Manufacturing news briefs – stories you might have missed

Farm robot company changes course

University of Sydney spinout company Agerris has announced that it is pursuing “alternative pathways” for its agricultural robot technology. Agerris officially launched in April 2019, following a $6.5 million seed round, to commercialise research at the Australian Centre for Field Robotics. It counted 14 of its robot carts in deployment around Australia as of November last year, able to perform tasks such as collecting crop intelligence, mechanical weeding, and map building. In a short statement posted on Linkedin on Thursday afternoon, Agerris said it had engaged Impact Innovation to “progress commercial options for the various hardware, software and IP assets.”

Star Scientific hires Principal Engineer

Hydrogen technology company Star Scientific has appointed Dr Ashkan Vatani as its Principal Engineer. Vatani’s appointment follows a reorganisation of Star Scientific’s key staff, which the company says will facilitate the move to the commercialisation of services based around the HERO catalyst. Vatani, who holds a PhD in mechanical engineering from Griffith University, will lead concept design, simulation works and all facets of project engineering in general, managing a team of engineers, designers, and workshop staff. Prior to joining Star Scientific, Vatani was project leader with medical devices company CREATElab, where he developed a new ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) drainage cannula.

Nepean awarded Steelwork Compliance Australia certificate

NEPEAN Engineering & Innovation has announced its recent attainment of a Certificate of Compliance for CC3 from Steelwork Compliance Australia.
The company said that it had met the requirements of the scheme and successfully completed the necessary audits to demonstrate compliance with AS/NZS 5131 Structural Steelwork – Fabrication and Erection standard, in accordance with the Construction Category. According to Nepean it is one of only ten companies in NSW to have achieved the certificate.

University-NSW government innovation partnership signed

This week ten universities signed a five-year partnership with the NSW government described as a “high-level Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) agreement” and a first for Australia. University of Sydney signed an MoU with the state government in October 2021, with 11 universities in the state now signatories. The new agreements came with “a pipeline of more than 100 current and potential strategic opportunities” for promoting innovation in areas including “big data, artificial intelligence, cyber security, clinical innovation, clean energy, advanced manufacturing, regional development and more.” 

Picture: Nepean Engineering

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