Startup Grind Kitchener-Waterloo
Problems named on stage
At each fireside a speaker from a hard industry describes the problems they still need solved. Each one is recorded here with the job to be done, who is stuck, why it is hard, the speaker’s own words and a link to the recording, so founders can start from what the people who have the problem said.
8 problems Dr. Brandon DeHart of RoboHub named on 16 July 2026
- Augment a person's movement, adapted to them (keep them in the loop)
- Build a dexterous hand that survives the real world
- Build robots for aging in place and long-term care
- Create the certification, standards, and insurance path for robots that can tip over
- Give a robot a sense of touch and force
- Make robotics a fundable field in Canada
- Model touch, friction, and soft contact in simulation
- Send touch, force, and an object's 3D shape over a network
7 problems Matt Austin of Brigade Group named on 27 August 2026
- Find and clear mines, submunitions and plastic munitions after the fighting
- Get a product to the soldier who has the problem but not the budget
- Iterate hardware and software on systems thousands of kilometres away
- Launch many drones at once from one moving or fixed position
- Make fielded technology destroy or wipe itself before an enemy can use it
- Spread defence manufacturing across Canada so it can scale in a crisis
- Stop incoming drones and missiles without spending more than they cost
Working on one of these?
Message me on LinkedIn with the problem you are working on. The chapter connects people across the ecosystem.
Speakers can ask for a change or removal at any time: andrew@loopgrow.co.