Every term here at Clearpath, a new batch of fresh, young, talented individuals come through our doors, ready to learn and eager to build some robots! The Co-op & Intern program at Clearpath has continued to be incredibly successful and the Fall term was no different – here’s a highlight of some of the extraordinary work that the Fall term students completed during their four months at Clearpath.
Lessons learned
Time management is often over-rated when dressing up the resume, but it became a critical element for University of Waterloo student Rachel who came onboard as Community Coordinator. “I learned how to manage my time effectively, especially when I was managing the relaunch of the website,” said Rachel.
Si Te, another University of Waterloo student, took the role of Application Engineering Co-op and expanded his technical skills; “I got the chance to use and evaluate a few simulation software such as Simio and Flexsim for a fleet of OTTOs and got the chance to use C++ and OpenCV to create a machine vision code to detect obstacles on the ground. I learned ROS, gazebo, and rviz as well as tmux, vim, yaml and LaTeX to make my day-to-day duties more efficient.” Meanwhile University of Waterloo student, Arsalan, was a Mobile Robotics Mechanical Design Co-op and said his learning came down to things that just couldn’t be taught in school; “My time at Clearpath has taught me many things, from elements of mechanical design, which I would have never learned in school, to the importance of a systematic and organized approach to building up assemblies.” University of Toronto student, Mustafa, explained, “Before this co-op term, I had no experience in the robotics field. Due to awesomely helpful and approachable people that work here, I was able to learn how robots are actually made from the ground up!”
An experience to be proud of!
This is Si Te at the World Robotics Conference in Beijing
Co-ops are valuable members of our team, and often take on projects that come with great responsibility. During her four month term at Clearpath, Rachel accomplished more at Clearpath than she had in any other co-op position she had experienced prior. “I was able to play a key role in planning, purchasing and implementing Clearpath’s new marketing automation system,” said Rachel. “I also interviewed customers to write case stories about Clearpath products and acted as the interim project manager for the launch of the new website.”
Si Te explains, “Perhaps the most exciting thing for me was representing Clearpath Robotics at the World Robotics Conference in Beijing and be able to speak to potential customers.” We were certainly glad to have you representing our team there, Si Ti!
During his term here, Mustafa was responsible for developing and testing new software features for our self-driving vehicle, OTTO. “One of my accomplishments was to enable the robot to auto-reset itself, without user input, after a stop. The first time the robot continued moving after clearing its e-stop was a great feeling of achievement” said Mustafa.
University of Waterloo student, Rahul, had a unique co-op experience; he was both an Application Engineer for the research solutions team and provided software support on PR2. “Not many co-ops can say they got to work on one of the most advanced humanoid robots in the world,” said Rahul of his time working for the PR2. Of his accomplishments this term, “I created a python-based software that will allow Application Engineers to conceptualize new mobile robots by analyzing their requests and giving them the necessary technical statistics at a rapid progression.”
Final thoughts on Clearpath
Here’s co-op Rachel at a team building event!
So what do our co-op students really think of Clearpath? Rachel explains; “I love Clearpath! I can’t imagine anything that would make it a better place to work. I’ve never had a co-op experience where I was so trusted, and so empowered to complete meaningful work. I felt encouraged to learn and build my skills throughout my co-op term, and I was given the tools and freedom that I needed to do that.”
Musafa says “Clearpath is an amazing place to work at with co-workers who are friendly and have a great sense of humor. The passion for robotics that everybody here has is evident in the amazing robots that they build.” Meanwhile, Rahul explained he’s really going to miss the team; “There are very few places in the world where you can see so many brilliant and enthusiastic people come together to push the boundaries of robotics. Robotics has been a passion of mine from a young age so doing an internship at Clearpath has been nothing short of a dream job.”
We’ve prided ourselves on being a fun and educational place to work where things happen fast and the learning happens faster! Arsalan says “Clearpath is a great place to work if you’re hungry to learn. A great work environment, with many chances to get your hands dirty. People know how to have fun, but they also definitely know how to work hard to create something great.”
Interested in joining our team? Check out available full-time and coop positions here.