Cloud Ground Control (CGC) and Robotics Australia Group (RAG) are delighted to announce this upcoming networking event. The evening will shed light on how drones and robotics are transforming emergency response and disaster recovery in Australia.
Open to exclusive attendees, the event will feature industry professionals, government officials, researchers as well as fire and rescue personnel to foster an exchange of knowledge over roaming drinks and nibbles.
Featuring guest speakers:
- Hon Malcolm Turnbull AC, 29th Prime Minister of Australia (Speaker Bio)
- Professor Hugh Durrant-Whyte, NSW Chief Scientist & Engineer (Speaker Bio)
- Prof Robert Mahony – Leader of the Systems Theory and Robotics Group, ANU (Speaker Bio)
- Aimran Akhtar, Head of Product at Carbonix (Speaker Bio)
- Michal Weiss, Head of Product at Cloud Ground Control (Speaker Bio)
- Andrew Prolov, Head of Australia GTM at Pano AI (Speaker Bio)
- Danny Haipola, General Manager at Nova Systems (Speaker Bio)
- Nicci Rossouw, CEO of Robotics Australia Group (Speaker Bio)
Date:
Thursday 28 September 2023
Schedule:
- 6.00-6.30 pm Drinks, snacks and networking
- 6:30-7.30 pm Industry presentations and Q&A
- 7.30-8.00 pm Networking and drinks
Location:
Advanced Navigation – Latitude Sky Bar, Level 12, 255 George Street, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia (Google Maps)
About Cloud Ground Control
Cloud Ground Control (CGC) is a revolutionary cloud-based command and control solution for uncrewed vehicles. The platform allows pilots and mission planners to remotely command and control a swarm of uncrewed vehicles across air, land and sea through a web browser. By enabling real-time video feed and telemetry, and easy access and management of captured data, CGC provides fully remote visibility to optimise situational awareness in unfolding events.
Developed by Advanced Navigation, who run Meetups several times a year with the aim to educate and enlighten the AI, robotics and STEM communities. In the past, Advanced Navigation has teamed up with Q-CTRL and Australia’s first Astronaut to share their impactful stories with the audience.
About Robotics Australia Group
Robotics Australia Group is an incorporated not-for-profit organisation set up to act as the voice for Robotics in Australia. Established to facilitate the growth of a sustainable and internationally competitive national robotics industry.
Together with Cloud Ground Control, Robotics Australia Group aims to facilitate the growth of a sustainable and internationally competitive robotics industry through a focused, collaborative approach between industry, research, government, start-ups, investment and education.
Hon. Malcolm Turnbull – 29th Prime Minister of Australia
Malcolm Turnbull was the 29th Prime Minister of Australia. Prior to entering politics he enjoyed successful careers as a lawyer, investment banker and journalist.
He entered the Australian Parliament in 2004 and during that time served as Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Minister for Communications and as Prime Minister from 2015-18.
During his time as Prime Minister, Malcolm delivered an economic growth agenda that led to record job creation on the back of cutting personal and company taxes. His government legalised same-sex marriage and reformed the school funding model to ensure a consistent, needs based approach across all school sectors.
His government embarked on the largest peace-time expansion and modernisation of Australian defence forces and defence industry, including commissioning 54 new Naval vessels.
Malcolm has a deep interest in energy issues and renewable energy. He recognised the urgent need for large scale storage to make intermittent renewables reliable and started the construction of the Snowy Hydro 2.0 pumped hydro scheme, which will be the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. He also identified the opportunity for similar pumped storage systems in Tasmania.
Since leaving politics, Malcolm has resumed his business career and regularly speaks at global conferences.
Professor Hugh Durrant-Whyte – NSW Chief Scientist
Hugh Durrant-Whyte is the NSW Chief Scientist & Engineer and Natural Resources Commissioner.
From 2016-18, Hugh was Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK Ministry of Defence. From 2014-16 and from 2002-2010, he was a Professor and ARC Federation. Hugh is a Fellow at the University of Sydney. From 2010-2014, he was CEO of National ICT Australia (NICTA), and from 1995-2010 Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Autonomous Systems and of the Australian Centre for Field Robotics (ACFR).
Hugh is a world-leading authority on machine learning and robotics, and applications in areas including cargo handling, mining and defence. He has published over 300 research papers, graduated over 70 PhD students, and has won numerous awards and prizes for his work, including being named 2010 NSW Scientist of the Year and 2008 Engineers Australia NSW Engineer of the Year.
