Let's talk robotics with Deanna Hood
Joining me today is Deanna Hood. Ever wondered how ROS developers get there, or the innovation behind a medical robot in a startup, and how it compares to designing an educational robot in academia? When Deanna Hood started uni aged 15 years old, she admits not knowing much about her career goals except that she was good at maths. This led her to “add on” electrical engineering to her maths degree, receiving academic and leadership medals for topping the class despite her age. After a stint developing a low-cost USB stethoscope for diagnosing pneumonia in developing countries (check out the TED Talk), she went on to get her M.Sc. in Robotics and Computer Vision — living in four European countries over the two years as the first Australian to receive a full scholarship to the VIBOT Erasmus Mundus programme. For her Masters thesis she developed, in collaboration with teachers, the first robotic partner for children with handwriting difficulties, which in an innovative twist on educational robotics is designed to intentionally write badly so that through the act of correcting it children can benefit from “learning by teaching”.
In her most recent position as the Senior Robotics Engineer on the Ligō skin-printing robot, Deanna's engineering team worked with Prof. Fiona Wood (2005 Australian of the Year) and biomaterials experts to deliver regenerative cell therapy using a patient’s own skin cells bioprinted directly onto their wound. This work is based in Inventia’s precision bioprinting technology that has been developed for RASTRUM, a 3D bioprinter used by medical researchers to create replica micro-tumours for cancer research and personalised medicine. Deanna previously worked in Silicon Valley as a core developer of the Robot Operating System (ROS 2), used by roboticists around the world, including penguin conservation robots in Antarctica, search and rescue robots after nuclear disasters, and now used by NASA in the VIPER mission!