It’s back to school season, which means another group of summer students have finished a term with Clearpath (and they can sleep in again)! Here’s a recap of some of the things our Co-ops & Interns got up to this summer.
Think Big & Move Fast
The impact a student can make in four months is incredible, it may seem like a short amount of time, but the speed in which students learn and adapt is impressive. Nicholas Charron, an Application Developer Intern, says, “This coop term helped me strengthen my programming skills and taught me a lot about using ROS. I considered myself a beginner with ROS at the start of my work term, and by the end I feel like there isn’t anything I couldn’t figure out how to do.”
You might be curious what the students actually get to work on – and let us be the first to tell you, it’s not your average project.
One of Nicholas’s projects this term was to implement a 3D mapping kit (including both hardware and software) onto one of our robots. “I implemented this on a Husky and mapped the inside of the office/lab. A video demo and blog post of this mapping kit was created and shared on the Clearpath Blog.” (Psst, check out that blog here).
The TurtleBot Euclid was one of the projects, Neel Bhatt, Application Engineering Intern, worked on this past term. He explained how he was able to make an impact on this project and build up his professional experience, “Being able to conduct electromechanical design for Turtlebot Euclid, the world’s most popular robot, from the concepting phase to the production stage will be something that I will always look back on and be proud of.”
Co-ops have a lot of autonomy in their work as well, which Tom, a Software Developer Co-op from the University of Waterloo, can attest to, “On this project [TurtleBot Euclid], I was fully responsible for all of the software needed to run, monitor, and control the robot. Anywhere from the firmware that talks between the computer and the robot, to the software on the robot that makes it do something cool.”
Life at Clearpath
We asked our students what their favourite part about working at Clearpath was (and to be honest, of course). Tom says, “My favourite part about working for Clearpath would be the atmosphere and work given to me. Seeing robots left and right when you walk in the door already makes my day a bit better.”
It’s not “all work and no play” here either! So, when we’re not building robots, you might find us outside enjoying some good ol’ carnival games! Nicholas recalls this as his most memorable experience during his term, “My most memorable experience working at Clearpath was the company carnival that was done in mid July. There was a ton of fun events and lots of chances to win some cool prizes. Everyone was super friendly, and it was a great chance to meet and get to know others in the company.”
We try to make every term here at Clearpath an exceptional one. When asked what his most memorable moment was, Neel sums it up perfectly, “I will not forget the environment that robot enthusiasts at Clearpath generate; it is absolutely an amazing workplace.”
We can’t thank our students enough for all their hard work this summer! If you’re interested in working alongside robot enthusiasts AND actual robots for a future Co-op/Intern Term, check out our Careers page.