Mitchell Interview

1. What aspect of robotics are you interested in? (Vision, Autonomous movement)

   1. Vision, specifically signal processing of sensors for localization

      1. Taking noisy data and making it usable

2. Besides FIRST Robotics, do you have any other experiences with robotics or programming?

   1. If yes, what platforms do you have experience in? (if they have names)

      1. Arduino

      2. ESP

         1. Nothing really extensive

   2. If there was a physical system, can you describe it?

      1. Arduino

         1. Self-aligning rocket nosecone

            1. Arduino nano hooked up to AA pack, got data from IMU on breadboard on rocket, used IMU angle to control servos to correct nosecone offsets

3. Do you have experience with any sensors?

   1. If yes, what kinds?

      1. Absolute orientation

         1. IMU, filtering its data

      2. Cameras

         1. Localization of robot on field given fixed positions

   2. Are there any you would be interested in learning/using?

      1. Ultrasonics

         1. Get a lot of noise, good exercise in data filtering

      2. Non-IC sensors

         1. Actual gyro, an analog sensor

      3. LiDAR and Stereoscopic cameras for localization

4. If you were to use a robotics platform, are there any key features you would want?

   1. Don’t assume the user is an idiot

      1. Once the user has gotten into the flow of the basics, there either isn’t a step above it or the step above it is really large

         1. Something intermediate

   2. Issues with bad quality sensors off Amazon

      1. Because he’s not an electrical engineer, he can’t fix it

      2. Would be nice to have higher quality stuff so we don’t get stuck on bad components

   3. Likes how broad Arduino code is, you can use it in many places

      1. Doesn’t know ROS

   4. Don’t make it super electrically complicated

      1. Super hard to debug versus software, easy but not too easy

5. Would you describe yourself as a ‘beginner,’ ‘intermediate,’ or ‘proficient’ in robotics?

   1. Software: Proficient

   2. Lacking in Electrical

      1. Most kits focus on programming

      2. Bought a kit that he soldered together for a line-following robot was a great experience

6. General queries

   1. What is the strength in the current robotics platform you have used?

      1. Arduino and IDE

         1. Really easy to get going

         2. Not concerned about nuances with things like upload speed

            1. Simpler interface, designed for people who don’t know everything

         3. great for simple prototyping

      2. FRC

         1. Very broad range of languages

            1. java is a very good starting language

               1. Concepts that are hard to grasp in C++ and don’t exist in python

         2. Good middle ground between software and hardware

            1. Don’t have to worry about sensor selection and how the code is implemented

               1. Don’t need to write hardware interface, just learn the concepts

         3. Great at learning concepts

            1. Everyone knows PID in FRC, which is super important for robotics

               1. Most people wouldn’t learn that until college

               2. Some very complicated concepts taught very well in FRC

   2. What is the weakness in the current robotics platform you have used?

      1. Arduino

         1. Arduino C++ and IDE

            1. Can’t do anything complicated, not made for large projects

               1. Hard to do multi-file projects

               2. Super hard to use vs VSCode

         2. “Compatible” but there’s some nuances that can confuse new people

            1. Don’t know how to debug the issue

      2. FRC

         1. Abstraction

            1. Frustrated that he couldn’t implement a lot of things

               1. Doesn’t make sense with FRC timetable, but gets annoying when you want to know how something works

               2. Would like to have implementations handled initially, but have the option to implement yourself

         2. Closed platform

            1. Restrictions on motors, controllers, etc

               1. wants opportunities to make choices about hardware and implementation of that in code

7. Please make a syllabus. Now. Like, right now.
   Seriously.

Always confirm your understanding!

• as you go through, summarize your thoughts and reconfirm for input

• record

• live notetaking

• at the end-- did we miss anything? anything else to add?
  No.

Open