In 2023, I look back fondly on my time as both a student and staff member of the University of Melbourne after having graduated with a degree in the Master of Engineering (Mechatronics), awarded with Distinction, as well as having acted as a research assistant for the Human Robotics Laboratory and a robotics demonstrator for the Engineering Modelling and Design subject.
I am grateful for the opportunity to strengthen my understanding of engineering fields and emerging technologies that are highly relevant in today’s ever-changing world, including control systems, embedded systems, sensor systems, artificial intelligence and robotics. Whether it was programming a Kobuki robot using the Robot Operating System to complete an obstacle course, building a chess-playing robotic manipulator from scratch or coming up with an innovative new type of social network to allow the Indian overseas diaspora to connect with communities in their home village, there was never a dull moment throughout my degree and I was constantly learning new things.
The highlight was most certainly the Capstone Project, in which our team, in collaboration with the Collingwood Football Club, designed and constructed a system using wearable surface electromyography sensors and an accompanying smartphone application to enable sports physiotherapists to adopt data-driven approaches to the prevention of hamstring injuries in football players.
In addition to academics, I was fortunate to gain valuable hands-on industry experience through the Internship Program at an innovative prosthetics start-up. As an intern, I designed part of the electronic hardware for their upcoming product. Later, I joined the team as an integration engineer to continue the project and develop the product’s firmware based on the Zephyr Project real-time operating system.
Thank you to all those who helped me along this journey. I would not be where I am today without your continued support.