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Monday 11 May 2026
Robotics with a Human Touch: How Sarcomere Dynamics is Engineering the Holy Grail of Automation
The human hand is an engineering marvel. With up to 27 degrees of freedom, it can perform tasks ranging from heavy lifting to the delicate threading of a needle. Replicating this dexterity in a machine has long been considered the "Holy Grail" of robotics. At the upcoming COMPUTEX 2026, one Canadian startup is set to demonstrate that this goal is finally within reach. Sarcomere Dynamics, founded in 2021, is bridging the gap between mechanical rigidity and human-like finesse by combining sophisticated hardware with what industry experts call "Embodied  AI" where software intelligence is translated into high-performance, real-world  interaction. CEO Harpal Mandaher, a 32-year veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces, discussed the company's journey from a student project to a pioneer in the next generation of robotics. From a Son's Vision to Industrial RealityThe story of Sarcomere Dynamics is a family affair. The company was founded by Harpal's son, Avtar, the current CTO, while he was studying at the University of British Columbia. Initially, the mission was deeply personal: to create an affordable, highly functional prosthetic hand for upper-limb amputees. "The first prototype was sophisticated, with 11 degrees of freedom," Harpal explains. "But it was  too complex for a patient to control easily. However, we noticed immediate interest from industrial players who saw the potential for this hand to automate assembly, sorting, and pick-and-place tasks". Seeing the opportunity to impact both the medical and industrial sectors, Harpal and his wife, Nancy - also a military veteran and retired professional nurse - joined as initial investors and co-founders. Solving the Weight-to-Power PuzzleMost robotic grippers today are simple "pinchers" designed for specific repeating tasks in controlled settings, but not suitable for complex manipulation of objects of different sizes, shapes, textures, or weights. For these high-mix tasks, the human hand is ideal. To create a hand that truly replicates human capabilities, Sarcomere had to overcome significant mechanical hurdles. "Ideally, for every movement, you need a motor," says Harpal. "Juggling 27 motors leads to massive problems such as heat, weight, interference, and movement control".  Their solution, the Artus robotic hand, is a masterclass in compact engineering: 1. Form Factor: the size of an average human male's hand (it is actually modelled off the CTO's hand). 2. Lightweight: Weighing only 1.1 kg to 1.4 kg, the Artus hand can be used on smaller, more cost-effective robotic arms without exhausting their payload capacity. 3. Durability: Rated for millions of cycles in industrial applications. Key structural components are reinforced with aircraft-grade aluminum to handle payloads up to 20 kg. The Move to Embodied  AI and "Artificial Skin"Dexterity is nothing without a sense of touch. Sarcomere is currently working with technology partners like Nanosen (Germany) to integrate a layer of "artificial skin" over the hand. This thin sensor layer allows the robot to feel grip force and detect proximity, adding a critical layer of safety. "If someone touches the back of the robot arm, the machine will know," Harpal notes. "It can pause or react, just as a human would". This technology is paving the way for Teleoperation in hazardous environments. By wearing a haptic glove, a technician in a safe zone can control the robotic hand naturally and intuitively from a distance. Inside the glove are tiny inflating bubbles to provide tactile feedback (sense of touch), allowing the operator to "feel" what the robot is touching - a gamechanger for nuclear decommissioning, bomb disposal, or handling hazardous chemicals. Why Taiwan?As Sarcomere Dynamics eyes global scale, Taiwan sits at the center of their roadmap. Their presence in Taipei for COMPUTEX underscores the island's growing role as the indispensable foundation for the next generation of robotics. Harpal is focused on three key goals, including securing supply chain resilience, exploring the potential to outsource manufacturing and assembly to Taiwan's world-class OEM ecosystem, as well as to find "embodied  AI" experts and local robotic arm manufacturers to create integrated, plug-and-play systems."We haven't lost sight of why this started," Harpal says. "As we harden the technology for industrial use, we're continuing prosthetics development in parallel, so the same advances in dexterity, sensing, and control translate into a more capable and more affordable prosthetic hand.  "
Monday 11 May 2026
From Quantum Origins to Analog AI: How Irreversible is Redefining Edge Computing
As the global technology industry descends on Taipei for COMPUTEX 2026 this June, a Canadian startup is preparing to challenge the fundamental architecture of modern processing. Irreversible, a Montreal-based firm with deep roots in quantum computing, is unveiling a "physics-first" analog in-memory computing architecture that promises a staggering 1,000x reduction in power consumption compared to conventional digital processors.Unlike many silicon startups that originate in traditional chip design, Irreversible’s journey began in the highly constrained world of quantum physics. The core team originally specialized in quantum computing, where they were forced to solve computing problems within the extreme limitations of a dilution refrigerator - an environment where even the slightest heat or noise can destroy a fragile quantum state. Co-Founder Dominic Marchand explains that this background led them to become a "computing company that found its way to designing chips," rather than the reverse. This unique DNA pushed the team to strip away decades of architectural abstractions and return to the most basic laws of physics to find the most energy-efficient ways to process information.The current industry obsession with massive