OTTO™ Motors, a division of Clearpath™ Inc., designs, manufactures and operates self-driving vehicles to automate material movement inside busy factories and warehouses. Using self-driving technology much like the Google Car, the easy-to-use OTTO vehicles move inventory in a safe and flexible manner throughout the indoor supply chain. Customers include Fortune 100 brands like General Electric, John Deere, and Toyota. For more information, visit www.ottomotors.com.
Get to know the humans of OTTO Motors, what they do and why they chose a career at OTTO Motors!
Meet Aneez, a Test Technician for our OTTO™ Motors division.
Q: What drew you to Clearpath?
I was completing a post-graduate certificate at Conestoga College when I heard about an event, Hackernest, that was happening at Clearpath’s office. At the event, the robots were on display and the employees were showcasing them. I thought it was really cool technology. I had, of course, heard about Clearpath before the event, but being at the office where the technology was made was even more exciting. I knew that it was a company I wanted to work at from that moment on. Since the event, I checked Clearpath’s careers page often hoping to land a position once I graduated from school.
Q: How did you get into this role as a test technician?
When I graduated, I applied to a position and was invited in for an interview. In the end, I did not get the role that I applied for, but the recruiter contacted me to see if I was interested in another role as a Test Technician. The Test Technician role was more aligned with my education and since I was always breaking stuff as a kid, only to put it back together, it seemed like the perfect fit for me.
Q: Did you have any prior experience in Robotics?
I did not have any experience in robotics. I did have an education in electrical engineering that helped me get a role here.
Q: What does your team do?
My team is responsible for identifying defects or bugs in software and reporting them to our software developers to fix. It’s important to sort out any bugs before the robots get to our customers. We try to break our robots, in order to improve the software, so that when it gets to the customer there are no issues.
Q: What does a typical day as a Test Technician look like at Clearpath?
When we arrive in the morning, we do a run through of issues that occurred while the robots ran overnight. Then we do some triage and deeper investigations in order to find the root cause of the issues, and then report the bugs to the engineering team. During the day, we perform other sanity tests and try to improve our test layout. We usually end the day by performing software updates on the robots to make sure that issues have been resolved and ensure no new bugs are introduced.
Q: What’s the most satisfying part of your role?
Being able to use a newly introduced feature is really cool. As a tester, we are usually the first to test new features that the software teams have created. In my role, I get to figure out how that feature works, and how to break it.
Q: What’s the most interesting project you’ve worked on so far?
A really cool project I got to work on was creating an automated test plan for a customer specific layout. I really enjoyed working on this project because I was able to transfer a real customer use-case into simulation. The project also gave me more insight into how our product is being used at customer sites.
Q: What do you look forward to when coming to work in the morning?
The investigative aspect of my job really gets me going, I sometimes think of scenarios that might have occurred with the robots while driving to work.
Q: What is a skill you have learned in this role?
A skill that I have developed in my role here is documentation skills. As a Test Technician, it’s important to be able to document test plans, any bugs, and results. We execute a lot of test plans in order to find bugs, so we often have to go back and re-create the problem again. It’s important to have good documentation skills to be able to get the same results consistently.
Q: What are the must-have skills or knowledge for this role?
You should definitely have an investigative mind and be analytical. You should also be good at communicating properly, written and orally, to document and report on test results.
Q: What differentiates Clearpath from other companies?
There is a ton of flexibility in terms of flexible work hours and being able to work from home, which is very important to me. We can work from home when we need to. The flexibility that Clearpath gives you to work how you like improves productivity. As well, Clearpath has a great team culture that likes to have a lot of fun.
Q: What advice do you have for someone interested in applying to Clearpath?
Decide what you are interested in and take on some projects that are related to that kind of work. Show off those projects in your application. Don’t be afraid to apply for a role that you may think you are not qualified for. I applied to a role that I didn’t get a job for, but it worked out in the end because I got offered another role that was more aligned with my education and skill set, and I love the work that I do. Attitude plays a very critical part as well when you are interviewing.
Q: How would you describe the diversity here at Clearpath?
There is so much diversity here at Clearpath. No matter your background or your experiences, you are welcomed and always feel like a part of the team. Equal opportunity is huge here.
Q: Who is your favorite robot? And why?
My favourite robot is Bernard from Westworld.
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