Erika Choong is building robots with heart. As an AI and robotics engineer, she is innovating at the intersection of robotics, electronics, programming, real-world integration – and empathy. It may not be a trait we would usually associate with AI, but Erika’s work through Andromeda robotics company is exactly “where technology meets empathy.”
Identifying that aged care and children’s hospital environments can be isolating for occupants, Erika and her team members have worked to create Abi, a personalised robot companion designed to bring joy. Abi is in fact a fleet of robots, vibrant in appearance and programmed to delight, listen, entertain, converse and engage. The development is a technical revolution in care.
“Every week I am at nursing homes testing the product, talking with the residents, staff and even families at times, and it is super clear what is working and what isn’t. Having a tight feedback loop into development also really helps. Then we have a big process taking everything we have learnt from each weekly session and feeding this back into our team’s sprints.”
Thanks to advanced AI and machine learning models, Abi can recognise residents and converse based on previous interactions. This is a level of personalisation that creates meaningful experiences, builds connections and eases loneliness. Abi holds infinite patience and is fluent in 90 languages, giving all aged care residents the chance to enjoy conversation and relive memories.
In children’s hospital wards, Abi injects bright energy and a cheeky personality, blowing bubbles for the kids and telling jokes in contrast to the serious setting. As a sterile mechanical being, it can interact with immunocompromised children that are unable to socialise.
During the visits to these facilities, Erika is the conduit that nurtures connections, always watching and evaluating interactions to evolve the user experience.
“I am at the front with Abi and the customers at nursing homes and children’s hospitals - gaining insight into what works and doesn’t work. Then I am also leading computer vision. How does Abi take in all the visual information she can in a dynamic and often chaotic environment and make accurate and informed decisions? Finally, how do we combine social sciences and LLMs to create an experience for users that feels special, by developing Abi’s memories stack or how she navigates social situations.”
AI or robotics is a tool that you can use to create really cool solutions rather than a means to an end. That is probably what gets me excited about it most.
Based in Melbourne, Erika is a vocal advocate for women in STEM who has proactively influenced more girls to enter the industry. In her own AI student team at Monash University, she ran the HER (Human Engineer Researcher) campaign that showcased incredible women in the space. She also visited her own high school to support the girls in a robotics competition.
While Erika has become a role model herself, she admits that in high school she wasn’t sure what engineering was or the varied career pathways on offer. What she did know was that engineering aligned with the subjects she loved – STEM and art. She also cites a family member as playing a role in her career choice. “I did have a really cool uncle who we would build stuff together over the summers, so definitely got inspired a bit from that.”
Her achievements as an AI and robotics engineer and more specifically, helping to develop a robot capable of genuine human connection, are proof that creativity and artistry are as valuable as technical and mechanical skills in the field.
“To solve a problem, creativity is one of the best skills you can have. Also, finding the art and creativity in a problem is half the fun. Engineering should not be siloed into a specific category or labelled as only for ‘specific type of people’. If this is made the case, the product’s potential and how well it aligns with customers can be significantly hindered.”
The power of AI and robotics continues to surprise the world, making significant impacts and developing solutions at an unstoppable pace. For Erika, this is exactly what makes it such an exciting place to be. For anyone thinking of following in her footsteps, she’d like to remind the next generation of engineers to make their own path.
“It’s a very fun, and fast-paced career. I would say find out what gets you excited in the field and use that as a motivator to develop your own project. Don’t feel like you have to copy what has been done before. Making it your own feels super rewarding and makes the process way more engaging. Then practically, I would say ask for help heaps, join a student team at university if you can, and try to meet like-minded people. It's fun when you are in a group and can work together.”