From the Executive Manager’s Desk

May 2026

With our CEO Cori Stewart currently travelling to the USA and Korea to engage with leading global advanced manufacturing and AI ecosystems, its been great to have the opportunity to act as CEO.

And what a way to start with our team showcasing a stellar selection of innovative projects to Minister Tim Ayres (read more below)!

I was also delighted to attend PsiQuantum’s ground breaking event in the city of Moreton Bay last week, as well as delivering a small presentation to the Women in STEMM event on how leaders can make a difference to the participation and pay gaps in STEMM when they use their influence to sponsor, advocate for and advance talent that isn’t always visible.

Here at ARM Hub we find ourselves at the centre of a dynamic intersection between world technology, industry adoption and great outcomes for Australian talent. Suffice to say the diary is full and the energy is high!

Allison Bambrick

Executive Manager

Senator the Hon Tim Ayres, Minister for Industry and Innovation and Minister for Science was joined by ARM Hub Chairman Emeritus Prof Roy Green on his visit to ARM Hub to see the work happening across our tenant and partner community.

Across the Hub’s tenants and partners, the Minister saw complex automation solutions, AI tools built for small business, and engineering innovations ready to scale into global markets. The tour reinforced that Australian innovation is world‑class, and solving real problems for workers, communities and industry.

Highlights of the tour included -

ProTX founder John Ferguson on the Arresta 100, a road safety barrier designed to reduce fatalities and serious injuries at Australian worksites. Launched to market earlier this month, the Arresta100’s journey is a clear example of what it takes to get from prototype to market.

Left to right: Senator Hon Tim Ayres; Dr Roozbeh Derakhshan (Founder of DKE), Allison Bambrick

The Air-Conditioning & Mechanical Contractors Association (AMCA) are piloting an AI project to help HVAC businesses access faster, more reliable compliance guidance.

Dr Roozbeh Derakhshan walked the Minister through a tool that works like a trusted digital librarian, drawing on verified source data rather than generative AI. For HVAC workers, that means less time on paperwork, a safer work environment, and more time at home for the things that really matter.

Propel-AIR 2025 winner Dominic Lindsay provided an outline of Nexobot's low-cost parcel sorting system. Built for regional and small-scale logistics, the system provides access to operators who have never been able to afford automation before. Nexobot were the winners of last year’s ARM Hub A Adopt Centre program Propel-AIR, which connects Australian robotics and AI to a global community through Boston’s Mass Robotics. (More about Propel-AIR below).

The UAP visit included a tour of the operation and a look at the Badjgama Ngunda Whuliwulawala (Black Women Rising), soon to be a permanent landmark at Circular Quay in Sydney.

Badjgama Ngunda Whuliwulawala (Black Women Rising) at UAP

Dr Troy Cordie outlined how welding data can be captured on the factory floor, build a sovereign dataset, and train robots for new applications to meet the demand facing Australia’s genuine shortage of welders.

The tour concluded with an update on several flagship robotics projects housed at ARM Hub. The Minister also checked in on the Fish Girl Scampi Caviar robot project, explored the latest developments from Australian Droid & Robotics, and heard from Dominic Spooner on new advances in battery storage systems (see story below).

Together, these projects show how ARM Hub brings industry, researchers and entrepreneurs together to de-risk innovation and keep advanced manufacturing jobs in Australia.

Senator Hon Tim Ayres (centre) with the ARM Hub team

Smarter battery design is opening up new ways to cut waste, improve safety, and keep critical materials in use for longer. By building circularity into batteries from the start, Australian manufacturers are showing how design can turn today’s recycling challenge into tomorrow’s competitive advantage.

That is the approach behind Vaulta, a Brisbane manufacturer building lithium batteries with disassembly built in from the start. By designing for repair, recovery and recycling at the outset, the company is creating batteries that are easier to take apart, easier to service, and easier to recover at end of life.

"Australia has world-class battery engineering capability. This product proves it. We've built something that matches the sustainability, safety, and serviceability standard the industry should be held to," said Dominic Spooner, Founder and CEO of Vaulta.

