Robert Steger

Mrs. Gardner

English 10H, Period 6

15 March 2017

I-Search Assignment Reflection

The career I pursued for this project was the career of a robotic engineer as it is the career

I hope to achieve in my near future. Robotics was a major part of my younger life and I grew up

thinking there was one universal program for all robotics; however, this was because I only knew

one out of the thousand languages that are involved in robotics. Many of these languages do not

need to be known for robotics, but to be able to understand any of these languages and use any

language when needed is an immense aspect of a robotic engineer. As I researched I found that

there are not many degrees solely dedicated to robotic engineering, but there are many degrees

that are a necessary degree--computer science, computer engineering and the many degrees that

include mathematics--for a robotic engineer which are found in many colleges. These programs

are a necessity among robotic engineers and some of the colleges I researched that have prestige

programs on these majors are University of California Berkeley, California Institute of

Technology, Cornell University, and Washington University. As I researched further I

encountered the many job opportunities and internships that could be acquired, but found that
these internships were meant for advanced students who are usually in or have graduated from

college, and have a background of computer science or engineering. The career and opportunities

for robotic engineers are expanding as our future is becoming dependent on robotics, and the

accelerated realization that the creation of advanced and futuristic robotics can benefit our

society. One of the robotic engineers, Hugh Durrant-Whyte, that I came into contact with

revealed to me that robotics will have incredible job opportunities in the future, and that he

enjoyed his time working in this career; although, he could not answer the questions of my

interview. However, I eventually made contact another robotic engineer, a Computer Science

and Robotics professor at Oregon State University, Heather Knight. Her responses to my

interview gave personal information and advice that I believe will help me to form my path in

this field; she stressed the need to challenge myself in the area of mathematics as she stated this

would serve as my foundation in computer engineering and robotics. She further added that I

should attempt to find a university that would give me a broad range of courses in robotics to

help me determine the specific area of robotics that most interests me. Finally, Professor Knight

said that internships, especially towards the end of my university years, should be pursued to

experience this field in a non-academic environment (which she stated can be quite different).

This experience of understanding and developing an advanced knowledge of robotic engineering

has shaped my perspective of my how I will strive to achieve my future career.