Will a robot take my job? RoboHub highlight in Robert Downey Jr.'s AI series generates media interest

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Robohub's feature Age of A.I. Robert Downey Jr. Behind the Scenes

On January 22nd, the RoboHub was highlighted in an episode of "The Age of A.I.", a documentary series covering the ways artificial intelligence, machine learning and neural networks are changing the world. Our state-of-the-art robotics research, testing, and training facility is profiled in Episode 6, titled "Will a robot take my job?" — one of the world’s most Googled questions.

Robohub featured in Age of A.I. Robert Downey Jr.

The University of Waterloo is one of only two Canadian locations featured in the eight-part YouTube Originals documentary series hosted by actor and producer Robert Downey Jr., who calls the RoboHub “a premier robotics incubator.”

“One thing they’re doing is developing AI and robotics to use in environments that are unstructured, more human, like at home,” says Downey, best known these days as the actor who played Iron Man (AKA Tony Stark) in the Avengers movies.

TALOS, one of the world’s most advanced humanoid robots, along with Brandon DeHart, the RoboHub's Engineering Manager, and Alexander Werner, our Humanoid Specialist, are all featured in the Waterloo Engineering footage that begins at 21:30 into the episode.

Remote video URL


TALOS Robot UWaterloo RoboHub
The show's creators were mainly interested in the RoboHub's TALOS robot as well as the future of robotics in the workforce.  

At 1.75-metres-tall, weighing 100 kilograms, RoboHub's TALOS is one of the most advanced humanoid robots commercially available worldwide.

DeHart was interviewed earlier this week on CBC Radio KW's Morning Edition hosted by Craig Norris. In his interview with Norris, DeHart explained that the show’s producers were looking at TALOS “mainly in terms of what can it do, what can't it do, what is the potential for it."

RoboHub's feature in the A.I. focused series has also sparked an influx of interest from local media, with the RoboHub gaining several additional feature articles in CBC, CTV News, and Kitchener Today