On 22 September, by an esteemed panel that included Honourable Dame Quentin Bryce, Chloe Shorten, Today show co-host Lisa Wilkinson, 7.30 anchor Leigh Sales, Interplast ambassador Turia Pitt, Qantas executive Olivia Wirth, model Jesinta Campbell and co-founder of the Daniel Morcombe Foundation, Denise Morcombe, I was named the Australian Women’s Weekly Women of the Future Judges' Choice Winner. Here are some photos from the evening.
The Award is sponsored by the Australian Women’s Weekly and QANTAS. So I did a photoshoot for the magazine. Here’s the photograph, taken in a University of Melbourne electrical engineering lab.
The award was to encourage the work I’m doing with Teleport, the telepresence robot - giving people the opportunity to connect and be present, even when they’re in another location, state or country!
Aipoly aims to help the blind navigate the world. Our first application enables blind people to take a photo of their surroundings, and have it described to them in a sentence. Aipoly’s initial prototype uses convolutional neural networks to interpret images and relay them to the user in real time, and an API with a human layer for more descriptive semantic responses. We got into TechCrunch with Aipoly! My first ever TechCrunch article! :) You can read it in full here! I worked on the project with my Singularity University classmate Alberto Rizzoli from Italy. Mark Parncutt from Australia helped us create our first prototypes.
Here is the video we made during the first week of our two-week project at Singularity University showing users' response to the app.
I was attending a picnic with 70 blind people and showing them the app, when it became morning in Australia! So I did a Weekend Breakfast interview with ABC News 24.
After two weeks at Singularity University, our work on Aipoly and our pitch impressed our classmates and the judges so much that we were given the privilege of presenting at the Closing Ceremony as the final speakers. Here is a video made by Singularity University where we speak about that experience!
And finally, Andrea Bocelli used and gave us feedback on our Aipoly app!
From June 13 - August 23, I am staying at NASA AMES Research Park, funded by Google, studying with 80 people from around the world in Singularity University's Graduate Studies Program.
I'm at week 4, and I love it so much. My mind gets filled to the brim every single day. My peers are amazing. It is so much fun to be surrounded by people that push you to be and do better.
To share with you what it's like here, I created a video showing a day in my life!
From January - May this year, I worked on the first prototype of the production model of my telepresence robot, Teleroo.
Teleroo was launched onstage at the Sydney Opera House during TEDxSydney on 21 May.
Thank you for making this happen! Thank you Dianne Boddy, thank you 2Mar team - we pulled it off! :) Thank you Remo! Thank you TEDxSydney team! TEDxSydney, you are the best TEDx in the world!
On 13 May, I was named the InStyle/ AUDI Style Scholarship recipient. Here’s my spread in InStyle magazine. Thank you to AUDI and InStyle magazine for supporting the initiative.
Congratulations to the other two talented finalists. Sarah Liu who is building a platform to connect women with mentors, and Miranda Nation, who is directing a film about a woman and her relationship with her mother. Here is a photo we took together.
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.
When I was planning the first UK SINE, for about a month, I split each day into two. I would get up in the morning, and do all the actions needed to...
Aipoly aims to help the blind navigate the world. Our first application enables blind people to take a photo of their surroundings, and have it...
If your teacher comments on your work and tells you it can be better; it’s not you, it’s your work. If the person behind the counter snaps at you...
What's in it for the other person? If you look at everything from this perspective, you can get anything you want in life.
"Follow your passions." "Dream bigger." "Focus." "You can get there with hard work." "Do what you love because then you'll never have to work a day in...
I led a trip to Israel with Wyatt Roy, Assistant Minister for Innovation, for a group of 45 entrepreneurs, politicians and business people, in order to...
We filmed some more videos of our Jevaroo robot arm in action! Here it is demonstrating its load and lift capabilities. It can lift 2.32kg at the...
Spoke in Hong Kong at the the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) on 9 July. The WAGGGS is the largest voluntary organisation...
Appeared in an epic television commercial with my robot arm!
After a long pandemic hiatus from giving speeches in person, I was invited to be the in-person keynote speaker at The Right Place’s Manufacturing...