BEGIN:VCALENDAR METHOD:REQUEST PRODID:Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 VERSION:2.0 BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:AUS Eastern Standard Time BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:16010101T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:+1100 TZOFFSETTO:+1000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1;BYDAY=1SU;BYMONTH=4 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:16010101T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:+1000 TZOFFSETTO:+1100 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1;BYDAY=1SU;BYMONTH=10 END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT 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 ATTENDEE;ROLE=REQ-PARTICIPANT;PARTSTAT=NEEDS-ACTION;RSVP=TRUE;CN=seminars@a cfr.usyd.edu.au:mailto:seminars@acfr.usyd.edu.au ATTACH:CID:image002.png@01DCD3FD.EC5803D0 ATTACH:CID:image001.jpg@01DCD7DE.D6084510 DESCRIPTION;LANGUAGE=en-US:Faculty of Engineering\n ACFR Seminar Series\n[ https://d31hzlhk6di2h5.cloudfront.net/20260424/44/a0/ac/85/83de99ae1318da0 add393c81.png]\n[cid:image001.jpg@01DCD7DE.D6084510]\nThree Years Sober: F rom Research to Commercialisation\nPresented by Dr. Clyde Webster\nDate: T hursday\, 30 April 2026\, at 1:00 pm AEDT\nVenue: ACFR seminar area\, J04 level 2 (Rose St Building)\nZoom ID: https://uni-sydney.zoom.u s/s/87306457455\n**RSVP by Tuesday 28 April for catering purpo ses. Accept this calendar invitation if you plan to attend the seminar in person and join us for a light lunch at approximately 12.30pm\n\nAbstract: \n\nThis talk traces Dr. Clyde Webster’s journey from the curiosity-driv en world of academic research to the unforgiving realities of building a d eep-tech robotics startup from scratch. Along the way\, an unlikely detour through the biomechanics of parrot locomotion gave rise to a novel approa ch to robot design and a broader philosophy about where the best engineeri ng ideas actually come from. Moving from research into commercialisation h as been as much a personal journey as a professional one. Clyde’s unders tanding of what it means to create value\, validate ideas\, and build some thing durable has evolved significantly along the way\, and with it\, his appreciation for what academic research does uniquely well and where the t wo worlds can complement each other most effectively. Drawing on three and a half years of building Crest Robotics from the ground up\, Clyde reflec ts honestly on the transition\, the mindset shifts it demanded and the way s his relationship with universities has changed from the inside out. Rath er than a story of departure\, this is a story about learning to engage di fferently\, treating academic institutions as genuine partners for talent\ , collaborative research\, and shared infrastructure while navigating the realities of building under commercial constraints. This talk is for resea rchers who want their work to reach further\, and for anyone who has ever wondered what it would take to build something with it.\n\nBio:\n\n\nDr. C lyde Webster is the Founder and Managing Director of Crest Robotics\, a co mpany built on a simple conviction: the industries that keep our infrastru cture running and our workers safe have never needed better tools more urg ently\, and robotic technology has never been more capable of providing th em. The gap between those two facts is the problem Crest exists to solve. As the world’s first self-proclaimed robotics morphologist\, his career has been shaped by one recurring question: what form best serves a given f unction? His PhD at the University of Technology Sydney began with a pract ical challenge posed by the Tokyo Electric Power Company\, on how to keep workers safe maintaining complex power transmission infrastructure. Search ing for answers led him to an unlikely source of inspiration. Parrots use three limbs to navigate complex structures while performing work at height \, a form perfectly matched to its function. That insight became the found ation of a novel robot architecture and a broader philosophy that has guid ed his work ever since. That question also took him to NASA’s Jet Propul sion Laboratory as a visiting