I in IRIS - Archie
From squeezing genius-level AI into teeny-tiny devices to keeping the team laughing with his offbeat humour, Archie’s the “I” in IRIS in more ways than one.
How would you describe your role at IRIS?
My role is to take the super smart nerdy AI stuff our research team makes and squeeze it onto a tiny device. Whereas IRIS’ classic line of products are expected to operate on powerful, general purpose computers, I have to innovate and streamline our codebase to leverage low power, specialised microcontrollers.
Most of my day is spent fiddling with ones and zeros broken up by meetings, conferences and chatting away. It doesn’t sound particularly glamorous written down but I love it!
What’s it like working so closely with the Machine Learning team, and how does your work contribute to pushing the boundaries of AI?
I love working with the machine learning team - being surrounded by excellence is inspiring. Both sides respect and (loosely) understand the expertise of the other; this allows us to rapidly action the innovations produced either on-target or in the models.
I look around the embedded edge AI industry and the focus is on enabling embedded engineers to use simple models with minimal on-boarding. IRIS flips this development approach on its head, taking a research led approach to AI. This, in conjunction with the strong ML understanding in the embedded team, allows IRIS to maximise performance, minimise requirements and ensure we are always at the forefront of innovation.
How do you think your personality impacts the team dynamic, and can you share your favourite funny moment at IRIS?
Engineers are notoriously stuffy people whereas the entire team dynamic at IRIS is founded on great ideas with a healthy kick of humour. Laughing in the office, meetings and the pub after work fosters a strong sense of camaraderie that translates into candid company wide communication and a commitment to IRIS’ mission.
There are too many great moments to name just one but the entire vibe is like a college campus; everyone is having fun, working insanely hard and slightly mad. It's always a delight to come into the office and make great solutions with great people.
Quickfire questions:
Best part about being an engineer?
I do my hobby as a job! Admittedly I no longer do it as a hobby since I began working but I’ll start coding in my spare time once I retire and start my food truck: “shit Archie decided to cook today”.
Favorite thing about New Zealand?
Where do I start, I have too many! My most underrated picks are Karekare beach in the Waitakeres, Bay of Islands, and Paradise Takeaways over in Auckland!
An app you couldn’t live without?
Definitely GMail! It's great to get my water bill sent straight to my phone.
Dream AI innovation you’d love to see in the future?
Personally I’d like to see a greater emphasis placed on small scale, low powered AI. Power hungry, expensive models never quite seem to live up to the hype whereas there are plenty of tangible, small scale real problems AI is primed to solve.
One thing your colleagues don’t know about you?
I’m not actually bullied by Martha Geraghty.
