Keynotes
Keynote Schedule
Keynote 1
The Tashan/Openmind Robot Kindergarten
It has always been a dream in reinforcement learning to make robots that learn online by trial and error from their own experience. After all, this is the way people and all other animals learn about their bodies and the world. In robotics, however, learning is almost never online. Instead, the field has focused on learning from data-sets collected from human demonstrations. Learning from experience requires a totally different approach, including anti-fragile robots, skin with tactile sensing, extensive onboard computation, and continual real-time learning algorithms. All these things are difficult and so have rarely been done. They require a substantial commitment of engineering effort and resources, plus determination and patience, plus scientific breakthroughs in reinforcement learning algorithms. The Tashan/Openmind Robot Kindergarten is an ambitious new attempt to do all these things, led by researchers from the Openmind Research Institute in Edmonton and from the Tashan Technology Corporation in Beijing. The work has just begun, and so this talk will focus on the challenge and the ambition. Robots must learn online.
Speaker: Dr. Richard Sutton
Richard Sutton is a recipient of the ACM Turing Award, the highest distinction in computing science. He is also a fellow of the Royal Society of London, the Royal Society of Canada, and the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence. At the University of Alberta, Sutton teaches and designs learning algorithms for artificial intelligence and reinforcement learning. At the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute, he is Chief Scientific Advisor and a Canada CIFAR AI chair. Earlier, he studied at Stanford University and the University of Massachusetts, and worked at GTE Labs, AT&T Labs, and DeepMind. His scientific publications have been cited about 180,000 times and include the defining textbook on reinforcement learning. Sutton’s research emphasizes learning from the agent’s first-person experience without training from a teacher or a prepared dataset. He is also a libertarian, a chess player, and a cancer survivor.
Keynote 2
One Step Ahead: Predictive Control and Sensory Feedback for Adaptive Neurorehabilitation
Assistive devices for aiding walking function including prosthetic limbs, exoskeletons, and electrical stimulation are becoming increasingly available to patients; however, the control strategies in commercially available devices have shown little evolution and lack true personalization. Humans are fickle beings, and will quickly abandon assistive devices if the controller is not intuitive, accurate to near perfection, or adaptive to their needs. With any automated technology, humans are reluctant to give up control entirely. Therefore, it is critical that the development of novel control strategies learn online to predict the intent of the user, work with the user cooperatively, and provide sensory feedback to facilitate embodiment of the device. In this keynote talk, I propose that incorporating predictive representations of the limbs and terrains, as well as providing contextual sensory feedback, improve the control of assistive devices for walking. Predictions of limb movements and walking terrain can be learned online using reinforcement learning methods and used to adapt the control of limb movements. While sensory feedback can be provided by many different modalities, I will highlight how spinal cord stimulation, using implanted or external electrodes, can evoke reliable sensory percepts in the missing foot and improve postural stability during walking.
Speaker: Dr. Ashley Dalrymple
Dr. Ashley Dalrymple is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. She is also a Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Spinal Cord Neuromodulation. Dr. Dalrymple earned her BSc in Electrical and Biomedical Engineering and her PhD in Neuroscience at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, AB, Canada. She completed her first postdoc at the Bionics Institute in Melbourne, Australia. She then moved to Pittsburgh, PA, USA, first at the University of Pittsburgh and then at Carnegie Mellon University. She was an Assistant Professor at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, UT, USA before joining UBC in Vancouver.
Dr. Dalrymple is the Director of the Neural Engineering and Rehabilitation Via Electrical Stimulation (NERVES) Lab. As the Director of the NERVES Lab, she aims to improve the quality of life of individuals with neurological impairments. She seeks to advance the scientific understanding of motor and somatosensory systems to better engineer new rehabilitation therapies and technologies. The research in the NERVES Lab involves the use of implanted and non-invasive spinal neural interfaces and assistive technologies to restore function, particularly the rehabilitation of walking, restoring sensation, and reducing pain. They also develop reinforcement learning methods to control walking after neural injury. Research in the NERVES Lab spans basic science, proof-of-concept, pre-clinical, and clinical studies, working towards translation into real clinical applications.
Keynote 3
Symbiotic Cyber-Physical Systems: Unifying Human Surrogates, 3D Perception, and Hybrid Manufacturing
The transition to Industry 5.0 demands adaptive, human-centric industrial robots capable of executing contact-intensive tasks in highly variable environments. Moving beyond rigid trajectory programming, this keynote lecture presents a unified framework for intelligent robotic manufacturing developed at the University of Alberta’s ADaMS Laboratory. By integrating multi-modal sensor fusion, closed-loop feedback, and real-time digital twinning, this framework enables safe, adaptive, and certified production systems.