scholar\, publishing collaborative research on rover morphology for lunar exploration\, and into industry as a lead en gineer at Space Machines Company during Australia’s largest ever spacecr aft launch. But founding his own company was always the destination\, and three and a half years ago Clyde launched Crest Robotics\, building it ent irely from sales and competitive 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 seven\, expanding its customer base to include P owercor\, Powerlink\, and Zinfra. That same form-meets-function thinking s haped Charlotte\, a bio-inspired construction robot that straddles walls a s it prints using locally sourced materials\, deployable in a fraction of the time and footprint of conventional gantry systems. Developed with supp ort from the NSW Space+ Program\, Charlotte attracted letters of collabora tion from commercial lunar payload providers including Intuitive Machines and ispace when demonstrated at the 2025 International Astronautical Congr ess in Sydney. Clyde is actively seeking collaborations with researchers w orking in construction\, infrastructure\, and related fields\, and is part icularly interested in connecting with academics ready to see their work c reate tangible impact in industry.\n\n[Register for Event >]\n [https://d31hzlhk6di2h5.cloudfront.net/20260424/2e/8d/c7/1c/1c70baef8b350e 3840963efe.png]\n\n[Web Site]\n[LinkedIn]\n[X]\n[YouTube]\n\nCopyright © 2026\n\nThe University of Sydney\n\nPlease add acfr.admin@sydney.edu.au to your address book or senders safe list to make sure you continue t o see our emails in the future.\n\n\n\nCricos Code 00026A TEQSA PRV12057\ nDisclaimer | Privacy statement |\n\nManage your preferences | Opt Out using TrueRemove™\nGot th is as a forward? Sign up to receive our future emails.\nVie w this email online.\n\n\nRose Street Building J04 Level 2 | D arlington\, 2008 AU\n\n\n UID:040000008200E00074C5B7101A82E008000000009CA5A41FAAD3DC01000000000000000 010000000A407121805E5B24DB7E54A8455F67638 SUMMARY;LANGUAGE=en-US:ACFR Seminar Series: Dr. Clyde Webster - Three Years Sober: From Research to Commercialisation DTSTART;TZID=AUS Eastern Standard Time:20260430T130000 DTEND;TZID=AUS Eastern Standard Time:20260430T140000 CLASS:PUBLIC PRIORITY:5 DTSTAMP:20260429T034836Z TRANSP:OPAQUE STATUS:CONFIRMED SEQUENCE:2 LOCATION;LANGUAGE=en-US:ACFR J04 Level 2 Seminar Area:\; https://maps.app.g oo.gl/PUJdbB9oUTtg5fLr8\; ZOOM:\; https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/s/87306457455 X-MICROSOFT-CDO-APPT-SEQUENCE:2 X-MICROSOFT-CDO-OWNERAPPTID:2124727398 X-MICROSOFT-CDO-BUSYSTATUS:TENTATIVE X-MICROSOFT-CDO-INTENDEDSTATUS:BUSY X-MICROSOFT-CDO-ALLDAYEVENT:FALSE X-MICROSOFT-CDO-IMPORTANCE:1 X-MICROSOFT-CDO-INSTTYPE:0 X-MICROSOFT-DONOTFORWARDMEETING:FALSE X-MICROSOFT-DISALLOW-COUNTER:FALSE X-MICROSOFT-REQUESTEDATTENDANCEMODE:DEFAULT X-MICROSOFT-ISRESPONSEREQUESTED:TRUE X-MICROSOFT-LOCATIONDISPLAYNAME:ACFR J04 Level 2 Seminar Area:\; https://ma ps.app.goo.gl/PUJdbB9oUTtg5fLr8\; ZOOM:\; https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/s/873 06457455 X-MICROSOFT-LOCATIONSOURCE:None X-MICROSOFT-LOCATIONS:[{"DisplayName":"ACFR J04 Level 2 Seminar Area:"\,"Lo cationAnnotation":""\,"LocationUri":""\,"LocationStreet":""\,"LocationCity ":""\,"LocationState":""\,"LocationCountry":""\,"LocationPostalCode":""\," LocationFullAddress":""}\,{"DisplayName":"https://maps.app.goo.gl/PUJdbB9o UTtg5fLr8"\,"LocationAnnotation":""\,"LocationUri":""\,"LocationStreet":"" \,"LocationCity":""\,"LocationState":""\,"LocationCountry":""\,"LocationPo stalCode":""\,"LocationFullAddress":""}\,{"DisplayName":"ZOOM:"\,"Location Annotation":""\,"LocationUri":""\,"LocationStreet":""\,"LocationCity":""\, "LocationState":""\,"LocationCountry":""\,"LocationPostalCode":""\,"Locati onFullAddress":""}\,{"DisplayName":"https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/s/873064574 55"\,"LocationAnnotation":""\,"LocationUri":""\,"LocationStreet":""\,"Loca tionCity":""\,"LocationState":""\,"LocationCountry":""\,"LocationPostalCod e":""\,"LocationFullAddress":""}] BEGIN:VALARM DESCRIPTION:REMINDER TRIGGER;RELATED=START:-PT15M ACTION:DISPLAY END:VALARM END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR