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ORGANIZER;CN=Australian Centre For Robotics Administration;SENT-BY="mailto:s
 abrina.asri@sydney.edu.au":mailto:acfr.admin@sydney.edu.au
ATTENDEE;ROLE=REQ-PARTICIPANT;PARTSTAT=NEEDS-ACTION;RSVP=TRUE;CN=everybody:
 mailto:everybody@acfr.usyd.edu.au
ATTENDEE;ROLE=REQ-PARTICIPANT;PARTSTAT=NEEDS-ACTION;RSVP=TRUE;CN=students@a
 cfr.usyd.edu.au:mailto:students@acfr.usyd.edu.au
ATTENDEE;ROLE=REQ-PARTICIPANT;PARTSTAT=NEEDS-ACTION;RSVP=TRUE;CN='academics
 -meeting@acfr.usyd.edu.au':mailto:academics-meeting@acfr.usyd.edu.au
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ATTACH:CID:image002.png@01DCD3FD.EC5803D0
DESCRIPTION;LANGUAGE=en-US:Faculty of Engineering\n\n\nACFR Seminar Series\
 n[https://d31hzlhk6di2h5.cloudfront.net/20260424/44/a0/ac/85/83de99ae1318d
 a0add393c81.png]\n[https://d31hzlhk6di2h5.cloudfront.net/20260424/c6/93/17
 /4e/93651822f71449ace71c3ab2.jpg]\nDr. Clyde Webster\, Crest Robotics Talk
 \n\nPresented by Dr. Clyde Webster\nDate: Thursday\, 30 April 2026\, at 1:
 00 pm AEDT\nVenue: ACFR seminar area\, J04 level 2 (Rose St Building<https
 ://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/gH37CK1DvKTBLzkOEuXcLT5OXhT?domain=t.e2m
 a.net>)\nZoom ID: https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/s/87306457455<https://url.au.
 m.mimecastprotect.com/s/mITKCL7EwMfmLy2Kjcxf2TyqN6R?domain=t.e2ma.net>\n\n
 **RSVP by Tuesday 28 April for catering purposes. Accept this calendar inv
 itation if you plan to attend the seminar in person and join us for a ligh
 t lunch at approximately 12.30pm.\n\nAbstract:\n\nThis talk traces Dr. Cly
 de Webster’s journey from the curiosity-driven world of academic researc
 h to the unforgiving realities of building a deep-tech robotics startup fr
 om scratch. Along the way\, an unlikely detour through the biomechanics of
  parrot locomotion gave rise to a novel approach to robot design and a bro
 ader philosophy about where the best engineering ideas actually come from.
  Moving from research into commercialisation has been as much a personal j
 ourney as a professional one. Clyde’s understanding of what it means to 
 create value\, validate ideas\, and build something durable has evolved si
 gnificantly along the way\, and with it\, his appreciation for what academ
 ic research does uniquely well and where the two worlds can complement eac
 h other most effectively. Drawing on three and a half years of building Cr
 est Robotics from the ground up\, Clyde reflects honestly on the transitio
 n\, the mindset shifts it demanded and the ways his relationship with univ
 ersities has changed from the inside out. Rather than a story of departure
 \, this is a story about learning to engage differently\, treating academi
 c institutions as genuine partners for talent\, collaborative research\, a
 nd shared infrastructure while navigating the realities of building under 
 commercial constraints. This talk is for researchers who want their work t
 o reach further\, and for anyone who has ever wondered what it would take 
 to build something with it.\n\nBio:\n\n\nDr. Clyde Webster is the Founder 
 and Managing Director of Crest Robotics\, a company built on a simple conv
 iction: the industries that keep our infrastructure running and our worker
 s safe have never needed better tools more urgently\, and robotic technolo
 gy has never been more capable of providing them. The gap between those tw
 o facts is the problem Crest exists to solve. As the world’s first self-
 proclaimed robotics morphologist\, his career has been shaped by one recur
 ring question: what form best serves a given function? His PhD at the Univ
 ersity of Technology Sydney began with a practical challenge posed by the 
 Tokyo Electric Power Company\, on how to keep workers safe maintaining com
 plex power transmission infrastructure. Searching for answers led him to a
 n unlikely source of inspiration. Parrots use three limbs to navigate comp
 lex structures while performing work at height\, a form perfectly matched 
 to its function. That insight became the foundation of a novel robot archi
 tecture and a broader philosophy that has guided his work ever since. That
  question also took him to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a visitin
 g scholar\, publishing collaborative research on rover morphology for luna
 r exploration\, and into industry as a lead engineer at Space Machines Com
 pany during Australia’s largest ever spacecraft launch. But founding his
  own company was always the destination\, and three and a half years ago C
 lyde launched Crest Robotics\, building it entirely from sales and competi
 tive grants. Within the first twelve months\, Crest had signed Transgrid\,
  breaking into the energy sector ahead of any realistic expectation for a 
 bootstrapped hardware startup. The company has since grown to a team of se
 ven\, expanding its customer base to include Powercor\, Powerlink\, and Zi
 nfra. That same form-meets-function thinking shaped Charlotte\, a bio-insp
 ired construction robot that straddles walls as it prints using locally so
 urced materials\, deployable in a fraction of the time and footprint of co
 nventional gantry systems. Developed with support from the NSW Space+ Prog
 ram\, Charlotte attracted letters of collaboration from commercial lunar p
 ayload providers including Intuitive Machines and ispace when demonstrated
  at the 2025 International Astronautical Congress in Sydney. Clyde is acti
 vely seeking collaborations with researchers working in construction\, inf
 rastructure\, and related fields\, and is particularly interested in conne
 cting with academics ready to see their work create tangible impact in ind
 ustry.\n\n[Register for Event >]<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/RK
 jkCMwGxOtRjMYXOt7hXT8aeRn?domain=t.e2ma.net>\n[https://d31hzlhk6di2h5.clou
 dfront.net/20260424/2e/8d/c7/1c/1c70baef8b350e3840963efe.png]\n\n[Web Site
 ]<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/YGI0COMKzVT03zknRslsKTG4-Ec?domai
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SUMMARY;LANGUAGE=en-US:ACFR Seminar Series: Dr. Clyde Webster\, Crest Robot
 ics Talk
DTSTART;TZID=AUS Eastern Standard Time:20260430T130000
DTEND;TZID=AUS Eastern Standard Time:20260430T140000
CLASS:PUBLIC
PRIORITY:5
DTSTAMP:20260424T054113Z
TRANSP:OPAQUE
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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