Techcelerator 2020

Chief Technology Officer: Kairui Guo

Team members: Palayil Jephil and Li Wang

watch AI-Exoskeleton Demo Day VIDEO Pitch

We are developing an AI-based exoskeleton for upper limb stroke rehabilitation. It is a wearable robot that supports movements during rehabilitation therapy.

The prototype promotes intuitive users’ control by applying machine-learning algorithms to recognise patients’ intent and tracking movements. The 3D printed robot demonstrates the advantages of lightweight, low-power consumption incorporated with wireless communication. The integration of neuroscience, machine learning, signal processing, and mechatronics offers an innovative, effective and safe solution for stroke rehabilitation.

We believe this robot can help stroke survivors to recovery faster from the motor impairment. Techcelerator is offering the opportunity for us to bring this idea to real-life and to make the first prototype to conduct clinical studies.

Motor impairment caused by stroke can heavily affect their daily lives. Many basic daily activities cannot be done without external assist. Currently, rehabilitation can improve these abilities, however, it would take months and years. Additionally issues such as cost of rehabilitation therapy and limited medical resources are imposing challenges for every Australian stroke patient. We hope that using our product would help the patients to recover, reduce the cost, and ease the workload for medical professionals.

Our team members include Kairui, Jephil, and Li. We are HDR students from the School of Biomedical Engineering. We are here to use the knowledge learnt in different disciplines and research skills to create a rehabilitation robot to help stroke patient to recover.

Chief Technology Officer: Elaine Kong

Team Members: Jacky Ly, Jennifer Luu, Novia Pratiwi, Patrick Le, and Yumna Zafar

watch Swooft Demo Day Video Pitch

Swooft is an app that posts your items on multiple marketplaces. Get ready to sell faster, sell more and earn more.

On average, every Australian has $5,800 worth of unwanted items sitting in their home. A barrier to converting these items into money is the sheer amount of time it takes to post the items on online marketplaces and find willing buyers.

And this is where Swooft comes in. Swooft is an app that posts your items on multiple marketplaces. Get ready to sell faster, sell more and earn more.

Our team came together as a result of a desire to participate in the Techcelerator program. We are lucky to have found so many like-minded and talented individuals who are all striving to get our vision up and running.

Chief Technology Officer: David Chambers

watch Demo Day Video Pitch

Gameplan is an Industry 4.0 software product that automates production planning for manufacturing SME’s.

Users construct a digital twin of their production processes which is used to train intelligent agents.Agents use historical and real-time information to understand how organisations work and advise production managers when they face planning challenges.

I joined Techcelerator to help reinvigorate Australian manufacturing. After spending 15 years in the industry, I was frustrated by the lack of solutions that consider the unique challenges faced by domestic manufacturers. Techcelerator is a rare opportunity to collaborate with Australia’s No.1 computer science and engineering university to solve this problem.

David's advice for students thinking of joining the Techcelerator program: Be bold! The Techcelerator team love hearing about exciting and ambitious projects. The bootcamps are a great way to get genuine feedback on your ideas and the team will help in every way they can. Being part of the cohort is an experience you do not want to miss.

Chief Technology Officer: Madiha Anjum

Team Members: Elena Bakhanova, Gnana Bharathty, and Peter Dupen

watch Gamified Discusoo Demo Day Video Pitch

Gamified Discussoo is an interactive tool for policymakers and researchers to gain the most from stakeholders’ involvement, ultimately leading to better-informed decisions and policy for us all. 

It is notoriously difficult to engage people in online discussions on controversial social problems, and it’s even harder to make that engagement meaningful - leading to deeper understandings and insights for decision-makers. Gamified Discussoo is not just another online discussion forum. It has two important features that make it stand out. First – AI algorithms that extract primary concepts from the comments and visualise them as a mind-map on the subject of interest, so that the participants can quickly grasp how the debate or discussion is progressing. Second – game design elements are embedded into the platform features. These include nudging mechanisms to provoke more comments and detailed responses that, consequently, improve engagement and the quality of the discussion. 

Our team's motivation is to help make decisions fairer, more transparent, and democratic by leveraging the wisdom of the crowd.  We come from a participatory modelling research background and know the power of visualised conceptual models to form a basis for wider understanding and deeper analysis. We would like to make this base more accessible to decision-makers in the wider community.

