Interesting discussion. I make a lot of software for Arduinos for my robots and publish it open source on my blog. I rarely get contacted from fellow Canadians (let alone fellow Montrealers). >_>
Arduino is a super example of open source, so if Montreal were to be a "hub", that would entail that a lot more people would be excited about Open Source and would be downloading the code or getting in contact, right?
I find that there's not enough excitement yet. There are ways we could garner excitement, by investing in small companies, creating open source hockey players that can shoot the puck at the back of the net, and gaining more media attention, harnessing power through local politics. Long-term thinking, it may happen!
QB is a telepresence robot, the goal is to transport your presence to somewhere else. The best way to do this is by creating an "avatar", which is a symbol for someone being remotely present. When you get closer to it, you can see exactly who is being represented by this avatar. If you think of it from the social robotics and symbolic interactionism (sociology) point of view, it is one of the most beautiful TPR solutions out there to date. Hope that helps illuminate your question! :)
Grabbing a piece of graph paper and hand-drawing some "pixel art" is quite relaxing due to its simplicity yet gradual complexity. Check out "Zentangles" for other interesting simple->complex doodles.
You can also try listening to a talk radio (CBC Radio 1 is great), or some podcasts. Podcasts will be pretty simple to stick to a routine, since there are some that come out weekly (or even daily).
This looks extremely exciting for the realm of social robotics, as the two disciplines will feed off of each other. It will be interesting to see the depth of the behaviour algorithms created while learning more about philosophy. Perhaps we will be more concerned with other factors in the behaviour, rather than just how it "appears" to the human (or whatever is interacting with it).
Hopefully they won't rely too much on SAT marks for the admission process, and will look at our portfolios. It would be a shame to miss out on a potential star for this program because of low standard test grades. This is a super opportunity!
Arduino is a super example of open source, so if Montreal were to be a "hub", that would entail that a lot more people would be excited about Open Source and would be downloading the code or getting in contact, right?
I find that there's not enough excitement yet. There are ways we could garner excitement, by investing in small companies, creating open source hockey players that can shoot the puck at the back of the net, and gaining more media attention, harnessing power through local politics. Long-term thinking, it may happen!