AI & Edge Computing Meetup

A special thanks to Stone & Chalk for hosting us – Stone & Chalk is the largest innovation community in Australia with over 6,000+ members and alumni across 500+ startups and scaleups, and $3.9B+ capital raised.

Pizza and drinks for this session are kindly provided by NXP – a global semiconductor leader present in 30+ countries, driving innovative solutions in automotive, industrial & IoT, and enabling devices to sense, think, connect and act intelligently.

Take the mic at our Community Open Mic! Bring your demo, prototype, or announcement – whether it's in AI, hardware, or embedded systems. All welcome.

Agenda:

5:30 - 6:00 pm | Check-in, Pizza & Networking
Please have your Eventbrite ticket ready at check-in – then enjoy pizza, drinks, and time to connect with other attendees.

6:00 - 6:05 pm | Welcome & Intro
Hear a short welcome from the organiser.

6:05 - 6:30 pm | Talk 1 – Extending 5G to Space: Functional Splits for Non-Terrestrial Networks

• Speaker: Mostafa Shabani, Director of RF System Engineering, Movandi
  Mostafa Shabani brings over 15 years of experience in telecom product development, with contributions across phased array active antennas, RF systems, and embedded software. He focuses on turning prototypes into real-world products and navigating the challenges of bringing them to market.
• Overview: 5G is expanding beyond Earth with 3GPP Release 19 introducing regenerative base stations in space. This talk will unpack what a functional split is between central and distributed units, and the factors that influence design decisions when planning infrastructure for non-terrestrial networks.

6:30 - 6:55 pm | Talk 2 – Reinforcement Learning Applied to Cognitive Robotics

• Speaker: Dr. Francisco Cruz Naranjo, Senior Lecturer in Cognitive Robotics & AI, UNSW Sydney
  Francisco Cruz Naranjo brings extensive international experience through academic and research roles across Chile, Germany, Japan, Brazil, and Australia. He has published over 80 papers in leading journals and conferences, and focuses on reinforcement learning, explainable AI, and human-robot interactions, among other areas.
• Overview: Cognitive robotics combines robotics, AI, and cognitive sciences to create robots that can perceive, reason, learn from experience, and make decisions autonomously. This talk will dive into interactive reinforcement learning, contextual possibilities, multimodal integration, and explainability – applied to cognitive robotics.

6:55 - 7:20 pm | Talk 3 – Bringing Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to the Edge with NXP eIQ

• Speaker: Seif Ayadi, Field Application Engineer, NXP
  Seif Ayadi has been part of NXP's Customer Application Support team for 6 years, providing technical expertise across smart appliances, industrial/automation, and IoT. He focuses on embedded AI/ML and supports customers across the ANZ region.
• Overview: Machine learning no longer lives only in the cloud – it's now running on devices of every size. This talk will cover NXP's eIQ software enablement to run ML on edge devices such as microcontrollers and microprocessors, as well as its hardware portfolio with ML capability, including neural processing units.

7:20 - 7:30 pm | Community Open Mic
Take the mic and share with the group – from hardware demos and embedded prototypes to quick AI at the edge announcements like hiring, seeking collaborators, or calls for feedback.

Wrap-up & Social
Any further Q&As and chats will happen here.

About the AI & Edge Computing Meetup
Launched in Sydney and now expanding city by city, we're growing a hands-on community where developers, engineers, founders, academics, and other enthusiasts come together to explore real-world AI at the edge.
to stay in the loop on upcoming events and connect with others across AI and hardware.

Also check out other Meetups in Surry Hills.