Physical AI Meetup

Hear 3 expert talks, take the mic for an AI/hardware demo or announcement, and connect over pizza & drinks.

** Important: Please grab your free Eventbrite ticket here to attend. Registration is required, and tickets will be checked at the door. **

A big thanks to our Ecosystem Partner, Stone & Chalk. Stone & Chalk is Australia's largest innovation community, and at the Tech Central Innovation Hub, they connect startups and scaleups with the networks they need to build, launch, and grow the next wave of technologies.

Pizza and drinks for this session are kindly provided by AICRAFT – offering tailored AI models and embedded systems for multi-sensor, multi-modality edge computing, and rapidly transitioning technology into commercial products.

Take the mic at our community open mic.
Bring a quick demo, prototype, or announcement – whether it's in AI, hardware, or embedded systems. All welcome.

Agenda:

6:00 - 6:30 pm | Check-in, Pizza & Networking
Please have your Eventbrite ticket ready at check-in – then enjoy pizza, drinks, and time to connect with other attendees.

6:30 - 6:35 pm | Welcome & Intro
Hear a short welcome from the organiser.

6:35 - 7:00 pm | Talk 1 – Enhancing Sustainability Through Low-Power Edge Computing

• Overview: Everyday life is dominated by an abundance of data, with volumes increasing to the point of becoming unmanageable and pushing data centres to their limits. This talk covers a modern approach to data management that uses edge computing to act immediately on data as it is collected, extracting relevant information and discarding the rest. This approach improves data management and security, reduces operating costs, and enables scalable operations with long-term sustainability.
• Speaker: Tony Scoleri, CEO, AICRAFT
  Dr Tony Scoleri is the co-founder and CEO of AICRAFT, a South Australian company designing and manufacturing low-power onboard AI computers for space and aerospace applications. He was previously CTO at Asension, where he contributed to the development of a satellite and payload that formed part of Australia's first commercial rocket launch. Tony also spent over a decade at the Defence Science and Technology (DST) Group, including managing R&D for an aircraft missile warning system.

7:00 - 7:25 pm | Talk 2 – Edge AI & Next-Gen Connectivity: Do We Really Need 5G/6G for Edge AI?

• Overview: Next-gen connectivity based on 5G/6G is often thought of as a prerequisite for Edge AI. Considerations such as ultra-low latency, uplink capacity, and massive device density are presented as key enablers of Edge AI systems. In practice, today's Edge AI products use limited or no cellular connectivity. This talk explores the challenges of adding 5G/6G connectivity to existing Edge AI systems and whether next-gen connectivity has a role to play in future Edge AI systems.
• Speaker: Venkata Gutta, CEO & Founder, MILLIBEAM
  Venkata Gutta is the CEO and founder of MILLIBEAM, a fabless semiconductor company developing innovative RF and millimeter-wave chipsets for energy-efficient and low-cost 5G/6G networks. He was the technical lead on successful high-volume base-station products, a number of which remain in production and deployed worldwide. Venkata started his career in Australia at CEA Technologies in Canberra and later held senior technical roles at semiconductor and wireless companies in Europe, including NXP, Freescale, Huawei and Ampleon.

7:25 - 7:50 pm | Talk 3 – What's on My Belt? Deploying Laser-Augmented Machine Vision Into Real-World Industrial Factories

• Overview: Computer vision capabilities have exploded with the availability of high-performance cameras at low cost, and the accessibility of GPU-based compute makes advanced models easy to deploy. Nevertheless, camera-only solutions are prone to brittleness and benefit from additional sensor fusion. This talk explores how laser sensing can augment robotic vision to enable real-world industrial use cases.
• Speaker: Cibby Pulikkaseril, Founder, Zabidou
  Cibby Pulikkaseril is the founder of Zabidou, a Sydney-based startup deploying ultra-vision for manufacturing, enabling automated end-of-line quality control for products across many industry verticals. He was previously the founder and CTO of Baraja, which invented Spectrum-Scan LiDAR for autonomous vehicles and industrial applications. Cibby has over 25 years of experience in lasers and photonics research.

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, including project showcases, hiring, calls for collaboration, and more.

Wrap-up & Social
Any further Q&As and chats will happen here.

Last reminder: Please make sure to register on Eventbrite for your free ticket – it's required for entry.