Young Australian of the Year, Marita Cheng assembling a robot at Melbourne University last year. Photo: Ken Irwin
You're a brilliant young computer science student who was awarded Young Australian of the Year in 2012 after you founded an international organisation to get girls interested in high tech careers.


You've got a swag of scholarships and fellowships under your belt and you're in demand as a guest speaker in Australia and overseas.
You're about to graduate from the University of Melbourne with a double degree in mechatronics and computer science after seven years on the books.
Do you: a) take one of the hundreds of job offers that have come your way in the past two years; b) leapfrog into a career in academia, courtesy of your high profile; or c) start a company that makes bionic arms for people with disabilities?
Option C, says 24-year-old Robogals founder Marita Cheng, who's preparing to throw herself full-time into 2Mar Robotics, the start-up she launched in April, when she graduates at the end of the year.
Her vision is to produce a bionic arm which can be used as daily living aid for people with limited hand movement, due to spinal injuries and disabilities such as multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's Disease.  The arm can be mounted in multiple places around the home, including the kitchen and bathroom, and is controlled by iPhone.
"I really wanted to make a robot that was useful to people and changed people's lives and this was a way I could do it," Cheng says.
The idea drew enthusiastic feedback from the Spinal Injuries Association when first mooted, Cheng says: "People thought it was a dream come true."
There are 20,000 people with spinal injuries in Australia and around three million worldwide. As well as offering people more independence, investing in robotic devices makes sound economic sense, Cheng says.
Her arm may reduce the amount of human assistance some people need to perform basic tasks and save thousands in carer costs, she says.
Cheng's first group of users will begin testing a prototype in their homes next month and she hopes to have the arm available commercially by April next year.
Pricing is yet to be determined but Cheng hopes to collaborate with not-for-profits which can provide grant funding to suitable recipients.
"I feel really lucky, I know what I'm doing next year...I'm looking forward to it, I can spend more time on this," Cheng says.
Striking out on her own, rather than fast tracking into an international firm, seems a logical progression for someone who cites Steve Jobs as an inspiration.
"I got so many job offers last year, it was a real dream but I always knew I wanted to start a company," Cheng says.
"I have energy and I like to put that energy into something...I like having a vision and making it happen in real life."
Jamie Evans is the academic whose suggestion Cheng do something to encourage young girls into engineering led her to found Robogals in 2008. The organisation, which sends students into schools to teach girls robotics, has 17 chapters in four countries and has run workshops for 11,000 girls.
Now the head of electrical and computer systems engineering at Monash University, Evans says Cheng's segue into the start-up world is no surprise.
"She is a quintessential entrepreneur – someone who is not interested in finding reasons that things can't be done but rather believing that something is important and making it happen, regardless of the limited resources at her disposal," Evans says.
"She likes to set her own agenda and, given the amazing things she has already achieved, I could not imagine her taking a graduate job in a big company. I see her as a serial entrepreneur moving from one venture to another over the years."