Large Language Models (LLMs) has created a significant energy crisis, particularly at the "extreme edge" where devices must operate on microwatt-class power. Irreversible addresses this by sidestepping the Von Neumann bottleneck, the energy-intensive movement of data back and forth between memory and the processor. By performing calculations directly in memory and maintaining a fully analog signal path, Irreversible also eliminates the power-hungry digital-to-analog conversions that often limit hybrid AI chips. This approach recognizes that while digital logic offers noise protection, the energy required to strictly maintain ones and zeros is a luxury that edge sensors can no longer afford.A critical point of differentiation is how Irreversible compares to other innovators in this space. Marchand notes that while he is proud of the Canadian leadership in analog in-memory compute, Irreversible maintains several distinct advantages. First, the company is memory-agnostic, meaning they are not tied to a single proprietary memory technology and can instead utilize various non-volatile memories and emerging RRAM roadmaps. Second, the company places extraordinary emphasis on its software and simulation tools, which allow their hardware and software teams to work in lockstep. Their proprietary hardware-aware training ensures that neural networks remain accurate by accounting for the inherent variability of analog circuits during the initial training phase.For their up-coming visit to Taipei, Irreversible has set clear strategic objectives to integrate with the world's leading semiconductor ecosystem. A primary goal is establishing high-level connections with semiconductor foundries to gain privileged access to specific memory cells, which are essential for their "physics-first" custom designs. Additionally, the company is actively seeking partnerships with OEMs and solution integrators. By bringing intelligence directly to the sensor site, Irreversible aims to enable "previously impossible" use cases, such as deploying sophisticated AI on small drones or always-on wearable devices that cannot support a traditional GPU. Ultimately, Irreversible arrives in Taipei not just to showcase a chip, but to advocate for a shift in how the world thinks about intelligence. By trading the rigid certainty of digital bits for the natural efficiency of physics, they are proving that the future of AI isn't just about more power - it's about more efficient computing.
Monday 11 May 2026
Secure City Solutions: The Canadian Firm Revolutionizing High-Stakes Video Data
In the high-stakes world of global security and emergency response, the shift toward "video-centric" operations has created a massive technical bottleneck: the struggle to transmit high-quality data over narrow, unreliable bandwidth. Secure City Solutions, a Canadian fast-growing company, is bridging this gap between military-grade demands and smart city infrastructure.In an exclusive interview, Siva Kumar, CEO of Secure City Solutions, explained why Taiwan plays an essential role in the company's global expansion, and why he has signed up to attend COMPUTEX 2026 in Taipei in June. "We not only want to address the Taiwan market, but we're also looking for hardware manufacturers for our global deployment."The company was born from a specific challenge faced by founders with deep military and defense backgrounds, including former General Dynamics leadership and a Colonel in the Canadian defense forces. They recognized that whether in a military conflict or a law enforcement pursuit, personnel often struggled to send big data over radios with low bandwidth. This led to the development of a unique solution designed to deliver forensic-quality video from one point to another without losing the essential details required for legal and operational use.At the heart of their offering is the Omni Compressor, a neural-type algorithm that drastically shrinks the digital footprint of video data. While traditional compression often drops frames or reduces resolution to save space, Secure City's technology maintains the original frame rate and resolution. This is a critical distinction for law enforcement, as compromised video quality is often inadmissible in court. Beyond the legal sector, the compression allows commercial entities like banks to store eight to nine times more footage on existing hardware without losing clarity. The company also claims to reduce costs by 75% compared to other solutions.The real-world impact of this technology is already visible in major global deployments, such as with the Dubai Police and over 45 other law enforcement agencies. The software allows police units to share live video from patrol cars or body cameras over weak wireless spectrums, ensuring that backup units can monitor officers entering dangerous areas. Firefighters have also adopted the technology, using helmet-mounted cameras to transmit live feeds to commanders who guide them through burning structures to rescue civilians. Even in rural areas where 5G is unavailable, the algorithm automatically adjusts to available bandwidth and uses high error correction to keep feeds stable despite network noise or jitter.As artificial intelligence becomes more prevalent in surveillance, Secure City Solutions serves as a vital performance booster. By reducing data sizes - for instance, from 100MB to 10MB - while maintaining original quality, the software allows AI models to process information and produce results much faster than they could with uncompressed files.Looking toward the future, Kumar is exploring strategic partnerships in Taiwan to address local needs for data sovereignty and hardware manufacturing. While the company has been successfully bootstrapped by its conservative, veteran leadership, they are now open to strategic investors to fuel a more rapid global expansion into new verticals like transportation and medical services. Secure City Solutions aims to ensure that no matter how narrow the pipe, the most critical data always gets through.