If you think roboticists have some sort of mystical genius calling to the field, think again. For Vivian Chu, at least, it took hard work and great mentors.

She and her Ph.D. advisor founded Diligent Robotics so that their robot, Moxie, could become a team member at a hospital. Vivian’s interest in robotics started with haptics, teaching robots about touch, and launched into creating a robot who could share some of the non-patient-facing duties of nurses. A robot who is a member of a mostly human team.

Vivian came on Austinpreneur to talk about inventing Moxie, what it’s like to be one of a two-woman roboticist team, and what she hopes to inspire in young people who are interested in STEM.