Bringing AI into the real world.
SPAIS is a student-led society at the University of Waterloo building robots for sustainable agriculture, starting by listening to the people who grow our food.
Intelligence, with purpose.
We’re a student-led community exploring how intelligent systems can make a useful difference in the physical world. Through engineering projects, industry visits, and conversations in the field, we bring different disciplines together to learn, build, and ask better questions.
We’re supported by a group of PhD researchers at the University of Waterloo and work with Waterloo RoboHub, so members learn alongside people doing robotics and AI research every day.
Learn together.Build with purpose.Think sustainably.
Four teams.
One machine.
Each team builds one part of the robot. Pick a part to meet the people behind it.
Camera & sensing
Help the robot understand its surroundings.
Explore camera systems, data collection, and visual understanding. Study how a robot can recognise relevant crop features in changing conditions.
- Computer vision
- AI
- Datasets
- 3D sensing
New to robotics? You’re welcome here. There’s room to learn, ask questions, and start small.
From the lab.
To the field.
Our first engineering project is a compact, modular mobile robot for precision crop care. We’re starting with growers’ experience and a carefully defined task.
- Stage
- Discovery & concept development
- Current focus
- Farm needs & platform design
- Under study
- Greenhouse crop care
Our goal is a useful, testable prototype. Field performance and crop-care benefits are still to be validated.
A community
in motion.
Follow on LinkedIn ↗There’s a place for you here.
Great projects start with people willing to share a question, an experience, or a little of their time. Let’s start a conversation.
Students
Bring your curiosity.
Whether you want to build a robot, explore an idea, or learn alongside people from other disciplines, you’re welcome to join us.
- Meet the four technical teams
- Find a starting point that fits your interests
- Join conversations, visits, and hands-on learning
- Learn from graduate researchers and Waterloo RoboHub
Growers
Your experience shapes the build.
We’re looking to learn from growers about repetitive tasks, practical constraints, and what useful automation would look like on their farm.
- Share your crop-care workflow and challenges
- Help us review an early concept
- Explore a future supervised prototype trial
Industry & mentors
Help the next idea take shape.
Connect students with practical engineering experience. We welcome conversations about mentorship, equipment, and support for our first prototype.
- Offer a technical workshop or design review
- Contribute components, fabrication, or equipment access
- Discuss sponsorship for student-led development
