Revolutionary Robot

Jon Morris says he graduated from Ivey “feeling very entrepreneurial.” After three years working for a heavy equipment company in Edmonton, Alta., Morris got married and moved to Vancouver, B.C. to start his own management consultant business. The work snowballed and, in 1996, a custom software development company, JDQ Systems Inc., was formed.

JDQ has since helped a wide range of companies manage software, automation, and IT projects, but one of its most ambitious projects to date is a collaborative service robot that helps people with developmental disabilities maintain their independence.

The robot, named Aether, uses facial recognition and other technologies to interact with people and to provide some basic needs such as scheduling activities, providing information, and even telling jokes when prompted. It can also navigate autonomously throughout a home, recognize emotions, and monitor activities, including if a resident were to fall or even have a seizure.

Aether is part of the JDQ 3Spheres Robotics Project, launched in 2015, and is being tested at several group homes in the Vancouver area. It’s a partnership between JDQ and the Developmental Disabilities Association, together with post-doctoral students at the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University, funded by Mitacs and NSERC.

Morris wants to be clear that the robot wasn’t created to replace humans, but instead to offer support for caregivers, especially as the population ages and more people are in need of care.

“It’s not a companion. It’s a concierge,” Morris says. “It helps to facilitate more human contact, rather than eliminate it.”

He says the robot, which is still in the development stage, is a continuation of the entrepreneurial drive he developed at Ivey more than 30 years ago.

His company is hoping to commercialize the robot in the near future and expand its use into eldercare and other types of caregiving facilities.

Photos: Lindsay Siu
Art Direction: Greg Salmela, Aegis