My summer experience at the University of Minnesota ~ Sara Lahr

Journal

Week 11: August 2 - August 8

This week was very productive. We were still testing the Scribblers and ran into a lot of little issues. It wasn't easy to do the all the testing and debugging on one laptop. Even though all three of us wanted to help, sometimes it was impractical. Three people huddled around a laptop trying to debug a particular issue just doesn't work. Especially if it is a part of the code that someone else is much more familiar with. I took advantage of these times by finishing up my final report. We continued to push through the problems, and I feel like each day we made some progress. There were always some down points when we wondered if we would ever get past the latest trouble, and each time, we found a solution and moved on. We were able to get to the point of running initial experiments. Even though we had wanted to have run more experiments by this point, at least I was able to collect some preliminary data for my final report.


Wow, the end of the summer is here! I know that everyone says summers fly by, but this summer really did. I learned a lot throughout the summer. I have a better understanding about what grad school entails. In addition, I learned a fair amount about robotics. I can speak from personal experience of the frustrations robots can cause but also of the exhilaration that comes with making them work. Living in Minneapolis allowed me to take in all that the city had to offer after spending all of my life in small towns. I had a great summer, and I am very thankful for the opportunities I've had.