This idea is new, arising from our PhD research and professional experience:

• Madiha – AI-based platform for serious discussions Discussoo
• Elena – gamification strategies for participatory modelling
• Peter – extensive experience in working with agencies, communities and consultants
• Gnana – participatory modelling

Both Elena and my PhD research projects focus on how to make on-line engagement more effective and efficient. The idea for combining them, arose through the Techcelerator application process. 

Chief Technology Officer: Hanisa Mohamad

Team member: Bijay Sapkota

MFR Dating is a dating app that uses AI to verify and match users.

As more and more millennials begin to use dating apps, most of them fail to correctly verify and remove fake users. The MFR app verifies users and matches them using Artificial Intelligence. Users are shown people the AI model has predicted they are more likely to match with based on characteristics and features of those previously liked.

Bijay and I wanted to join Techcelerator to help with validating and growing our product. We hope to see MFR become a reputable company with a product millions of people love and tell their friends about. AI has huge potential to change the dating landscape and we want to play a big role in that.

Our team is made up of Bijay and myself. We originally met at uni, and had reconnected a few years down the road when Bijay had seen this strange dating app I was working on.

Hanisa is a Computer Science student, and Bijay studies Bachelors of Global Studies.

Chief Technology Officer: Kalyani Kadam

Team Members: Lloyd Ceatano, Kin Fong, Sophearina Sath, Nam Tran

Watch PET demo Day Video Pitch

We give pigeon owners the ability to accurately test for performance genes, diseases and discover the sex of the pigeon through a comprehensive interface that combines the ease of access with competitive pricing and personalised services.  

We are a team of 4 biomedical engineering students interested in deep technology specifically the area of genomic sequencing. We strive to close the gap between consumers and deep technology. Our team consists of Sophearina Sath, Kinwee Fong, Lloyd Caetano and Kalyani Kadam. We are supervised by the Biomedical Deputy Head of School Dr Nham Tran.   

Pigeon racers spend a lot of their time taking care of their pigeons. However, they do not have the tools needed to accurately test certain factors in performance of their pigeons. With this in mind, we are hoping to help to solve this problem by providing a genomic sequencing and disease testing service.    

Consumers can increase the performance of their pigeons by genetically identifying 3 main genes and other factors like sex and diseases which can all affect performance in races. Our product is a price-competitive option which aims to give fast results to consumers and can act as a hub for performance testing for pigeons. 

Our team joined Techcelerator with the aim of getting our project off the ground and establishing repute and experience. Techcelerator gives new entrepreneurs like us the chance to learn how to develop and turn a project into a commercially viable product. We were motivated by the extremely talented teams in our cohort, along with the coordinators of the program and their support and guidance throughout this.  

The PeT Team's advice for people thinking about applying for the Techcelerator: Just do it! It is a chance to be a part of something that challenges you and makes you achieve more than you ever thought you could. The structure of the program and the resources and connections that you make in this are invaluable.  

Chief Technology Officer: Swaminathan Palanisami

watch Agri Tech Zero Nitrogen Demo Day Video Pitch

Nitrous oxide is 300 times stronger than carbon dioxide in causing climate change. 80% of global nitrous oxide evolves as a cause of applying nitrogen fertilisers in soil-based agriculture. 

My project is on the utilisation of algae as a bio-factory for the production of nitrogen and feeds it into soil-free agriculture (hydroponics) to curtail the nitrous oxide and carbon emissions.

I am interested in bringing scientific findings to real daily use, mutually in the focus of market value and environmental friendly technology for which I find Techcelerator as an idyllic platform.  Though there are strikes and protests trending, the real sense of climate change has not adequately touched the minds of human beings.  It is going to be a hard reality for our kids, and the following generations heading to experience an unpleasant air, water and weather. We are not leaving the planet to the future generations in the least as we received from the previous generation.  The technology (prototype) I develop through Techcelerator is an effort in the path of handling climate change.

Techcelerator moulds and puts the students with ambitious scientific/technological aspirations into the sieve of the real market and the societal needs that work in actuality.  There is a difference between ACTUALITY and REALITY; if anyone wants to experience or demystify what I am saying, then you have to come into Techcelerator.