Being as this blog is entitled "Robots in Switzerland," I think I ought to make mention of robots for once. Well here it is. We started our rovers this week and have worked on them for a total of two days so far. Each work day lasts from 8am-5pm, with a hour and half or so break for lunch. There are only 8 work days left, and so much to do. I am realizing just how much goes into embedded systems to make a computer make a machine do the simplest of tasks. And then trying to figure out how to do so in the most efficient way is a whole other story. I feel like I'm in a fog of blind confusion a lot, groping for any sudden beam of insight or comprehension. As challenging as it is, the thought occurred to me that maybe engineers don't really ever know what they are doing until they do it. Therefore, I don't need to worry so much about not understanding all that is going on at all times, just that I keep proceeding, and trusting my teammates as necessary. It is cool to work on a team and I am learning let go of things I just do not understand (like coding the communications between the rover and the LPS and the gyroscope and the accelerometer and other fancy sensors), entrusting it completely to someone else who is a specialist in that area. They understand it, but to me it is magic.
That said, my team has made good progress this week. Here's evidence:
Some more photos from here in Winterthur:
The street art here is worth capturing, too (shout out to Harper. I'm keeping my eyes peeled for Banksy). Have a look.