Hi from Harvey Mudd

Hi!

My name is Benjamin Chasnov and I am a Freshman from Harvey Mudd. I’m definitely leaning towards majoring in Engineering. I’m from Hong Kong; I was born there and has lived there for my entire life. From 2009 to 2012, my high school robotics team competed in several Marine Advanced Technology Education Center (MATE) ROV Competitions. We built a different ROV each year to complete different timed underwater missions. Building, testing, and operating those ROVs really inspired me to continue exploring the underwater world during my time in college, so here I am!

The strong emphasis on interdisciplinary work in ICEX program is exactly what I’m excited for. The technical aspects of underwater robots—software, electronics and mechanics—are definitely what excite me the most. But what I consider to be the most valuable thing an engineer can learn is to integrate all aspects that will affect making decisions in the field—social, cultural and political. The ICEX project will certainly be an invaluable learning experience, and will certainly help my future career as an aspiring engineer. I’m also really excited to learn more about Maltese culture—the food, the language, the architecture, the politics. From previous blog posts, I read that there is a fair amount of interaction with the locals, which is fantastic!

I can’t wait to meet the Cal Poly team this January and can’t wait for all the intense ROV work in the coming months.

Hey ICEX 2013

Hi all,

My name is Spencer Woodworth and I am a Senior Computer Science major at Cal Poly. I am eager to begin collecting data, spending time with the team, and experiencing Malta and Sicily. I am exhilarated since this will be my first time traveling outside of the United States and I am excited for many hands-on engineering experiences.

 

My contributions to the team will include working on the ROV’s stereo vision so that we can obtain significantly finer surface detail than in prior ICEX expeditions. The images will be captured using two GoPro cameras mounted to the ROV. I believe that the high-quality 3D information will make for a much more immersive digital model, so I am thrilled to contribute.

I have spent my last two summers interning at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. My work involved researching and implementing telemetric systems for high-frequency energy and temperature data. This experience collecting and analyzing large datasets will allow me to assist several of my teammates in their work.

I am looking forward to learning more about robotics and the ICEX program will be a great environment to do so. I am also looking forward to the morning runs that Erik mentioned in a previous post. While I am enjoying my winter break, I can’t wait for it to end, so that I can begin my work with the rest of the team.

Continuing our Harvey-Mudd Hellos

Hello everyone,

I'm Joshua Vasquez, a Harvey Mudd Junior Engineering major, and I'm thrilled to join this year's research excursion both to Sicily and Malta.  I too am new to ICEX, but I'm ready to fire away at a bold new robotics task!

I spent my last summer writing sensor drivers for small accelerometers and gyroscopes, and I integrated them into a ROS package for easy access through other ROS-integrated software (http://www.ros.org/wiki/bosch_drivers).

For this expedition, Lauren and I will be adding new temperature sensor hardware into the existing system, and we hope to cleanly integrate the logging hardware into the existing software framework. As I continue my research with ICEX, I hope both to nourish my understanding of embedded systems and to develop a healthy coding style for large-scale data-logging robot systems. I'm also jazzed at the chance to learn more about the mechanics of the SLAM algorithm.

For fun I enjoy hiking, biking, and electrical DIY projects. I've (alas!) spent far too long voiding my warranty for most electronics! From their remains, though, I enjoy making home-made (low-cost!) remote-control projects.

Greetings To All!!!

Hello all, my name is Cecilia Cadenas I am a 4th year Computer Engineering Major in Cal Poly SLO. I am very excited about this project and all that it entails. I am originally from Jalisco, Mexico and when I was 10 my family immigrated to Rio Vista, a really small town here in California.

Since my first year in college I have been involved with outreach through different organizations and this year I was elected as the outreach coordinator for a club on campus where I organize different workshops and tutoring hours for different elementary and middle schools here in SLO. I think getting young kids interested in engineering and education is crucial. I am very excited to be the lead for outreach and getting to work with the kids from Malta as well as the kids from Pacheco. I will be working on the curriculum and trying to get a workshop so that the kids can begin to understand more about robots. I am really interested to see how the kids in Malta compare to the kids here when interacting with us and our workshop.

