My first days at work
After my turbulent arrival in Canada, I got to work quite quickly. When I entered the lab for the first time, which was to be my workplace from now on, I felt like I was in a dream. In an anteroom, there were countless impressive robots that captivated everyone who was new to the University of Calgary for a few minutes. I work in the lab as a design engineer and am allowed to supervise and support many different projects myself. It took me a while to get started because I had to upgrade the two computers I was given to meet the requirements. However, I enjoyed this just as much as the work that followed. Overall, the atmosphere was great from day one. I have eight colleagues, and so far I've met Achraf from Egypt, Marshall from Canada, Shady from Iran and Jamie from Mexico. So we are very international, which is also good for me.
About the lab
Our lab is called the AR²S lab, which stands for: Autonomous Reconfigurable Robotic Systems. So we deal with all kinds of unmanned robots. For example, there is a humanoid robot called THORMANG3 by Robotis. This is already being used on a trial basis at the Alberta Children's Hospital to distract children during medical treatment. Experiments have shown that children trust the robot more and can therefore be relieved of their anxiety during diagnosis and treatment. Other robots are programmed, for example, to check gas pipelines for leaks and cracks from the inside. As you can see, there is a lot of exciting research and development going on and I am very happy to be a part of it.[caption id="attachment_1141" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Sadok in the lab[/caption]
My projects
My first task is to make changes to an unmanned submarine. To do this, I redesign parts and, if necessary, carry out FEM analyses to check whether it can withstand stresses and forces. The vehicle can be used in different environments, for example to search for and retrieve things underwater or to inspect confined spaces. It can dive to depths of up to 50 meters and is equipped with two grippers and cameras.[caption id="attachment_1135" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The design is inspired by nature and is intended to resemble a ray[/caption]I am being supervised by the head and coordinator of the laboratory, Dr. Alex. We got on well with each other in advance via email and I feel like I'm in good hands now too. We regularly discuss my tasks and progress, which encourages my learning process, and I've been working voluntary overtime in the lab recently because I really enjoy working on "my" submarine. I have been working on both design and functionality and have been able to put my own stamp on the project, which is a small exercise for the big project to come, but which will remain a secret for the time being. So let me surprise you!