Full recap | MapleHub AI Workshop, July 2026: Embodied intelligence and a new measure of growth in the AI era
The full July 2026 MapleHub AI Workshop recap: embodied intelligence, a new measure of growth in the AI era, two guest talks, and the co-organizers and sponsors.
By Prompthon6 min read
Translated from 简体中文
MapleHub
Embodied AI
Community
Workshop
Growth
MapleHub AI events
Held on the afternoon of the last Saturday of each month.
MapleHub brings AI technology, real work scenarios, and community conversations together in person. Whether you are building a basic understanding, moving your own project forward, or looking for people to collaborate with, you are welcome to join us to learn, ask questions, and put ideas into practice.
Interested in the next session? Watch for upcoming MapleHub events and bring your questions, experience, or a project you are working on to the conversation.
Group photo at the MapleHub AI Workshop
Date and time: Saturday, July 25, 2026, 14:00–17:00, Toronto time
Venue: 3000 Steeles Ave E, Markham, ON L3R 4T9
Participants: 23 (as recorded on the community event page at the time of writing)
MapleHub AI Workshop: Making AI understandable and bringing practice into the room
MapleHub AI Workshop is an in-person series for learning about AI and exchanging ideas within the Chinese-speaking community. Built around monthly meetups, in-depth explanations from experts, and hands-on practice, it brings emerging AI technology, real work scenarios, and community dialogue into one space. It helps newcomers develop a framework for understanding AI while giving experienced participants a next step for experimentation, collaboration, and sharing.
This session was organized by the Huazhong University of Science and Technology Toronto Alumni Association, with Prompthon.IO and other partners as co-organizers. It continued MapleHub’s discussions, which have progressed from introductions to AI tools and workflows to practical work with large language models and local agents. This time, the focus moved further into embodied intelligence and new ways of thinking about personal growth and competitiveness in the AI era.
Guest talk 1 | Pengyi Liao: Embodied intelligence enters the real world
Pengyi Liao (廖鹏毅) is an alumnus of the 2012-entry cohort of the School of Electrical Engineering and the Qiming College experimental program at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. He currently works at 2012 Laboratories, Huawei Canada Research Institute. In his talk, “AI’s Next Stop: Embodied Intelligence Enters the Real World,” he traced the development of embodied intelligence. Starting with the connections between perception, action, and real environments, he explained why AI is moving beyond purely digital spaces toward systems that can understand and participate in the physical world.
The talk explored representative applications and future trends in embodied intelligence. When model capabilities are combined with sensors, robots, and environmental feedback, AI’s value extends beyond generating content to observing, making judgments, collaborating, and completing tasks in concrete settings. This perspective also made it easier for participants to understand the growing intersection of robotics, spatial computing, and agents.
Pengyi Liao speaking about the connection between embodied intelligence and the real world
Guest talk 2 | Liqing Pan: A different measure of growth and competitiveness
Liqing Pan (潘立清) is an alumnus of Huazhong University of Science and Technology’s 2002 undergraduate cohort in Optoelectronic Information and a 2016 graduate alumnus in Electronics and Information. He is now the founder and Director of Agentize.AI. His talk, “A Different Measure of Growth and Competitiveness in the AI Era,” moved the discussion beyond individual skills or one-off outputs toward longer-term questions about personal and organizational development.
Starting from three dimensions — connection, trust, and creating results — he asked what remains worth building over time as technology becomes more accessible: can we form effective connections with other people, build trusting relationships through collaboration, and turn ideas into outcomes that can be verified? The discussion encouraged participants to bring these questions back to their own learning, careers, and approaches to nurturing growth within their families.
Liqing Pan speaking about growth and competitiveness in the AI era
Looking back at the event
One talk examined technology trends; the other explored paths for human growth. Both pointed to the same question: as AI rapidly enters the real world, how can we keep learning, take part, and turn understanding into action? Thank you to everyone who joined the conversation. We also invite you to watch for MapleHub’s upcoming in-person events.
Conversations at the MapleHub AI Workshop
For more Prompthon community events and learning resources, visit prompthon.io/events.
Co-organizers and sponsors
We thank the following partners for supporting MapleHub AI Workshop. In their respective fields, they also continue to advance AI applications, business services, and community connections.
Co-organizer | Prompthon.IO
Prompthon co-organized this event and continues to support community learning, discussion, and practical work around AI tools, agents, and local workflows.
Founded by Daniel, an alumnus of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, this generative AI financing advisory and technology services company focuses on enterprise agents, AI workflows, and business automation. In the three years since its founding, it has helped 7 AI startups in Canada and the United States obtain funding and development support from the incubator stage through Series A.
Founded by Roy, an alumnus of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, One Deal Outlet is an AI-driven e-commerce platform in North America with annual GMV exceeding US$60 million. It uses AI algorithms to optimize product selection, pricing, logistics, and warehousing, offering North American consumers quality local products at more competitive prices.
Based in Markham, Ontario, Canada, this AI consulting company focuses on applying artificial intelligence to real business scenarios and helping companies move from proof of concept to actual deployment. Its team combines AI, financial modeling, risk management, and digital asset analysis to provide data analysis, model development, process optimization, and decision support.
Founded by Wang Lu (Jessica Wang), an alumna of Huazhong University of Science and Technology’s 2003-entry cohort, the firm focuses on tax planning, tax advice, accounting, and corporate financial services for Canadian businesses and individuals. It has also long supported technology innovators, cross-border startup teams, and small and medium-sized businesses in building sound, sustainable accounting and tax systems.