This past summer I interned for Raytheon in the software department and will be returning next summer to do a second internship there. I was able to learn more about embedded systems and how to work in a team enviroment. I hope to use what I learn there as well as what I have learned in my classes to help with  the management of the ROV and integrating the biological sensors. I will be focusing and researching the temperature sensor and ways to integrate it with the ROV.

I am really looking forward for everything that this program has to offer since it will be my first time traveling somewhere besides Mexico. I am excited about getting to know more about the ROV, the process to acquire the data, the graphics, and all the experiences I will gain through this awesome opportunity.

More greetings from Harvey Mudd

Hello all,
My name is Alistair Dobke.  I am a junior computer science major at Harvey Mudd College.  In the past I’ve worked with land and air robots so I am excited to “take the dive” into underwater robots.  

I have been working on interfacing the ROV and sonar with ROS (www.ros.org) a system used worldwide by research groups large and small.  Along with making tasks such as time synchronized data logging and autonomous control easier, I hope to add some new capabilities such as data logging with two sonars at the same time.

Outside of class I enjoy playing soccer, making music, and pretending to be an engineering major.  I enjoy traveling and am excited to explore the Mediterranean, meet the rest of the team, and of course make some cool maps.

Hello from Harvey Mudd!

Hello all -

My name is Lauren Lieu and I am a senior engineering major at Harvey Mudd with a background in image processing and robotics. I'm interested in controls, microprocessors and signal processing so I would like to get involved in all kinds of ROV caretaking, path planning and data analysis/mapping along the way. My roles for this project include working on additional sensor hardware for the ROV, integrating pressure and temperature sensors into the system so we can take in more information about the surrounding cistern environments.

I studied abroad in Granada (Andalucía, Spain) for a semester, and had an incredible time traveling on my own. Because of this, I am thrilled about the opportunity for a combined cultural/technical experience and cannot wait to go on this trip for ICEX! After scouring the blogs from previous years, I am looking forward to lots of things: cultural, travel-related, technical and all else - this includes patching up unforeseen robot problems on the fly (with epoxy and electrical tape, the engineering band-aids for everything), roving all over to find sites to do data collection and mapping, trying Maltese cuisine (rabbit?) and undoubtedly getting lost/attempting to use my Spanish-to-pass-for-Italian.

I look forward to meeting the entire ICEX team in the coming months, and having a great time working together!

Continuing The Family Tradition!

My name is Vanessa Forney and I am a junior at Cal Poly, majoring in Computer Science. My interest in ICEX comes from participating in the Water Ways research project (with Amanda Erb) and from my sister's (Christina Forney) participation in the ICEX program two years ago.

I am looking forward to snorkeling in the Mediterranean Sea, exploring underwater cisterns in person, and experiencing a new culture.
I am excited about meeting people with different perspectives and challenging myself to grow and learn in a foreign environment!

Below are some screen shots from the Water Ways research project, funded by CREU (Collaborative Research Experience for Undergraduates). These are the images of the M'dina Cathedral Sacristy based on the data taken from the ICEX 2012 trip. The program, written in WebGL, reads the vertices and texture coordinates from a file. Users can interact with the cistern using the arrow keys (rotation) and page up/down keys (zoom in/out). You can see our blog here: http://calpoly-creu.blogspot.com/.

Participating in the ICEX program will allow me to continue the work I'm doing with the 3D models in my research project. I look forward to working with other students  and being a part of the ICEX 2013 team! If you can help secure my spot for the trip by facilitating additional funding, please contact Zoe Wood at zwood@calpoly.edu.

-Vanessa

Hello

Hello!

My name is Ian Dunn and I am a 3rd year Software Engineering student at Cal Poly. I am a dual American and Australian citizen and I love to travel. I spent last summer working on visualizing data gathered by ROVs on previous ICEX missions and other deployments, so I'm looking forward to being involved with the data collection process. I've been to Europe twice but I've never been to the Mediterranean so I'm really excited to learn more about Malta and Sicily.

I have always been interested in computer graphics so the visualization software aspect of this project is most appealing to me. However, I've been very interested in learning more about robotics for some time and the ICEX program seems like the perfect opportunity to do so.

