I was invited to demonstrate my robots on a QANTAS flight from Sydney to San Francisco, while we flew over the Pacific Ocean. I said yes! My fellow speakers, organised by TEDxSydney were the amazing data scientist Jeremy Howard, experimental physicist Michael Biercuk and entrepreneur Jo Burston. So chuffed to be part of that line-up! I demonstrated Jeva the robotic arm, Teleport the telepresence robot and even used my brain to control Teleport! Check it out below!
Myself and Teleport (with my business partner Alberto Rizzoli appearing on Teleport) got a really awesome page 2-3 spread in The Age. It looks rad! There were two articles on 31 January 2016. "From disruption comes innovation: Melbourne's 10-year forecast" and "What will Melbourne look like in 2026?".
And here I am on the cover of The Australian's Knowledge Nation, 11 December 2015.
Also, here's another article from the AFR with me as a cartoon character, on 20 November 2015. Read the AFR article here!
We launched Aipoly two days before CES 2016, where we were given a booth for free, as one of five winners of the first CEA Foundation "Technology that Improves People's Lives" competition. We also filmed a documentary in the month leading to CES, with Las Vegas. It’s pretty cool! It shows what it was like to work in our office, our team and culture, the journey to Las Vegas, and our week at CES. Here’s the documentary.
Here's a gif of our booth!
And here's a video of the Aipoly Vision app in action! I have to say, our beta launch of Aipoly is miles and miles better than our minimum viable product (MVP) we created in August 2015. The Aipoly Vision app does all the hard work on the phone itself - it doesn't require any internet whatsoever! So you can use it in the desert, in Antarctica, or even under the sea! Our MVP recognised things at 6-20 seconds an object. The Aipoly Vision app recognises 3 objects a second. That's at least 18 - 60 times faster! And our users agree that it's great! Since launch, we have already had 43,000 downloads. Currently only available on iPhone 5s and above. Download it and try it yourself! http://aipoly.com/
I saw on Facebook that Engineers Australia Victoria were moving into new premises. I saw the national CEO Steve Durkin at an event. He said I was welcome to use the new premises. I said “Is there room for 30 of us?” He said yes. So I checked out the premises the next day. And a month later, we moved in. Here are our premises where we do mechanical, electrical and software engineering for 2Mar Robotics and Aipoly. We recruited about 20 engineering student interns to work with us over the summer. It was so much fun! And we got a lot of work done.
If you're interested in doing an internship in engineering - software, mechanical, electrical, email us This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with a cover letter and resume!
Open plan of where we worked, from above
The glorious view from our office
A lot of space to design and build robots
Our team at 10pm (during Summer, the sun doesn't set until late!) at night, watching a movie, gaming and coding
So much space for us to spread around
Giving the introductory welcome talk on day 1
I've been named the ambassador for a Victorian Government education initiative called Tech Schools!
Tech Schools are shared learning centres equipped with cutting-edge technology that will capture the imagination of and engage high school students. Ten of these high-tech education hubs are being established across Victoria. Students from many schools will be able to access these learning hubs, allowing thousands of young people to experience technology and resources that can’t normally be provided by secondary schools. Pretty amazing, right? The project is in a planning and development phase with school leaders, local governments, industry representatives, TAFEs and universities coming together to form 10 local partnerships.
It’s a project that really excites me because it will inspire more students into Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) training and careers, so I’m thrilled to be representing this fantastic education initiative. My role as ambassador will involve talking to students and educators about my experiences in studying and working in STEM and the world of amazing opportunities it can open up. Watch this space: Tech Schools are coming!
Check out the video below for more information!
The picture below is of me talking to some kids at the launch event with the Deputy Premier. The kids were great! And wanted to know if they could use the Tech Schools after hours to tinker on their own projects!
Forbes named me a world's top 50 woman in tech & 30 Under 30. I founded Robogals and Aipoly and was Young Australian of the Year 2012. Currently working on robotics company Aubot. I'm the youngest Member of the Order of Australia (AM) and I give speeches around the world.
I tweet @maritacheng and I'm on Facebook.
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