SFU hosts Canada's first Northwest Robotics Symposium

Simon Fraser University’s School of Computing Science proudly hosted the 2025 Pacific Northwest Robotics Symposium (NWRS) on June 20 at its downtown Vancouver campus—the first time the event has been held in Canada.

Bringing together students, postdoctoral researchers, faculty, and industry professionals from across the Pacific Northwest, the symposium offered a vibrant platform for collaboration, research exchange, and community building in the field of robotics.

The one-day event featured an engaging program of lightning talks, poster presentations, and networking opportunities. Participants represented leading robotics labs from SFU, the University of British Columbia, the University of Washington, and the University of Alberta. More than 30 presentations showcased cutting-edge research spanning topics such as multi-robot coverage path planning, assistive robotics for aging populations, expressive speech in robots, safe learning algorithms, human-robot object handover, and the ethical and social dimensions of robotics.

A highlight of the symposium was the keynote address by Dr. Gregory Dudek, Professor and Distinguished James McGill Chair at McGill University, and Scientific Director of the NSERC Canadian Field Robotics Network. In his talk, “Creating More Robust Outdoor Robots by Leveraging Recent Developments in Foundation Models,”  Dudek examined how advancements in foundation models, particularly how large language models are transforming the capabilities of modern robotic systems. Drawing from his extensive work in underwater exploration and human-robot interaction, he introduced the “3FM” approach, offering insights into how these models can address longstanding challenges related to system fragility and environmental variability.

The symposium also welcomed strong industry representation, with presentations from Human in Motion Robotics (HMR) and Ma Robot AI. HMR showcased XoMotion, a next-generation exoskeleton developed by SFU researchers. Designed to empower individuals with mobility challenges, XoMotion enables users to stand and walk independently without external support. The system maintains dynamic stability while offering the full range of motion and degrees of freedom required for self-balancing, walking, sidestepping, stair climbing, crouching, and more.

Ma Robot AI presented its interpretable AI technology, which enables robots to understand and predict how agents move through time and space with human-like intuition. These advancements support safer and more efficient healthcare logistics improving care delivery at reduced costs, and enable autonomous vehicles to navigate more safely and confidently.

This year's NWRS was sponsored by Human in Motion Robot (HMR), MA Robot AI, Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii), Canadian Robotics Council, SFU School of Computing Science and the Faculty of Applied Sciences. 

First launched in 2022, the NWRS aims to strengthen collaboration among robotics researchers across the Pacific Northwest. Previous editions were hosted by the University of Washington and Oregon State University. SFU’s successful hosting of this year’s symposium underscores the growing momentum of robotics research in Canada and highlights the university’s leadership in fostering innovation and talent in the field.