Senior Arielle Dede reflects on the 2017 International RoboSub competition and shares what she’s most looking forward to in 2018.
Written by Arielle Dede ’18
As cliché as it sounds, I enjoyed everything about the RoboSub competition.
From day one I was excited – and not just because I was in San Diego, Calif! Everyone at the competition was incredibly welcoming. At orientation, the leaders of RobSub told us it wasn’t just a competition, it was a “COLLABO-RITION” – a combination of competition and collaboration.
I loved being able to walk up to any school to ask about their robot and immediately be met with a smile, a handshake, and a great overview of that team’s RoboSub. And this camaraderie came in handy whenever our group needed a part or a tool: Without hesitation, some other team would gladly share. It felt like everyone had the mindset that when one team qualifies, we all qualify and that together we all get ahead.
LESSONS LEARNED
I learned a lot being on the Beaver RoboSub team. As a first time competitor and a new engineering student, RoboSub taught me how to make an AUV and also showed me the real-world applications of engineering. Our team had to write a position paper, give an in-depth description of the sub’s features, present our sub’s features to a panel of professionals in different engineering fields, and create a video that showcased the team and the sub. Because of all this, I can now imagine myself working as an engineer in the future.
In addition, RoboSub allowed me to network with the companies that sponsored our team – including BlueRobotics, MathWorks, and WHOI – and set-up summer internships.
LOOKING AHEAD
This upcoming year, I look forward to adding to our robot, making iterations, and fixing odds and ends. Three of our 2017 team members have graduated so it will be a challenge to grow the team as well as our robot. But I am looking forward to making our RoboSub work better for the 2018 competition!
RELATED