interested in science and creating
things I always wondered why my school
wasn’t allowing young people like myself
to play with science because I didn’t
have an opportunity at school I started
exploring with different components from
things that I had taken apart at home
and at my local Science Center which
challenged me to learn more about
robotics and circuitry the first thing I
ever made was a brush pot I had never
seen one before and steam and stem
learning wasn’t popular yet so I had to
figure it out myself I had taken apart
my electric toothbrush reorganized the
components and after a few different
configurations
I built a robot out of it this was the
start of my love for robotics
they were shaky at first but I
experimented with the components to make
it the best fresh but it could be these
are these are the simplest of robots but
when given to a young person they unlock
a wealth of insight and a lot of
questions
good questions I started sharing my
findings with my friends and I found
that they were equally fascinated so I
made a kid when I was 8 years old I
started a company is for the fun and
adventure of brush BOTS two young
children in the hope this would start
their own scientific adventure now I’m
finding that people of all ages love
brush BOTS because it really nice the
creativity in them they may have
forgotten about when people play with
brush BOTS their creative side comes out
and they’re reminded to look at a
different perspective on creating things
in creative and sharing creativity so
how many of you would call yourselves
creative Wow quite a few of you
how many of you have had an idea that
could have been turned into a business
that’s great how many of you have
actually acted on this idea and turned
it into reality interesting for those of
you who don’t think of yourselves as
creative how can we unlock creative
power creativity is the key to being
successful in a world full of advancing
technology when we combine our
creativity with technology we can find
impressive new solutions some of our
problems in many areas such as health
care food industries and the environment
but where do we start how do we create
creativity one of the peoples I really
look up to is Chris Hadfield because he
is very curious and he has seen the
world from a different perspective than
most of us have Chris Hadfield said it
is in his children’s book humans are
always waiting with you just waiting big
dreams about the kind of person you want
to be wonderful dreams but the life you
will live and dreams that actually can
come true
so dreams are the first step towards
creativity and the creativity is how we
can make all of our dreams come true
when I was really young I dreamed of
living on a planet called Laval and
where it had special powers to be able
to live in that environment I made lots
of drawings of what that environment
looked like and the tools that I would
need to survive in the harsh landscapes
looking back I now realize that I was
actually engineering solutions for life
in a harsh environment these are
creative sparks ideas that might help me
to solve some of our problems in with
the environment here on earth or maybe
to help me create solutions for human
interactions with other planets like
Mars actually I even have brush pots on
Mars that’s true
well at least true for the Mars one 12
storytelling project that my company was
part of her beaker head Science Festival
I see brush pots a little bit like the
coloring books of robotics they’re very
simple easy to understand and easy to
replicate
but like the pages of a coloring book
they invite us to be creative and that’s
why no to brush pots end up being alike
they all look different and act
differently in robotics brush BOTS can
help us take those first steps and help
us get started
fresh BOTS can spark an interest in
computer coding the and they teach us
how how circuitry works learning to
write code takes time but it’s something
that most of us can do if we set our
minds to it it’s actually not much
different than when we first learned to
hold a pencil crayon and color inside
the lines coding is the language of how
we can communicate with computers robots
AI and a lot of other technology it’s
really important to develop coding
skills at as young an age as possible
because coding is what allows us to
program repair reinvent and reinterpret
robots and technology I started learning
code with Canada learning code which was
started by Melissa riveting the
workshops have expanded to many cities
all across Canada and the workshops
introduced me to coding HTML CSS C++
Ruby and Python with Canada learning
code
I learned the essential skills to create
whatever I need to so at this point in
my journey I have learned about circuits
and learned how to use different coding
languages but coloring inside the lines
will only take you so far I think that
one of the best ways to learn to be
creative is to spend time with creative
people people who like to color outside
the lines like the people who hang out
at a maker space because the maker space
in my room could only take me so far I
had to find a bigger place with more
tools that I could make more complex
projects with a makerspace is an amazing
place where people can make amazing
things because they’re filled with
wonderful tools to enable your dreams to
become a reality a makerspace is a place
that’s filled with amazing people who
are creative and innovative and are
happy to collaborate makerspace
is a place where people come together to
make amazing things the they will help
the people who are just starting they
will draw the lines for them to color
and then teach them how to color outside
the lines maker spaces allow for
uninhibited creativity one of the most
exciting areas I’ve been able to explore
is wearable technology I met the make
fashion team at a makerspace and since
then they’ve been challenging and
supporting my ideas this is my Nautilus
dress I got to start exploring
biomimicry and how my fashion design
combined with wearable technology can
mimic voluminous and creatures my
Nautilus dress helps make connections
between the person wearing the dress and
the people around them by using
proximity sensors integrated with
laser-cut designs this is a perfect
example of how creativity can help
people to become more aware standout or
blend in we’re already seeing robots
start to help us with the parts of our
lives that need to be more accurate like
brain surgery we’re also seeing robot
start to help us with the mundane
everyday tasks like vacuuming so as
robotics and Technology become more
integrated with our lives we will have
more time to think creatively and to
solve problems colouring outside the
lines so color with the skills you have
and learn to color outside the lines and
then learn to draw the lines themselves
and maybe one day the lines won’t be
necessary anymore for me it all started
with a brush bot a dream
[Music]
thank you [Applause]