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--- nnss_kassai_nathan [2024/07/03 10:34] – nkassai
+++ nnss_kassai_nathan [2024/07/03 10:43] (current) – old revision restored (2024/06/07 17:41) nkassai
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 ===== Week 1 =====
 ==== New Person ====
-This week, I got a chance to meet Bryan, a backend Android app developer who has been working diligently on many different projects. He's been there to help check in on my progress while at NNSS and has been a valuable resource to Francis and I.
+Over the course of the past few weeks, I have had the delight of meeting many of my new mentors & managers that I'd be working with for the summer. One person that definitely stood out to me was my mentor Martin; he's currently finishing up his PhD at UNLV, and is such a phenomenal robotics engineer! The project Francis and I were put on has been worked on entirely by Martin with the assistance of another member of their lab. Any issue he runs into is solved within seconds, manages nearly every aspect of such a large project, while ALSO putting in the time for his PhD program and the lab he works on campus. For the first week, he's been providing resources/tools to Francis and I for software to learn such as ROS 2 and GIT while giving us side projects to complete. I am grateful to have someone as intelligent and helpful as Martin to help us learn how to be better roboticists and researchers.
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 ==== Cultural Insight ====
-While working at DASL, sometimes I and others get stuck in the prototyping phase of our project. Of course, this is understandable, as we are actively developing & researching new ideas, however, while stuck in prototyping, we implement what I call "temporary-permanent solutions". As in, placing double-sided tape on a problem, it works for the time being, then later on it comes and bites us in the rear, creating an even larger problem. Had we tackled the problem at hand, albeit it would take longer than the temporary-permanent solution, it would last exponentially longer than the former. This is not allowed at RSL; we are forced to have a more permanent solution to our issues, even if it does take longer. This is a practice that I want everyone, including myself, to practice often, whether that's to simplify the process of running your system or banning the usage of double-sided tape (partially joking).
+One of the greatest parts of working at DASL is that we have 24 hour/7 days a week access; working at RSL, that doesn't exist. It's a strict schedule from 7am-5pm, 4 days a week, and **nothing** more. When I had asked what work I should do over the weekend/what should I begin studying for, they looked at me with confusion and replied with "not worry about work". While this feels frustrating, as work that I could complete would have to wait until the next day, or until after the weekend, it forces me to be as efficient with the time that I am given throughout the week.
+Furthermore, I have been spending some time learning Git, a version control system capable of saving "snapshots" of coding projects, which many people at RSL use. Learning how to properly use Git and even host a remote server capable of storing multiple projects with their entire respective version history, has been a huge game changer in terms of efficiently storing/retrieving old/new projects. This is something I'd definitely love to have integrated in our lab.
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 ==== Lesson of the Week ====
-While working at RSL, it has become sometimes difficult to browse the web and look for packages on GitHub (as the GitHub website is blocked entirely). While working on base, I've been forced to shift from browsing on GitHub for an answer to my question to focusing solely on the documentation of the library/software I am using. This sometimes causes a delay in the work, however, this forces me to understand every aspect of the libraries that I am using rather than relying on previous answers to questions on GitHub to help me understand a fraction of the problem at hand.
+Due to the nature of our work, we are not in possession of our phones throughout our time at RSL. This has become a problem as I use my phone as a personal notebook, reminder, storage, etc. Making the shift from using my phone to a personal notebook that I carry everywhere, has actually made book-keeping everything a whole lot easier. This also forces me to write down **everything** whether that's notes for a project, reminders, etc, as I have a pretty poor memory.
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 ==== Technical Projects =====
-My programming skills have improved with ROS 2 in C++! My main project right now is to generate "markers" based on an external sensor's reading, within a map cloud generated with a Livox MID360 Lidar sensor. Furthermore, with my knowledge of GIT increasing, I have created my own remote GIT Repository to save my projects to; I have been able to save multiple "snapshots" (or version) of the code I have written so that I may refer back to each iteration. Slightly off topic, but the transition from ROS 1 to ROS 2 is definitely something that I'd like the lab to learn at some point, since ROS 1 hits End of Life (EOL) next year, meaning no more official support.
+Similarly with Francis, due to all the papers and documents signed, I am not allowed to disclose what projects that I have been working on and this is further reinforced by both my manager and supervisor. What I can say is that I have been spending a lot of time learning how to use ROS2 as well as a popular SLAM library known as RTAB-Map. Similar to the work I had done with Zahir's Cable-Driven Parallel Robot, I have been working on integrating RTAB-Map's functionality with a LiDAR camera in ROS2 instead of ROS1, which definitely has been a big leap.