By Samantha Younan
For Oscar Low (Year 3 EngSci) and Mani Majd (Year 3 EngSci), last summer was an exciting chance to level-up their skills in robotics — while also knocking a few cool destinations off their bucket lists.
The two undergraduate students spent nearly four months conducting robotics research in the Learning Systems and Robotics Lab, led by Professor Angela Schoellig at the Technical University of Munich in Munich, Germany.
Their experience was made possible by the Michael Chai ESROP Award, which both students received separately. The award provided them with funding for travel and living expenses as part of the Engineering Science Research Opportunities Program (ESROP).
“Without funding, it would have been almost impossible for most of us to be able to do our research abroad,” says Majd.
“It would also have been very hard to take full advantage of this opportunity that U of T was offering. I’m genuinely very thankful.”
For many years, U of T Engineering’s Division of Engineering Science (EngSci) has sent more than 30 students in years 1, 2 and 3 abroad annually to conduct summer research at partner institutions in Asia, Europe and North America.
These placements allow students to work alongside academics at renowned research facilities. Placements are available in a wide range of engineering disciplines and the program is so popular that it receives approximately 200 applicants each year.
The Michael Chai ESROP award expands this long-standing program and was established through an endowment from Michael Chai (EngSci 1T3 + PEY), head of West Power at Dynasty Power in Calgary. It provides full funding annually to four students taking part in ESROP.
Chai created the award as a way to give back and support students pursuing global research experiences.
“The research opportunities provided through ESROP — both internationally and locally — are highlights of the EngSci program and extremely valuable to our students,” says Professor Natalie Enright Jerger (ECE), Director of EngSci.
“Not only does Michael Chai’s generous endowment allow more students to take advantage of these opportunities, but in funding this award, he has set a stellar example of the power of giving that we hope others will follow.”
While ESROP is one of many global opportunities offered to engineering students, Low says there were aspects of the program that set it apart.
“Two things that felt unique to this program were the choice and quality of labs that we were offered and the chance to go abroad over the summer,” says Low.
“Our lab had a ton of state-of-the-art hardware, and that was what enabled us to learn as much as we did. We got experience building robots, integrating software, mounting cameras and working with 3D printing. Participating in ESROP also meant we didn’t have to worry about rearranging our courses in the fall.”
Majd’s work was twofold. One project focused on training robotic arms through a combination of human and robot demonstrations, while the other explored autonomous robots and their ability to map unfamiliar environments.
“We would deploy the robot in a kitchen, for example. The robot would explore, build a 3D map of that environment and detect objects that are in it,” says Majd.
“Let’s say the robot observes a mug on the counter — later on, the user can ask the robot where the mug is and based on knowledge of the map, it’s able to navigate directly and efficiently to that specific place and find the mug.
Low’s research was focused on Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM), a technology that enables autonomous robots to build a map of an unfamiliar environment while simultaneously determining their location within it.
A common issue with autonomous robots is that to build a map, the robot needs to know where it is. However, to know its placement, the robot needs a reference map. SLAM solves both problems at once.
“My task was to evaluate existing open-source SLAM systems and basically integrate them into all the robot platforms in the lab,” says Low.
“This meant ranking them based on different factors such as their compatibility with all the sensor setups and cameras throughout the lab and their customizable features. Once we chose a system, we had to implement it on the lab robots. So that meant writing custom code to map everything.”
Outside of their research, the funding from the award also gave Low and Majd the chance to explore Europe.
“We’ve been on a lot of weekend trips this summer to different countries, including Italy and Switzerland,” says Low.
“We’ve explored Munich almost to its entirety. We’ve gone all across Germany and other than travelling, we just experienced the culture. We’d go out to lunch most days and we got to watch the World Cup together.”
For both students, deciding to live abroad for the summer was a choice they made carefully against other, more local options.
“I know a lot of students are deciding between industry and academia for their first few summers, and while I’m biased, I think the latter is a better choice,” says Low.
“In our lab, we had a lot of opportunities to connect with graduate students, watch demos, read papers and attend conferences where we learned so much about the field and what our own contributions could be in the future.”
“Initially, it might feel a little bit intimidating to just leave your home, friends and family for an entire summer,” says Majd.
“However, I feel it’s a life-changing experience and I’d highly recommend it to anyone. It really helps you grow as a researcher and a person.”
This story was originally published in the U of T Engineering News.