In his career he has worked with many major companies and has co-founded three successful start-up companies. He is particularly well known for his work with Patrick in delivering the automated container terminals in Brisbane and Port Botany, and for his work with Rio Tinto in pioneering and delivering the automated “Mine of the Future”. He is an honorary Fellow of Engineers Australia (HonFIEAus), a Fellow of the IEEE (FIEEE), Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng), Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (FAA), and a Fellow of the Royal Society of London (FRS).
Professor Robert Mahony – Leader of the Systems Theory and Robotics Group – ANU
Robert Mahony is a Professor in the Research School of Engineering at the Australian National University.
He leads the Systems Theory and Robotics Group at the Australian National University that undertakes research in non-linear systems and control with applications in robotics and computer vision.
He played a pioneering role in developing non-linear filters for attitude estimation, an enabling technology in the early development of aerial robotic vehicles and this work is used extensively throughout the industry.
He also pioneered vision based control of aerial robotic vehicles and was a coauthor on the first experimental paper that demonstrated landing of a quadrotor vehicle on a textured but featureless surface.
In earlier work he developed geometric optimization algorithms that are incorporated in the Ansazi package maintained by Sandia National Laboratories. His present work involves development of a new paradigm of algorithms for visual inertial odometry and inertial navigation systems.
Aimran Akhtar – Head of Product, Carbonix
Aimran has an engineering background. He graduated from the University of New South Wales with a degree in Mechanical Engineering with specific focus on Computational Fluid Dynamics. During his undergraduate degree he was heavily involved with the aerospace and aviation industry via various student projects and engagements.Aimran started his career with Carbonix as a graduate engineer working on the characterisation of powertrain and propulsion systems across the fleet of power-lift UAVs.
He then gained experience structuring test plans and overseeing the testing and commissioning of new prototypes. This furthered Aimran’s hands-on experience and understanding of the various subsystems.He has since been heavily involved in planning and overseeing the execution of our product development plans, using prior experience and handling of the product to drive process optimisation ideas.
From outlining the Concept of Operations (ConOps) to the design and development of the avionics architecture and its interfaces, Aimran works with the various streams within the business to ensure that the end-product is one that reflects both Carbonix’s competitive position as well as our longer-term ambitions. As a key member of the Carbonix team, Aimran brings technical know-how, hands-on aeronautical and product development experience, and a deep understanding of the overall system architecture to the core development stream.
Danny Haipola – General Manager at Nova Systems
Danny Haipola is the General Manager at Nova Systems, a leading Australian controlled engineering services and technology solutions company.
Michal Weiss – Head of Product, Cloud Ground Control
Michal Weiss is the Head of Product – Cloud Ground Control, at Advanced Navigation. She plays a critical role in defining the company’s product vision and transforming product ideas into marketable solutions. During her time at Advanced Navigation, she led the development of Cloud Ground Control, a revolutionary cloud-based platform that helps companies like Ripper Corp carry out versatile drone missions, from asset inspection to beach and fire patrols. Michal has over 10 years of experience in product management and a background in GIS, robotics and Navigation systems.
Andrew Prolov – Head of Australia GTM, Pano AI
Andrew Prolov is an accomplished investor and business leader and is leading Pano AI in Australia. Previously, Andrew spent over 10 years investing across multiple industries, identifying unique companies that sought to improve safety and resilience through the use of innovative technology. He has led strategic programs at multi-billion-dollar, multinational organisations to enable faster, more confident decision-making through democratising previously siloed data. Prior to his work at Pano, Andrew held senior positions at leading financial services and asset management firms in Australia and the UK. He holds an MBA from Stanford and a degree in Business Information Technology from UNSW.
Nicci Rossouw – CEO of Robotics Australia Group
Nicci Rossouw is a board member and CEO of Robotics Australia Group. Prior to that she was the founder and CEO of Exaptec, a start-up company she founded in 2015 to provide service robotics solutions to the Australian market. She has provided numerous robotic telepresence solutions to educational facilities and businesses to augment communication and movement for disabled and incapacitated people. Nicci believes that well designed application of robotics will lead to the emergence of new business models that will change the way people work and play for the better. Noted as one of six women who “rock” robotics in Australia, Nicci is a passionate educator of how robots can augment your life for the better. Exaptec was one of Westpac’s 2018 top 200 Businesses of Tomorrow winners, Nicci was noted as “30 women you need to know about in robotics” in 2020. This is a global recognition and Nicci was one of two women in Australia to be awarded this accolade in 2020.
Nicci is the Co-host of Women in Robotics Group|Melbourne Chapter. She also hosts the podcast, “Let’s talk robotics” which focuses on the talented and inspirational robotics and AI community in Australia. She organised the Generate22 – a robotics & AI conference held in Melbourne on 30 & 31 March 2022.
