Aubrey Dunne

As a co-founder of Ubotica, I created my job! Prior to Ubotica I was working with a mid-sized Irish technology company that developed integrated circuits for vision processing and AI applications. I was leading an EU-funded project to develop a wearable device that used AI to interpret the scene around the wearer and provide feedback. For example, one application was an electronic museum guide, where the device automatically recognised the painting that the wearer was standing in front of, and played an audio description via headphones to the wearer. The company was acquired by Intel, and I saw the opportunity to further develop the output of the EU project to build general computer vision and AI solutions. Hence, I co-founded Ubotica to address this opportunity.

A typical day for Aubrey:

I get to my desk around 8.00 in the morning and start by processing the emails received overnight from partners and customers in US and Asian time zones. From 9.00 I typically have several technical calls with the rest of our engineering teams, located in Spain and the Netherlands. After time for a quick coffee, I deal with any technical issues or action items that arose from the morning meetings and then have a management update call to strategise. After lunch, I usually have project calls with partners and customers, to update on progress, define technical requirements, discuss and update project plans as required, and troubleshoot outstanding items. In the evenings I perform core engineering work, whether that be prototyping algorithms, writing technical reports, doing hardware design, or performing electrical testing on our hardware prototypes.

Top tip from Aubrey for those interested in a similar career:

Engineering is about designing and developing solutions that are applied to solve real-world challenges or to make possible technological advancements that ultimately have meaningful benefits to people. Natural curiosity, innovation and problem-solving skills are important in this career path. Hands-on experience with technology can never happen too early, whether this is building prototypes for school projects with Lego, dismantling the broken vacuum cleaner to try to fix it (trying is more important than succeeding!), or interning in engineering companies to gain relevant engineering experience. I would advise choosing Leaving Cert subjects such as Physics, Applied Maths and Engineering, as the fundamentals learned at this level will stand to any future engineers’ throughput their career. Developing strong maths skills is extremely important – maths is the language of engineering! Having a third level qualification in any engineering discipline can open the door to a career in the space industry, with electronic, mechanical and software engineers being particularly well aligned to the industry. Relevant summer internships are extremely valuable even at secondary level, as often experience is the best education for an engineer.