• Blog
  • Archives
  • Bio
  • Awards
  • Speaking
  • Book
  • Contact

Aipoly at Singularity University

Published: Wednesday, 30 September 2015

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!

About Me

Marita ChengForbes 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.

Subscribe

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Random Articles

  • Where are you not looking?

    You’ve brainstormed and tried all the keywords that you could think of in Google, you’ve asked Jeeves, you’ve spoken to your lecturers and you’ve...

  • Remembering my piano teacher Mrs Langtree

    When people ask me abut my influences growing up, I tell them about my piano teacher, Mrs Langtree. I went to my first piano lesson when I was 7...

  • When to launch

    I was thinking about my business idea and wondering when would be the right time to launch, if to launch and how. It was really doing my head in. I...

  • Playing with robots

    Playing with robots in the office with Kyle van Dordrecht.  We timed ourselves putting a robotics kit together...  then we modified the kit.  

  • CES 2019

    The team created some new Aubot prototypes for some different kinds of robots.  I took them to CES to show them off.  Here I am with the robot...

  • How I manage

    For one of the projects I’ve been leading for over the past 2.5 years, I manage a team of 20 people remotely. I meet with all of my direct reports...

  • Global Summit of Women in Tokyo

    I attended the Global Summit of Women in Tokyo, Japan 11-13 May and gave a presentation about aubot, then spoke on a panel.  It was live-translated...

  • Non-profit founder critics

    Why are people so critical when young people start non-profits? Time and time again, I hear people say, "there are enough non-profits out there....

  • Jevaroo - pouring a glass of water

    Here is our 8-degree-of-freedom robotic arm Jevaroo, pouring a glass of water and then moving around to show its range of movements!

  • Nancy Fairfax Churchill Fellowship

    From January to March this year, I travelled to Germany, the UK, the USA and Jamaica to study "Strategies to get girls interested in science,...

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Scroll to Top