From a talking and dancing robot to zero-emission hydrogen power, the forward/slash Economic Summit at the Edmonton Convention Centre highlighted a variety of new technology and ideas Wednesday night.
Nearly 1,000 people attended the summit, hosted by Edmonton Global in collaboration with dozens of partner organizations.
Patricia Candelaria is a member of the pediatric emergency advancing knowledge (PEAK) research team from the University of Alberta.
Candelaria was one of the PEAK members showing off MEDi, a humanoid robot meant to provide stress relief for children undergoing medical procedures.
MEDi has been in Canadian hospitals for years, but Candelaria said the team is now working to program the robot to have more specific social responses.
“He’s like a little mini therapist. He provides psycho-educational support. He does breathing exercises, guided imagery, and relaxation techniques. And he also lets parents know what to expect from the procedure,” she explained.
Candelaria said in clinical trials MEDi significantly helped kids reduce anxiety, but the team wants to focus on having interactions with the robot to physically reduce children’s pain.
“With our MEDi robot study, we found that it didn’t necessarily decrease the pain scores of the child, but it did decrease the anxiety and distress of the parents and the child, and it did increase the satisfaction of pain management.”
Similar to many of the missions of the technological displays at the summit, Candelaria said she hopes MEDi is a step in changing the health-care system and children’s perceptions of getting treatments.
MEDi dances, does Tai Chi, and plays music to distract kids undergoing painful procedures. <a href=”https://t.co/JolDzrZW3w”>pic.twitter.com/JolDzrZW3w</a>
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Hydrogen energy was another focus of the summit.
Denis Wiart, CEO of ONEC, told CBC the company’s hydrogen fuel cell module buildings could change the future of green energy and it can produce power without pollution.
“This is a clean fuel cell that produces electricity with hydrogen gas as the input, and the only outputs are electricity and water. It takes hydrogen gas in and produces five to 10 kilowatts of electricity,” Wiart explained.
Wiart said the system would work as a reliable backup power source, especially in communities vulnerable to frequent or severe power outages.
“We had to design it for northern climates and Canada where the temperatures are quite cold to see how it operated. It would be backup power for things like substations or valve stations in the pipeline world or control systems where you need that backup power,” Wiart said.
So far, Wiart said there are two modules being used in the country, but he hopes the summit and further understanding of hydrogen power will see the market grow.
Mayor Amarjeet Sohi attended the summit and told CBC it’s an opportunity for Edmonton’s tech sector to grow and showcase local innovation.
For Sohi, he said his main focus is hydrogen energy to promote clean and reliable sources of power.
“There is so much diversity here and it just shows the innovation and dedication to improving the tech sector in Edmonton,” Sohi said.
This content was originally published here.