My job with ICEX this year is to work on 3D visualizations of sensor data gathered by the ROV. I'll be using data from the smart tether to associate accurate position information with the sensor readings. I'll also be helping with the web server management.

Excited to be on the team!

Hi everyone! I’m Amanda Erb and I’m brand new to ICEX this year. I am a Junior majoring in Graphic Communication with an emphasis in Web & Digital Media. I got involved with ICEX because I am working on the website for Water Ways, which incorporates data from the ICEX trips to Malta and Sicily.

My roles are as the lead of Digital Humanities, as well involvement with outreach. As the lead of Digital Humanities, I will be working closely with Jane to assess the relationships between science, technology, and society. I hope that by getting some first-hand experience, I will be able to not only gain a greater understanding of the subjects, but it will help me to teach others about these relationships and their significance.

Since I don’t have a background in Engineering, I’m really excited about this opportunity to learn about engineering and robotics in a real-life experience abroad! I spent all of last summer traveling around the Mediterranean, so it will be fun to go back and do some work there this time around.

Hello all!

Hello ICEX -

My name is Andrew Carrillo. I am a graduate EE student here at Poly. I'm new to the ICEX team, and I'm very excited for this year's trip to Malta and Sicily. I've already signed on to work at Raytheon after finishing my degree this June, so I'm looking forward to having one last bit of fun with engineering before settling down behind a desk!

(Although I wouldn't mind one bit settling down behind this one!)

I spent a summer studying in London in 2008, and also did some solo backpacking in France and Italy. It was absolutely amazing to be able to see so much and learn about so many new cultures. I'm excited to merge these international experiences with some actual engineering in the Mediterranean.

My responsibilities will include managing the robotic systems hardware, integrating the new biological sensors (primarily the salinity sensor) with the robot, and also having a hand in the digital humanities project(s). I'm most looking forward to handling the robotic system overall. Aside from digital signal processing, I've spent the most time in my EE coursework with embedded systems, peripheral interfacing, and microprocessors.

I also just got engaged a few months ago. So this trip to the Mediterranean may well also serve as a scouting trip for the honeymoon!

Hi ICEX 2013

Hi everyone

I'm Erik, a returner from last year, and I am EXCITED for this quarter. ICEX last year was the best experience of my life, and I can't wait to go back to Malta and Sicily for more wild horses, Paceville, bocci boulder, Timmy/Keith/Toto, spending time with the team, and data collection (all will be explained in great detail later on). On top of all of that, being in another country  and getting a view of the rich culture while avoiding the touristy spots is a rare opportunity, and one that I have only found on this trip. I can't wait to get started!

My assigned projects for this trip include finding and making coffee for Jane, Jeff, and I, finding a way to accommodate skiing down Mt. Etna in Sicily, rallying the troops for morning runs along the coast (although this is more of Zoe and Chris' job), and dedicating 50% of my brain capacity to making puns to first entertain, and later annoy people.

Aside from those tasks, I expect to be working on the stereo vision  and projective texturing project. Hopefully by the end of this quarter we will have established a system to predict and synthesize rocky features for entire cisterns from a subset of surface data (textures and stereo data) obtained from the GoPro cameras mounted to the ROV.

Welcome All!

Hello and welcome to another wonderful year of ICEX! I am excited to return to Malta again and look forward to working with all the students involved, (from Cal Poly and HMC). My goals for this year are to learn more about the Sicilian archeology, return to the Gozo fields, and construct 3D maps of cisterns. Note: I am also in training to be the 2nd most interesting man in the world - behind our archeological lead Dr. Timmy Gambin of course.

Excited for ICEX 2013!

My name is Jane Lehr and I am one of the faculty members involved in the 2013 ICEX program, specifically as the cultural & global engineering lead. The ICEX Program is one of the very best parts of my job at Cal Poly, and I very much look forward to all the learning and thinking and talking and coding and roboting that will be part of this year's trip! This is my 4th year in ICEX, 3rd trip to Malta, and 2nd trip to Sicily.

My research focuses on the relationships between science, technology & society, with a specific focus on science and engineering education. I am a faculty member in the departments of Ethnic Studies and Women's & Gender Studies at Cal Poly, as well as the Equity & Access Programs Director in the Center for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Education (CESaME).