After many months of planning, the Canadian Robotics Council Annual Symposium was a resounding success. Fully sold out and at maximum capacity, robotics professionals from industry, academia, and government gathered to discuss current issues and share knowledge in roundtable sessions.

On June 13, 2024, Protagonist produced a VC/Networking Event on the eve of the Canadian Robotics Council’s Annual Symposium. Targeting a mix of robotics industry professionals and venture capitalists, the evening began with an introduction from Mary Ann Wenzler, Vice-President at the evening’s host sponsor, BDC. An exciting fireside chat followed with Ryan Gariepy (CTO, Clearpath & OTTO Motors), Karamdeep Nijjar (Venture Capitalist, iNovia Capital), and Thomas Park (Depp Tech Fund, EDC). The networking was enhanced by robotics demonstrations from GlobalDWS, Indro Robotics, Robotics Mirsee, Maple Advanced Robotics, Kinova and Taiga.

I was asked to be a guest speaker at a club for English language learners. True to the ethos of Protagonist Events, rather than a lecture we began with a conversation about games and storytelling, discussing the history of gaming from the first known board game (The Royal Game of Ur) through modern games that incorporate narrative storylines (video games, Pandemic Legacy, etc).

I had created a simple storytelling game with a deck of cards that contained elements of fairy tales in three categories: People & Animals, Places & Things, and Actions. While I had initial ideas about the rules, the group had amazing ideas for variations. We tried many variations, and I’m excited to use their ideas again.

All had a great time and did an amazing job of practicing their English language skills in a relaxed and fun environment.