Museum Exhibit in Quebec City Exploring the Digital Revolution Features the Work of Sheridan Students

The Musée de la civilisation officially opens a new exhibition called Head in the Cloud on Nov. 28, 2019 in Quebec City, featuring an installation designed and programmed with the help of an interdisciplinary team at Sheridan. The project is in partnership with Brampton-based, global technology leader ABB Canada and their highly collaborative YuMi robot. Students helped design and program an experience for museumgoers – mainly teens and young adults – that is interactive, playful and highlights the co-creation potential between humans and robots.

The exhibition is meant to inspire people to consider the increasingly complex nature of human relationships with technology. “Rather than technology wedging us further apart, in the future we’ll see more examples of collaboration, especially applications of this nature in advanced manufacturing,” says Dr. Michelle Chrétien, Director of Sheridan’s Centre for Advanced Manufacturing and Design Technologies (CAMDT) where two YuMi robots are housed.

Dr. Catherine Hale, Director Creative Campus at Sheridan, adds: “The intent of this exploration is to break down the dichotomy of creativity and robotics and to see how bringing together technology and human activity can create a remarkable project. It’s also an opportunity to encourage interdisciplinarity at Sheridan through rich, experiential learning.”

Upon learning of the museum opportunity, ABB Canada immediately approached Sheridan and its students for inspiration. In only 15 weeks, Ramzy Ganady from Sheridan’s Electromechanical Engineering Technology program and Nimrah Ejaz, Sonika Gupta and Natalie Maharaj from the Bachelor of Business Administration and who were also Creative Campus Gallery summer assistants, developed a memorable and meaningful application of the cutting-edge YuMi technology.

The museum experience is two-fold. In its autonomous mode, YuMi will be behind glass, continuously drawing on a whiteboard with a series of identical geometric shapes as well as a series of objects like emojis, which show an aspect of humour and communicative potential. In a shorter, interactive setting, a museum attendant will enable YuMi to co-create with visitors on a drawing. The robot will be rotated to face participant. YuMi will draw on a piece of paper and the participate will be encouraged to add to the drawing, or color in the shape. It will serve as a souvenir for the visitor.

Sheridan and ABB Canada have a long-standing partnership, a decade strong. ABB provides cutting-edge technology to CAMDT, which has catalyzed numerous successful applied research projects with local industry partners and students in Sheridan’s Faculty of Applied Science and Technology.

Learn more about Sheridan’s Centre for Advanced Manufacturing and Design Technologies and Sheridan’s Business degrees.