The talk shares insights in three core technological pillars:
Human-in-the-Loop Surrogates: Digitizing manual operations using sensorized work gloves and depth cameras to capture human force-motion dynamics. These datasets train force-aware imitation models that dictate robot contact forces via active impedance control.
Active 2D/3D Perception: Utilizing 3D machine vision scanners for real-time point-cloud mapping, semantic segmentation, and feature tracking. This vision-in-the-loop capability is demonstrated through various industrial examples.
Hybrid Manufacturing: Scaling symbiotic principles to large-scale additive-subtractive systems, featuring Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) of bimetallic joints, metal-ceramic composites, and continuous carbon-fiber printing. Geometric and material integrity are maintained via in-situ thermal monitoring and robotic post-deposition grinding.
The talk concludes with a visionary pathway for digital quality certification, introducing the digital twinning framework to manage regulatory and compliance data across the product lifecycle, establishing a robust foundation for autonomous manufacturing.
Speaker: Dr. Ahmed Jawad Qureshi
Dr. Ahmed Jawad Qureshi, Ph.D., P.Eng., is a professor and Research Chair in Advanced Manufacturing Processes and Automation at the University of Alberta, where he also serves as the founder and director of the Additive Design and Manufacturing Systems (ADaMS) Lab, which has a team of about 25 researchers and students. With over two decades of experience spanning North America, Europe, and Asia, Dr. Qureshi's research focuses on robotic hybrid additive-subtractive manufacturing, digital twinning, AI-driven design methodologies, and advanced material processing. His pioneering contributions to robotic additive manufacturing include developing hybrid manufacturing systems and advanced material processing for sectors such as aerospace, mining, energy, and healthcare. He has received over $20 million in funding from prestigious organizations, including the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), MITACS, and international government and industry partnerships. As an educator, mentor, and co-founder of Elementiam Materials and Manufacturing Inc., Dr. Qureshi bridges academic innovation with industrial impact, making him a visionary leader in advanced manufacturing and Industry 4.0/5.0 technologies.
Keynote 4
The Future of Work Is Still Human: People, Robotics and the Rise of Physical AI
Artificial intelligence is beginning to move beyond our screens and into the physical world. As robotics, autonomous systems, and physical AI become more capable and accessible, organizations across sectors will face a fundamental question: how do we use these technologies to create better work, rather than simply automate the work we have today?
Drawing on workforce research in Central Alberta and applied research in robotics and advanced manufacturing, the future of human-machine collaboration will be explored through a distinctly human lens. We will examine how robotics could reshape work and productivity, why low-risk environments provide an important starting point for adoption, and why trust, workforce readiness, and thoughtful implementation may ultimately matter as much as the technology itself.
The discussion will also consider the opportunity presented by a multigenerational workforce: combining the tacit knowledge and experience of established workers with the digital fluency of emerging talent and the growing capabilities of intelligent machines. Through examples from Red Deer Polytechnic's work in flexible robotics, physical AI, and the CIM-TAC innovation ecosystem, the presentation will explore a different economic proposition for automation: not simply complementing human labour, but extending human capability, retaining knowledge, increasing productivity, and creating new capacity.
Ultimately, the future of work will not be determined solely by what robots can do. It will be shaped by the choices we make about what we want them to do, how we implement them, and how we bring people along in that transformation.
Speaker: Dr. Tonya Wolfe
Dr. Tonya Wolfe is Red Deer Polytechnic's Associate Vice President, Applied Research. Since arriving at RDP in 2020, she has spearheaded the growth and development of the Centre for Innovation in Manufacturing (CIM-TAC) and the Energy Innovation Centre (EIC). Her leadership significantly contributed to RDP's recognition as one of Canada's Top 50 Applied Research Colleges and its #1 national ranking for applied research growth in 2021.
Recognized as a leader in Alberta's innovation space, Tonya's areas of expertise include metallurgy, materials design, additive manufacturing, welding, wear-resistant materials, steelmaking, biomedical engineering, and process modeling. She holds a Professional Engineering designation, a Bachelor of Applied Science from Queen's University, and graduate degrees from the University of Alberta. Her MSc investigated the use of biomaterials for prosthetic applications and her PhD studied composite overlays deposited by plasma-transferred arc welding.
Tonya has spent more than two decades building connections and advancing technology and innovation with Alberta's business and industry. She is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta, the Minerals, Metals & Materials Society, and a founding member of the Alberta Additive Manufacturing Network.
In her current role as AVP Applied Research, Tonya provides leadership for applied research activities across Red Deer Polytechnic and is accountable for several key areas. Her teams of subject matter experts collaborate with clients on innovative solutions to their industrial and business challenges in energy and manufacturing.
Tonya also directs Red Deer Polytechnic's participation in the innovation ecosystem, which includes RDP's community of researchers, educators, and students; innovation partners and funders; industry leaders and small-medium enterprises; and fellow academic and polytechnic institutions.
