Jevaroo’s base dual plates are weighted with three heavy batteries, two large stepper motors for the neck’s linear actuators and its own two steel plates to provide the robot with a low center of mass, countering balancing forces for when Jevaroo is pushing or pulling at items (for example, to counter the forces needed when Jevaroo is opening or closing a door). This enables Jevaroo to hold its own when interacting with the world.

The coolest thing about Jevaroo’s base though, is its omni wheels, enabling holonomic driving. This means that Jevaroo is able to move in many directions in the most efficient way possible.

Move forwards and backwards
Jevaroo can move forwards and backwards, like regular traction wheels can.

Move forwards and backwards at any angle
Jevaroo may also move forwards or backwards perfectly diagonally at any angle without changing the direction it faces.

Move side-to-side
Jevaroo’s wheels can start moving in any direction without changing the direction that Jevaroo is facing. Which means Jevaroo can move left and right sideways like a crab.

Rotation on the spot - no turning circle
Unlike standard traction wheel driving, with the omni wheels, Jevaroo is able to achieve a much tighter turning circle - namely none at all.  Yes, Jevaroo can turn to any angle with no turning circle!  Jevaroo may turn on the spot, and even turn left or right at a sharp 90 degrees in its current position to face another direction.

Change movement direction from forward-backwards to side-side on the spot, without changing the direction Jevaroo is facing
Jevaroo is so cool - it can rotate on the spot to face a new direction and then travel forward that way.  In any direction.

This versatility of movement at the base of Jevaroo makes it very helpful when used in conjunction with Jevaroo’s neck and limb degrees of freedom. Used in partnership with them, Jevaroo can use the base’s holonomic drive to open sliding doors (the robot hand grabs onto a door handle and Jevaroo’s base moves sideways to open.). Or open hinged doors (the robot hand grabs the handle and the entirety of Jevaroo moves forwards to open the door). Or Jevaroo can throw items into the bin by picking the item up with her hand and then rolling over to the bin.

The three base driving motors each have an encoder to accurately position each motors in its precise, correct location. By allowing for tight, accurate movements at the base, means Jevaroo can rely on her base to accurately help her complete tasks in the real world.

For one of the projects I’ve been leading for over the past 2.5 years, I manage a team of 20 people remotely. I meet with all of my direct reports every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday morning. I batch all the meetings so they take place one after the other.

My team is located all over the world - mostly all over Australia, so we need to work remotely.

People need to show up to our meetings on time to discuss their work. And they can set their own hours to work outside of that. This allows us to work truly asynchronously. I meet frequently enough that I don’t need to be constantly messaging each of them throughout the day. It’s ok to mostly batch what I have to say until the next team meeting. Since remote work began in full force in 2020, I’ve been trying different ways to optimize the team’s performance. About a year ago, I decided this was the optimal solution for my morale, productivity and happiness.

The team love the flexibility of working whenever they want, while connecting closely with their team three times a week at their meetings.

This process works really well for steady-state work.

I visited Fetch Robotics as part of a field trip for a Stanford course I took. Fetch Robotics sold to Zebra Technologies for $290 million in 2021. They have about 130 employees.  It was so interesting to see another robotics company in full-swing - making, testing and shipping robots. All the while improving their technology and creating more robots to sell.

Fetch robots are used to assist warehouse packers to increase productivity and reduce errors. The robots roam around the floor to where the merchandise is kept - it kind of looks like the part of the IKEA store where the larger IKEA items are placed, except the items are small.  Humans roam around and put the correct items into the container at the base of the robot. The human scans in their id to identify themselves, and then the human scans in the item's barcode to confirm with the robot the item being placed.

After all the items in that location are loaded into the robot’s pouch, the robot then goes to the next location by itself autonomously, and displays the next item to be placed, and its location, waiting for the next human nearby to pack the item.

We weren't allowed to take photos inside - so here's a photo outside of me and the guy who gave our class the robotics demo.

I went to Orlando and gave three speeches in 4 days! I spoke to Baxter Healthcare virtually about failure - my failures, failing fast, failing forward, not letting failures let you down, and the importance of embracing failure in the search for continuous improvement.

Next I spoke onstage for the Alliance of Channel Women, Women's Leadership Summit, a positive feminist organisation, and received two standing ovations!  After my speech, I had so many young women approach me and tell me their plans of how they wanted to change the world!  Later that night, I ran a 1.5-hour training program for Electronic Arts’ “follow-the-sun” Personal Development Day about harnessing your inner leadership, to encourage personal and organizational growth.  It was for the company globally, but because of the time-differences, I delivered the program live to Asia!  Singapore, China, India, and Australia!

It was intense, but so much fun to connect with people all over the world, and in person in Florida.

I love that technology is able to make me so efficient!

From July 2020 - March 2022, I worked really, really hard on achieving a big goal and having a huge impact on the world. By March 2022, when we’d achieved that goal, I was tired. I was burnt out. I wanted to set my next goals and really inspire myself.

So I started looking for bootcamps, retreats and vision quests I could join.

I didn’t find one that fit all my criteria and really resonated with me. So I decided to design my own.

I started designing. After I started designing, I sat down to do my course.

It was really hard to sit down and do my own vision quest or life purpose course by myself in my own time. I decided I needed community - to gather some friends together over a weekend and sit and do my life purpose course with them.

I told some friends about it. They said it sounded great! In fact, most people I told thought it sounded great - and the friends they told also thought it sounded great. It was great, great, great, all around. :)

A friend of mine was going to Europe for a month so she said, “let’s do it when I get back”. So I waited for her to get back. When she got back, I asked my other friend when she was free in July. “Before 13 July” - she was going away to Europe after that. So on 1 July, we decided we would hold the event on 8-9 July.

It was super fun.  Just 5 people.  People could share as much or as little as they wanted.  Chatham House rules.  We curated a series of questions and a variety of activities.  And over 23 hours, with vulnerability, comparison and curiosity, we each reflected on our pasts and explored our paths going forwards.

I think one of the biggest things I got from the event, was community and connection. Being seen, feeling heard.

I’m reminded of the quote, “the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes “Awww!” ― Jack Kerouac, On the Road

I’m reminded of the most authentic and compassionate people I’ve met in my life. Just random people I met at various conferences who’s willingness to be unabashedly themselves made them the most charming people. To reveal yourself to others and be accepted as you are and to accept them in return for who they are. Those are the kinds of people and relationships I’m hungry for in my life. That’s the kind of person I want to be.

I decided that the “Life Purpose” name ideal of the retreat was too lofty a goal, and decided instead people coming away with action items for the next year and a general life direction for the next 5 years would be achievable. So that’s what we did.

I highly recommend everyone organise a “Life Purpose” event with their friends to bring connection and community to your lives. Everyone wants to be seen and loved, just as they are.

Now the 5 of us are going back into the world and into our lives with just a bit more clarity, more confidence and more purpose.  I had a lot of fun, feel closer to my 4 other friends, and I look forward to holding one of these again in a year!