Robotics Debate of the Ingenuity Labs Robotics and AI Symposium (RAIS2023) from October 12, 2023:



As part of a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015. The agenda includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aimed at improving the quality of human life around the world by the year 2030. Queen’s University has committed to aligning its activities in research, teaching, outreach, and stewardship toward advancing the UN SDGs and publishes an annual report around advancing societal impact.

"At Queen’s, we believe our community – our people – will help solve the world’s most significant and urgent challenges, through our intellectual curiosity, passion to achieve, and commitment to collaboration."
- Patrick Deane, Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Queen’s University

The application of AI and robotics has had an enormous impact on improving the operations and success of many business in the manufacturing, mining, and medical spaces. Canadian company MDA builds the only giant robotic space crane in the world that is critical to building space stations in orbit around the earth and the moon. However, there is some evidence that robots can have a negative impacts as well. So we ask the question: Is robotics helping or hindering our progress on UN Sustainable Development Goals?”

Our debate panel will include:


Dr. Heather Aldersey, School of Rehabilitation Therapy, Queen’s University

Dr. Aldersey‘s research program aims to promote the full inclusion of people with disabilities globally, with a particular focus in low- and middle-income countries. She works towards achieving this aim by examining support structures for people with disabilities and their families, evaluating the processes and outcomes of implementing community based rehabilitation programs, and translating findings to inform disability policy and practice. Dr. Aldersey’s scholarship is to draw upon local strengths and capabilities and seeks to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities and their families globally. She is also the Queen’s Special Advisor to the Principal on United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.



Dr. Michael Jenkin, Computer Science and Engineering, York University

Dr. Jenkin is a Professor of Computer Science and Engineering and a member of the Centre for Vision Research at York University. Working in the fields of visually guided autonomous robots and virtual reality, he has published over 150 research papers, including co-authoring Computational Principles of Mobile Robotics with Gregory Dudek and a series of co-edited books on human and machine vision with Laurence Harris. Dr. Jenkin’s current research interests include: work on sensing strategies for AQUA, an amphibious autonomous robot being developed as a collaboration between Dalhousie University, McGill University and York University; the development of tools and techniques to support crime scene investigation; and the understanding of the perception of self-motion and orientation in unusual environments including microgravity.



Dr. Jackson Crane, Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Queen’s University

Dr. Crane’s research is in renewable energy conversion technologies, electrocatalysis, and low-carbon combustion. His current research focuses on detonation fundamentals with application to high-efficiency engines. He is also active in the area of alternative fuel synthesis via CO2-reduction electrocatalysis. Dr. Crane did his postdoctoral work at Queen’s University in electrocatalysis. He received his PhD and MSc from Stanford University where he studied detonation kinetics and was an NSF Graduate Research Fellow and a Stanford Graduate Fellow. Dr. Crane also worked as an Associate at the sustainability-focused non-profit Rocky Mountain Institute, and as an engineering consultant in the nuclear power industry. He received his SB from MIT.

Please visit the Crane Energy Group for more information.



Dr. Melissa Greeff, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Ingenuity Labs Research Institute, Queen’s University

Dr. Greeff is an Assistant Professor in the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. She is a faculty affiliate with the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence. Her research interests include aerial robots, vision-based navigation, and safe learning-based control. She obtained her BASc in Engineering Science and her PhD from the University of Toronto.

Please visit the Robora Lab for more information.