentations at the Student Life Centre. Teams in the finals qualified from an initial field of 42.

Researchers at Waterloo Engineering are teaming up with a leading artificial intelligence (AI) institute and a network of Toronto hospitals to help doctors better read x-rays and diagnose patients.

Hamid Tizhoosh, who heads the Laboratory for Knowledge Inference in Medical Image Analysis (KIMIA Lab) at Waterloo, called working with hospitals to use AI “the most thrilling thing I have ever done in my career.”

Passions for the sport of cricket and image processing came together in an impressive way for three students in a master’s class at Waterloo Engineering.

The project they produced uses deep-learning artificial intelligence (AI) to select highlights from hours of match video by recognizing the gestures made by umpires after significant plays.

An electrical and computer engineering professor at the University of Waterloo has been awarded $1.65 million under a federal program designed to train Canada's researchers of tomorrow.

Alfred Yu, who is cross-appointed to applied mathematics, will receive funding over six years through the Collaborative Research and Training Experience (CREATE) program of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

Researchers at Waterloo Engineering have developed new technology to automate bridge inspections for structural defects and deterioration.

The system uses autonomous robots, cameras and lidar to systematically collect data for detection and analysis, making mandatory safety inspections both cheaper and more reliable.

Students, staff, faculty members and local alumni of Waterloo Engineering will get into the spirit again Friday at a free event to celebrate its sense of community.

The fourth annual Engineering Day, scheduled for 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Carl Pollock Hall (CPH) courtyard on July 12, will include a purple colour throw, a barbecue, inflatable games, a dunk tank, soft-serve ice cream, purple Koolaid, popcorn, a photo booth, and The Tool and Tool Bearers.

“It’s all about being proud of belonging to this great faculty,” said events manager Kari Griffiths.