Australians use around 350 million batteries a year, approximately 13 per person, and the overwhelming majority end up in landfill. Lithium battery fires are now among the country’s fastest-growing fire risks. Collection systems matter, but they only solve part of the problem. If a battery cannot be safely disassembled, recovery at end of life will always remain a challenge.

Vaulta's answer to that challenge is a new battery system launching in the coming weeks, developed and refined at ARM Hub in Brisbane, integrating fire suppression at the cell level where thermal runaway actually starts. Every component is repairable for the full 10-year life of the product, down to individual cells, without specialised tooling. The packaging contains no soft plastics, and a disassembly guide ships inside every unit.

The system also includes PlainView, a monitoring platform that tracks each cell individually. Dominic says PlainView’s like a fitness tracker, but for batteries: "It shows you exactly what’s going on inside each battery, across any brand, in real time. So you can spot any issues early, keep things running safely, and know exactly how much life is left."

The system logs the battery's full history, and flags anomalies before they become failures, "because a battery you cannot see is a liability you cannot manage".

The design has been proven across multiple deployments. When Cyclone Alfred bore down on South East Queensland in March 2025, a Vaulta system kept power running throughout the event at a family-run property on Moreton Island. An off-grid installation in northern NSW was subsequently upgraded with a further 43 kWh of capacity. A permaculture farm in Lismore chose Vaulta specifically because the battery is repairable.

"Vaulta is demonstrating that responsible design and commercial viability are the same priority," said Professor Cori Stewart, CEO of ARM Hub. "This is what Australian-made should mean."

Female Founders Scaleup Manufacturing Program

This four-month program is designed to implement a technology adoption plan tailored to your business. The offer? Matched funding worth $25-50k to boost productivity, capability and capacity.

If your concept is ready to scale, get in touch with us!

Include updates

Propel-AIR 2.0 - Applications closed.

Australia’s Leading AI and robotics sprint concluded its final week of showcase tours in early June, with stops in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. Applications are now closed, stay tuned for the announcement of finalists!

CEO Cori Stewart wins CEW scholarship

ARM Hub CEO Prof Cori Stewart has been awarded the 2026 Actuaries Institute Women Leaders in AI and Data Science Scholarship. 

Run in partnership with Chief Executive Women (CEW), the program is designed to help cultivate advanced leadership capabilities for achievers in AI and data science. 

The milestone will enable Cori to expand her impact by participating in the Stanford University Graduate School of Business Executive Program in Leadership later this year. Learn more.

AU Inches Closer to Horizon Europe

The Federal Government has confirmed treaty negotiations have formally concluded, bringing Australia a step closer to joining Horizon Europe.

EU’s flagship research and innovation program, Horizon Europe funds work across climate adaptation, biotechnology, AI, advanced computing and space on a budget of over €95 billion.   

If successful, the program will support collaborative research on industrial capability and global challenges, opening a range of jobs and opportunities for Australian researchers. Learn more.

AUKUS discovery hub opens in Rockingham

The Federal Government has launched the WA Submarine Discovery Centre in Rockingham, Western Australia,

The facility will provide public information about AUKUS and the progress of Australia’s nuclear-powered submarine program through interactive exhibits and educational resources.

Developed by the Australian Submarine Agency, the centre comes under the government’s engagement with local communities and stakeholders. 

The opening comes as the Submarine Rotational Force West in 2027 draws closer. Learn more. 

Siemens announce major QLD expansion

Multinational tech conglomerate Siemens has announced an expansion of it’s Fusesaver manufacturing facility in QLD. 

The facility will expand from it’s current 1,400 square metres to 5,500 square metres in a new location to increase production of its Fusesaver product, which is deployed in over 35 countries.

The investment is expected to quadruple the facility’s footprint, double its workforce and invite over $300 million in additional export over the next decade. Learn more. 

Robotics start-up raises $1.4 B in investment

German start-up Neura Robotics has raised $1.4B in series C funding to support the development and deployment of humanoid and industrial robots. 

Backed by tech giants NVIDIA, Amazon, Bosch and other investors, Neura plans to scale production to support the global rollout of ‘Neura Gyms’—training environments for cognitive robots and physical AI—by 2030.

The investment will also support the expansion of Neuraverse—a shared intelligence database where robots exchange capabilities and learnings across deployments. Learn more.