Societal Futures

Real Life Robotics, a pioneering robotics and automation company at Velocity, University of Waterloo’s startup incubator, today announces a first-of-its-kind robot-powered delivery partnership with Skip, Canada’s homegrown delivery network. 

Through an initial three-month deployment in Markham, Ont., the initiative will pave the way for enhanced innovation within the Canadian delivery ecosystem with the potential to expand across additional Canadian cities.   

Quantum computers promise more than code breaking. They could unlock commercial value in areas like banking, automotive and optimization industries. Businesses need to not only prepare for quantum attacks, but also ready their organizations to tap into the economic benefit of adopting quantum technologies.

Financial landlords in Toronto charge monthly rents 44 per cent higher than the average neighbourhood price, according to a groundbreaking new study. The increase translates to $670 more on average.  

Acquiring information on rental apartments in Toronto is notoriously difficult, but researchers from the University of Waterloo are the first in Canada to prove that financial landlords are behind rising rents. They also discovered that they increase rents more sharply in neighbourhoods predominantly housing low-income and racialized people.  

Ask a 10-year-old in Waterloo region about the University of Waterloo and they may tell you about the time they played with Nao or Talos, the humanoid robots housed in Waterloo Engineering’s RoboHub.

Flooding is the most frequent natural disaster in Canada with 2 in 10 Canadian homes at risk.

From AI-powered civic tools to sustainable housing solutions, University of Waterloo students came together to present interdisciplinary projects tackling real-world issues at this year's i-Capstone symposium. 

The increasing integration of cars with advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) means fully autonomous vehicles (AVs) will likely be a reality by 2050, if not sooner. These self-driving vehicles will not just operate with minimal human intervention, they will make “decisions” to adapt and react to changing situations on the road. Human drivers will literally take a back seat. 

Canada is home to some of the best innovators in the world.