Ryerson Alumni - Winter 2018 - 23

W E L C OM E T O T H E F U T U R E
By Mark Witten
The Brookfield
Institute for
Innovation +
Entrepreneurship
(BII+E) was
established at
Ryerson University
in 2016 to help
make Canada the
best place to be
an innovator or an
entrepreneur.
"We saw the need to
create an institute
that looks at the
economic and public
policy implications
of how to support
innovation, and to
focus on what the
country should be
doing to embrace
an innovation-driven
economy," says
executive director
Sean Mullin.
The Brookfield
Institute identified
robotics and
automation as a vital,
transformational
issue that will have a
huge impact on jobs,
young Canadians

Professor Stéphanie Walsh Matthews works
with humaniod robot, NAO, to understand
speech behaviours in children with autism.

Zeller and her research partner David
Harris Smith, a professor in the Department
of Communication Studies and Multimedia
at McMaster University, first made headlines in 2014 with hitchBOT, a friendly,
hitchhiking robot that travelled more than
10,000 kilometres across Canada. Twisting
the science fiction perception of robots, this
research project explored whether robots
can trust humans by relying on their kindness to help with hitchBOT's travels.
Zeller's current research looks at exchanging health information using a state-ofthe-art human-robot interaction system.
She is partnering with Smith and Hermenio
Lima, a dermatologist and professor of medicine at McMaster's Michael G. DeGroote
School of Medicine.
The team is using Softbank's humanoid
robot Pepper to improve health care outcomes between health professionals and
patients. Programmed with IBM Bluemix
Watson Cognitive Services, Pepper is meant
to interact with people, "read" emotions,
learn, move and adapt to its environment,
and even recharge on its own.
The project, funded by SOSCIP (Southern
Ontario Smart Computing Innovation
Platform), the Ryerson Health Fund and seed
funding from the Faculty of Communication
& Design, is still in the early stages. Pepper
is being programmed and tested for its AI
capabilities but the premise is that humans
will be more open and honest with Pepper
about their health.
"It was Hermenio's brainchild to merge
artificial intelligence and social interaction
for health care," Zeller said. "This is about
cultural robotics. It's not meant to replace

doctors or nurses but is about how can we
amend or expand services.
"Using Pepper in a clinical setting will
reveal how people talk in different professions. The hope is that a robot gets people
more chatty and gets them inclined to do
something about their health."

IMIL ARLY, STÉPHANIE Walsh
Matthews, a professor of languages,
literatures and cultures, uses Pepper's
"big sister," NAO, another humanoid robot
from Softbank, to practice language with
children who have autism. The goal is to
unlock some of the mysteries behind autism
spectrum disorder (ASD).
"Robots are very predictable," Matthews
said. "They're neat, have no mannerisms,
the parameters are set. Interacting with

and our different
regional economies
over the next 10 to
20 years. The first
of the institute's
three reports on
these impacts,
The Talented Mr.
Robot, found that
nearly 42 per cent
of jobs in Canada
are at high risk of
being eliminated or
significantly changed
by robotics and
automation.
The positive side
is that robots in the
workplace will create
a greater number
of potential new
job opportunities.
"Occupations with
the lowest risk of
being affected by
automation are
projected to produce
more than 700,000
net new jobs over the
next decade," says
Mullin. "The ability
to use technology
and problem-solve
with technology

will be increasingly
of value. Jobs that
require creativity
and judgment, where
human interaction
skills are essential,
like nursing, teaching
and managing other
people, have high
resilience and will
be in demand in the
future."
The Brookfield
Institute was made
possible by the vision
of former Ryerson
University President
Sheldon Levy and
Jack Cockwell,
who along with the
Brookfield Partners
Foundation, provided
$16 million in funding
to seed the institute.
"The initial funding
has been integral
to our success in
tackling important
issues, like the
impact of robotics
on our workforce,
and helping shape
Canada's economic
policy," says Mullin.

robots allows children with ASD to practice
interaction - what they practice here can be
used in human interaction as well."
Funded by t wo Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council institutional grants from Ryerson, Matthews
co-investigates with Jamin Pelkey, a fellow
professor in languages, literatures and cultures. Sessions are typically 45 minutes
long and Matthews observes in the background while a therapist works with NAO
and the child on various activities. The session is audio recorded and transcribed to
reveal any speech data and behaviour.
"Working with robots is a tool but really
an opportunity for interdisciplinary relationships," Matthews said. "But it only
works if everyone is on one team. We have
to be really clear because we don't all share
the same jargon. Communication makes all
this possible."
Winter 2018 / Ryerson University Magazine

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