CaSPA Conference Keynote: Marita Cheng, “The Gender Divide – Strategies to get girls into engineering and technology”
Marita Cheng was the 2012 Young Australian of the Year and is a technology entrepreneur and women in technology advocate. Marita Cheng is the founder and CEO of aubot (formerly called 2Mar Robotics), which makes a telepresence robot, Teleport, for kids with cancer in hospital to attend school, people with a disability to attend work and to monitor and socialise with elderly people. Teleports have been sold to offices, museums, coworking spaces, for kids with cancer in hospitals and for security. As well as telepresence robots, aubot does research and development in robotic arms, virtual reality and autonomous mapping and navigation.
http://www.maritacheng.com/bio.html
The importance of her Catholic education in shaping a well-rounded person (Cairns local).
Interest started through robotics competitions at school. Importance of bringing lots of different areas together in academic interests. So few girls studying mechatronics or software with her. Robogals was a means of addressing the perceived barriers to women engaging with robotics and mechatronics – uni friends running workshops for schools.
Robogals Asia Pacific delivers workshops in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines.
The first Robogals chapter was established in 2008 at the University of Melbourne and has since expanded to the 14 chapters in the region.
Please see each chapter in the chapters menu for more details on how to get in touch with your local Robogals team.
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Aipoly vision (the technology is amazing for merchandise and retail, but its power for vision disabled people)
Aubot (Since 2013, aubot has been designing robots that fit the needs of a variety of individuals. From robotic arms that attach to wheelchairs for people with a disability, to telepresence robots that allow a more human-like communication over long distance)
This was so impressive because her entrepreneurial activity seems focused on the human dimension. She also has demonstrated a high level of resilience and a sense of community – pretty encouraging for Catholic educators to see a graduate ticking so many boxes.
