Sharon Davids

I build and test sensing systems, then follow them into the complicated real world.

That has meant sensor fusion for a NASA robot on the ISS, AI for large aerial datasets, research for international development and sharing what I know with everyone from kids to university students.

Researcher. AI and Robotics Engineer.

Right now

Starting independent research on AI safety

First pieces going up here through 2026.

Write to me if you are working on something adjacent

Sensing and AI

Robotics, sensor fusion and applied machine learning.

Leveraging domain knowledge for deep learning based computer vision

Knowledge Graph Conference, New York

A conference talk on what semantic structure contributes to vision models, and where hand-built knowledge still beats scale.

Speaker page

Teaching a deep learning model what it should already have known

Nearmap Australia

Methods for infusing domain knowledge into deep learning models to catch labelling errors, improve training, and generate new labels on the fly. Traced the root causes of errors across a large dataset to reduce both current and future ones.

A sensor fusion system that ended up on the ISS

CSIRO Australia

Feasibility assessment for integrating LiDAR and camera sensors — CSIRO’s stereo-depth fusion technology — onto NASA’s Astrobee robot. Research, testing frameworks, and reporting on adapting the system for fault detection. It is now deployed onboard the International Space Station.

CSIRO launch announcement

Development

Infrastructure and international development.

Water supply and sanitation in Timor-Leste

Cardno International Development

Research across World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Australian DFAT projects in the Asia Pacific, centred on a World Bank water supply and sanitation project in Timor-Leste.

A buildable housing solution for low-income families in India

Humanitarian Innovation Awards, winning pitch

Winning pitch in an award challenging students to engineer solutions with real impact. Designed around what could be sourced and assembled locally, rather than around what looked most advanced.

Award listing Watch the solution video

Teaching

Circuits with undergraduates, robotics with kids.

Circuits, embedded software and debugging

University of Sydney Mechatronics Lab

Taught undergraduates to design, build and debug mechatronic systems, working alongside course directors from the Australian Centre for Field Robotics.

Coding, robotics and AI for students from very different starting points

Code Camp

Led delivery of project-based coding, robotics and AI programs and workshops across a wide range of schools, building creative, problem-solving and technical skills.

Off the clock

The rest of it

Living and travelling in a lot of different places has left me constantly curious about the cultural differences, small and large, in every corner of the world.

Travel and foodCuisines, histories and the policies that shaped them.

Swimming at the beachAn Australian habit that Canada has not cured.

Hiking and campingLong walks and nights outside, wherever I happen to be.