Youth robotics
We sponsor P.O.W.E.R., Prince of Wales’ FTC Team 20266, and give students a stage to share their work.
Read the students’ accountBC + AI · British Columbia
Physical AI & robotics
Share what you’re building. Ask for help. Find people to work with.
We support youth robotics, host hardware demonstrations, and connect people working on machines that sense, move, and act in the world.
What is physical AI? AI that uses sensors and acts through hardware. Our group also includes robotics, automation, and wearable prototypes. You don’t need to work on all three to take part.
Meet the group lead
Fiann O’Hagan
Chief Technology Officer · BC + AI Ecosystem Association
Fiann leads our Physical AI & Robotics group and runs the Prince of Wales robotics club, home to P.O.W.E.R., FTC Team 20266. He coaches students competing in FIRST Tech Challenge and helps connect their work with the wider BC + AI community.
His background includes a master’s in artificial intelligence from the University of Sussex and software engineering work in A/B testing, analytics and web performance. He developed deployment technology for the product that became Adobe Target and has worked as a principal performance engineer at Optimal. He has also published practical JavaScript tools for performance monitoring.
What BC + AI contributes
Support starts with the people building.
A place to demonstrate
Show your hardware at Vancouver AI, explain the decisions behind it, and hear questions from other builders.
Propose a demonstrationKeep comparing notes
Our robotics WhatsApp group is for projects, practical questions, and finding collaborators. Students, hobbyists, researchers, artists, and experienced builders are welcome.
Ask to join the robotics groupFrom the students’ competition manual
A stage for the next generation of builders.
P.O.W.E.R.’s provincial competition manual records Ollie and Trevor introducing their team and FIRST Tech Challenge to approximately 200 people at Vancouver AI.
They write about making connections and practising public speaking. The photographs show the students on our stage with BC + AI executive director Kris Krüg.
Read the original manual pageAnother team, another way to help: Furious Frogs · FTC 26025 support campaign
From the community
Meet the builders. See the work.
Prajwal Prashanth
JARVIS: AI you can wear
A Raspberry Pi, a camera, voice interaction, and publicly shared code. Prajwal’s wearable prototype explores how AI could help people with visual impairments.
Lawrence Okolo
From a request to a robot action
Lawrence’s Vancouver AI demonstration connects an AI agent to physical hardware. His work with VASI also explores indoor mapping and spatial intelligence.
A longer local history
Before this AI cycle, there was a giant spider.
Leigh Christie, Jonathan Tippett, Charlie Brinson, Ryan Johnston, Sam Meyer, and their collaborators built Mondo Spider in Vancouver. The steel walking machine dates to 2006.
Through eatART, projects including Titanoboa and Prosthesis brought artists, engineers, volunteers, and students into shared workshops. That history of building and learning in public belongs in BC’s robotics story.
Across the province
Robotics is already at work in BC.
Shipyards, farms, ocean research, and manufacturing all pose different engineering problems. These are a few places to explore the sector.
Selected examples, not a membership or partner list.
- Novarc Technologies Burnaby
Welding automation for industrial work.
- Open Ocean Robotics Victoria
Solar-powered uncrewed vessels for ocean data.
- Cellula Robotics Burnaby
Autonomous underwater systems.
- 4AG Robotics Salmon Arm
Robotic mushroom harvesting.
- Sanctuary AI Vancouver
AI for robot manipulation and industrial tasks.
Get involved
What are you working on?
Bring a project, a question, or experience you can share. If you can offer mentorship, equipment, workshop space, or support for young builders, we’d like to hear from you.