Physical AI Meetup - Year-ender

A premier platform to share insights, expand your network, and bridge the gap between Academia, Industry, and Suppliers. The Physical AI Meetup Melbourne brings together researchers, engineers, and industry practitioners working across artificial intelligence, robotics, embedded systems, sensing, and edge computing.

Important: Please grab your FREE Eventbrite ticket to attend.

Hear 4 expert talks, ask your questions in a panel Q&A, take the mic for an AI / hardware demo or announcement, and connect over pizza & drinks. A special thanks to the La Trobe Business School for hosting us, brought to you by element14 Electronics — our trusted electronic components distributor. Take the mic at our Community Open Mic! Bring your demo, prototype, or announcement — whether it is AI, hardware, robotics, embedded systems, sensing, or edge computing. All welcome.

This is our last 2026 Physical AI Meetup in Melbourne, with more exciting topics and event formats in 2027! Agenda for this one:

5:30 – 6:00 pm | Pizza & Networking
Enjoy pizza and drinks and connect with other attendees.
6:00 – 6:10 pm | Welcome & Official Start
Hear a short welcome from the event hosts and an introduction to the Physical AI Meetup community.
6:10 – 6:30 pm | Talk 1 – Practical case studies of Physical AI in Product Development
Overview:
2026 has been a wildly accelerated year in Physical AI. This talk dives into case studies on how the technology has evolved and is being used – from diagnostic medical imaging to battery-powered image recognition in the outback.
Speaker:
Blake Fuller, Head of Product Design and Engineering, Capgemini Australia
Bio:
Blake is the Head of Product Design and Engineering at Capgemini Australia. He has released more than 50 products to market and leads high-calibre product development teams.
6:30 – 6:50 pm | Talk 2 – Technology and Innovation in Home-Based Care Using Social Robot Matilda
Overview:
Attendees will learn how social robotics and AI are transforming residential and home-based care. Key takeaways include:
• AI & human-centred interaction: how emotional intelligence, facial/voice recognition, and multimodal communication enable human-like engagement.
• Personalised care: how Matilda delivers cognitive stimulation, social connectivity, daily routine support, and health monitoring.
• Supporting caregivers: reducing carer burnout, streamlining workflows, and enabling real-time analytics.
• Ecosystem integration: combining companion robots with smart home devices and wearables for proactive, independent living.
Speaker:
Dr. Debbie Mei-Tai Chu, A/Prof, Director at Computer, Communication and Social Innovation Hub, La Trobe University
Bio:
Dr Debbie Mei-Tai Chu is an Associate Professor at La Trobe Business School and Director of the Computer, Communication and Social Innovation Research Hub. She was Program Director of the Master of Business Analytics and Master of Business Information Systems for over 10 years, and has more than 10 years of global industry experience, including as a knowledge management consultant across the public and private sectors.
6:50 – 7:10 pm | Talk 3 – Beyond LLMs: Developing physical grounded agentic memory
Overview:
As AI systems move beyond text generation toward autonomous decision-making in the physical world, memory becomes a critical missing capability. This talk explores how physically grounded agentic memory can enable AI agents to learn from real-world experience, retain context, and continuously improve their decisions. Drawing on Generative AI, embodied intelligence, edge computing, and adaptive reasoning, Dr Wei Peng will share insights into building agents that can perceive, remember, reason, and act in dynamic environments.
Speaker:
Dr. Wei Peng, A/Prof, Principal Research Fellow in AI, RMIT University
Bio:
Dr Wei Peng brings over 15 years of international experience bridging AI research and product innovation across academia and industry. After developing enterprise-scale Generative AI applications at global technology companies, he now leads industrial AI development at RMIT University. He has published at top AI conferences including ACL, CVPR, EMNLP, and NeurIPS, and holds multiple patents.
7:10 – 7:30 pm | Talk 4 – Brain-Inspired AI for Robotics: Visual Place Recognition on Neuromorphic Hardware
Overview:
As robots become more autonomous, the computational demands of visual perception become a major challenge in energy-constrained environments. Can the human brain inspire more energy-efficient robotic intelligence? This talk shares recent research on neuromorphic computing for Visual Place Recognition (VPR), which lets robots recognise previously visited locations. The approach combines Vector Symbolic Architectures (VSA), Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs), and Intel's Loihi 2 neuromorphic processor, replacing conventional nearest-neighbour search with brain-inspired, event-driven computation. Experiments show lower power consumption than a conventional CPU implementation, with competitive recognition accuracy.
Speaker:
Dr. Vidura Sumanasena, Lecturer, AI and Analytics, La Trobe Business School
Bio:
Dr Vidura Sumanasena is a Lecturer in AI and Analytics at La Trobe University. He holds a PhD from La Trobe and a bachelor's degree in Electronic and Telecommunication Engineering from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. His research covers brain-inspired AI, neuromorphic computing, Spiking Neural Networks, and Vector Symbolic Architectures, including evaluating neuromorphic algorithms on Intel's Loihi research processors for autonomous robotic systems.
7:30 – 7:50 pm | Panel Q&A
There will be no question portion after each talk. Please hold your questions for this session, so you can ask anything that may be answered by any and all of the speakers.
7:50 – 8:00 pm | Community Open Mic
Take the mic and share with the group — from hardware demos and embedded prototypes to quick AI-at-the-edge announcements, project showcases, and calls for collaboration.

Last reminder: Please make sure to register on Eventbrite for your free ticket: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/physical-ai-meetup-melbourne-year-ender-tickets-2003999424224