Growing up as the youngest in a motorsporting family, Joh fell in love with race cars and aeroplanes from her early teens. Pursuing this passion enthusiastically, she received a scholarship to attend RMIT University as a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering student in 2007. While at RMIT, she truly found herself amongst her peers; enjoying high academic achievement because she loved the curriculum, and technical leadership on the RMIT Racing Team (where they design and build race cars). Joh graduated in 2010 with Honours First Class (thesis on Race Vehicle Dynamics and Suspension Design) and having won sixteen academic prizes and scholarships, including an institute prize.

Though she could have taken an academic path, Joh’s true passion lies in the real world application of engineering, and so she gratefully accepted a graduate position with Boeing Aerostructures Australia – Australia’s very own outpost for commercial aeroplane design. Enjoying nearly 7 years designing primary wing structure for the 787-9 Dreamliner, the 737MAX and the 777X, Johanna wanted to broaden her capability in the digital technology and software world, and work cutting edge innovation for the future aerospace industry. So in 2017, she made the unorthodox shift from experienced aerospace engineer to robotics and automation research engineer – joining the Advanced Production Systems robotics team within Boeing Research & Technology Australia.

Once switching to robotics Joh felt an instant connection with computer vision, helping the team to develop a custom computer vision solution for the automation of composite aeroplane part fabrication. She gained a certification in Machine/Deep Learning, and developed a software application for automated factory safety, leveraging deep learning technologies for the computer vision component. Still captivated by aircraft and aerospace, Joh began training for her commercial helicopter pilot licence in early 2019 on the side of her full-time robotics engineering role. 

With a commercial pilot licence in her pocket and a dream of developing automation technology desperately needed by Australian industry, Joh left the Boeing Company seeking all-Aussie tech start-ups. She’s now employed at AOS Group, a small R&D software and robotics company based in Melbourne, as Technical Lead Engineer in Robotics Systems. She leads the development of an autonomous off-road vehicle for agriculture in Australia (partnering with Australian industry, including University of New England, NSW Department of Primary Industries, QUT Centre For Robotics, and Monaro Farming Systems) as well as the architecture of a distributed AI software system for the Commonwealth. 

Joh also works part-time as a Commercial Pilot for PremiAir Helicopters on weekends, and is studying a Masters of Computer Science with Georgia Tech, specialising in Computational Perception and Robotics.

Contact Joh at joh.l.austin@gmail.com