The Carleton hosting fun-filled nights of food, drinks and robotics

In October, the live concert venue presents A Pint of Robotics, three nights of casual talks with some of Halifax’s biggest innovators in the field of robotics

HALIFAXtoday\ Steve Gow

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When Warren Connors found out he had cancer in both his kidneys, he feared the diagnosis would mean a certain death sentence.

That is, until he found out the QEII Health Sciences Centre had a surgical robotics program.

A government defence scientist that works with autonomous underwater robotics himself, Connors was familiar with some of the advantages of using the technology. What he did not know was that there was so much robotics innovation happening at the QEII as well.

“The precision and the capability that the robotics provided gave the surgeon a lot advantages in my case,” says Connors, adding the robotics made it possible to operate and even save some of his kidneys. “It got me thinking that there is a lot of really innovative and interesting robotics work happening here in Halifax and here in the Maritimes and that story is not told.”

As such, the 44-year-old decided to get the word out about some of the innovative work being done in Halifax with a series of talks.

Created by Connors, A Pint of Robotics will be a series of three casual talks between some of the top engineers, doctors and scientists at the forefront of Nova Scotia’s various robotics programs.

“We, as scientists, aren’t always good at socializing what is amazing about what we are working on, and what’s amazing coming out of the universities and coming out of industry and coming out of government labs,” says Connors. “So I thought wouldn’t it be fun to put something like this together where we could get folks in and talk casually about some of the neat things we do?”

As such, on October 5, 12 and 19 at The Carleton, Connors will host such speakers as QEII orthopaedic robotics specialist Dr. Michael Dunbar and David Shea, senior vice-president of engineering at award-winning Kraken Robotics.

Reservations will be required and doors will open at 6pm for dinner and drinks however the event is free — there is no admission for attending.

“One of the biggest motivators for me was how humbling it was that my life has been permanently altered by something that wasn’t paid for by tax dollars or anything like that, but instead by donations, by people like you or me,” says Connors, encouraging attendees to donate to the QEII Foundation.

The talks will range from areas of surgical robotics and QEII’s robotics program to industrial robotics before moving into the academic side of the technology.

“That’s where Dr. Mae Seto is really going to come in and talk about some of the research that’s gone on here at Dalhousie in Maritime robotics,” adds Connors. “There is innovation in robotics, especially coming out of the universities — there’s tech start-ups and incubators coming out of certain areas — but Nova Scotia is a neat case because there’s a mix of government and medical and academic and industrial research.”

While, to some, a night of conversations between professionals discussing the latest innovations in technology may sound comparably as off-putting as an academic lecture filled with head-spinning technical jargon, Connors says newcomers or those without much background on robotics should not be daunted.

“If someone is intimidated, then we are probably not doing a good job,” says Connors of his intentions for A Pint of Robotics.

“I want it to be something that’s really accessible (and) what I hope they get out of it is to walk away and have an appreciation for what surgical or underwater robotics or Maritime robotics is, what our contribution from here in the Maritimes is and gain an understanding for some of the challenges, some of the constraints and some of the advantages of these things.”

To reserve your seat or for more information, visit the A Pint of Robotics website.