Adrian David Cheok

Cheok was raised in Adelaide, South Australia, into a Malaysian Chinese father and a Greek mother. Cheok obtained a Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical and Electronic) with First Class Honors in 1992, and PhD in Engineering in 1998 from the University of Adelaide. Cheok also studied at Singapore Science School. == Career ==

Academic In 2004, Cheok developed Human Pacman, an early augmented reality game. In 2005, he created the Poultry Internet project which used a customised haptic jacket to allow him to remotely hug a chicken. In 2015, Cheok and his students created Scentee, a device which allowed individuals to transmit fragrances via smartphones with the installed device and aroma cartridges. He has also performed research on taste simulation. In 2016, Cheok and student Emma Yang Zhang co-created Kissenger, a device which allows people to remotely transmit the physical sensation of kissing. Cheok is a professor at Conferences Cheok was a General Co-chair of David Levy's Love and Sex with Robots conference. Its 2015 conference in Malaysia was cancelled by police who declared it illegal and inappropriate for the country's culture, and in 2016 the conference was hosted by Goldsmiths, University of London. In 2020, Cheok and most of the Committee resigned en masse. In 2017, Cheok provided a keynote speech for the Foundation of Digital Games conference. After the conference the organisers issued a formal statement censuring Cheok for his behaviour after he personally attacked an academic on Twitter when she criticised aspects of his presentation. Cheok served as chairman of the academic conference Advances in Computer Entertainment, and contributed to its demise in 2018 when members of the conferences's committee objected to Cheok appointing David Levy, who has been criticised for his views on the use of child sex robots, to the conference's steering committee without consultation, and adding a "Love and Sex with Robots" strand to the conference. Cheok responded by inviting Steve Bannon to give that year's keynote speech, prompting widespread international criticism from universities. Springer cancelled their involvement due to a low number of papers and concerns over irregularities in the paper submission and reviewing process. When many delegates declined to attend, Cheok cancelled the conference, criticising academia as "a bunch of weak willies". == Politics ==

Cheok is a supporter of Australian politician Fraser Anning, sharing his strong anti-immigration stance. At the 2019 Australian federal election, he ran as a candidate for Anning's Conservative National Party in the Adelaide division of Boothby, receiving 0.79% of the vote. He has been criticised for Islamophobic Facebook posts, party after being asked by Palmer to "dumb down" his policies. ==Awards and honours==

In 2003, Cheok received a Young Scientist Award from the Singapore National Academy of Science. He is a member of the World Technology Network, and was a Young Global Leader for the World Economic Forum. He is a Fellow, Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. In 2016, he was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Awards by University of Adelaide, in recognition of his achievements and contribution in the field of Computing, Engineering and Multisensory communication. Cheok was recognized with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018. In the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was made a Member (AM) of the Order of Australia for his work in the fields of robotics and artificial intelligence. In response Anning wrote to the Governor-General and to Queen Elizabeth II, in defense of Cheok. The Order of Australia has not been rescinded, and Cheok remains a Member of the Order of Australia. == References ==