ENGINEERING+AI & ROBOTICS+EDITH COWAN UNIVERSITY
Application engineer Akshat Sharma’s curiosity and perseverance have seen him help other aspiring engineers towards a dream career like his
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planes and all ith his deep fascination for sky, Akshat was the things that soar through eye looking at the always going to have one ploring the depths of the clouds. But today he’s ex plication engineer at oceans in his role as an ap d robotics company artificial intelligence-base Advanced Navigation. state-of-the-art “I get to test and support r untethered technology, including ou derwater and fully autonomous un s. robot, Hydrus,” Akshat say ble drone rsi me sub Hydrus is a fully rveys su , ch ear used for undersea res ious ser e som and exploration. With it can , ard bo engineering and tech on the in ta gather high-resolution da oring coral nit mo it’s er ocean, wheth r reefs, capturing underwate ng offshore cti pe ins or y cinematograph wind turbines. wanted to be In school, Akshat initially ld, delved deeper into the fie a police officer. “But as I my forensics. During I became fascinated with covered the remarkable research on forensics, I dis scientists employ in their technologies that forensic riosity in the field of daily work, igniting my cu technology,” he says. rking with drone To land his dream gig wo d maths, physics and technology, Akshat studie
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chemistry at school and then computer systems engin eering at Edith Cowan University (ECU). At uni, he became the fou nding president of the Engineer s Australia Student Society and is no w deputy chair at Young Engineers Austr alia, WA. Akshat says one of the mo st valuable lessons he learnt during his STEM stu dies was the importance of problem-solving and pe rseverance. “Having the ability to persist through setbacks, adapt strategies and analyse problems fro m various angles has proven invaluable.” That early obsession with studying aircraft models and aerodynamics , borne of curiosity, is paying off for Akshat tod ay. His advice to aspiring rob otics engineers? “Build a range of skills beyond just technical expertise and stay curious!” – Charis Pa lmer
build a range of skills beyond juste” technical expertis Bachelor of Computer Systems Engineering, Edith Cowan University
Intern and solutions engineer, Nexxis
deputy chair, Young engineers australia, western australia
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Founding president, Engineers Australia Student Society, Edith Cowan University Application engineer, Advanced Navigation