Author: Arim Baek, Email: baeka3@unlv.nevada.edu
Date Last Modified: 02/16/2025

This is a photo taken during our Growth Track session when we learned about VR. I had tried VR in Korea before, but only for a short time, just looking around. So it didn't leave a strong impression to me.
However, this time, I was amazed because I could see my hands and real people in the lab through a small window in the virtual world. Even more, I could see the grass on the ground and feel the height of the trees. Everything felt so vivid, as if I truly get into a game world!!

I met Melissa, Cristin and AJ in a buddy program.
Thanks to them, I didn't have to spend Sunday alone and bored. I went to Bespoke and had a mimosa with brunch. It was to die for.
They also told me some fun stories. Melissa said that when she was younger, her teacher took her iPod from her during class. The teacher said she would only return it if her parents contacted the school, but Melissa was too afraid to tell them. Now, even after ten years, the iPod is probably still with the teacher! That story was absolutely hilarious and since Melissa is so bright and cheerful now, it's hard to imagine her as a timid child.

Since this place is much more drier than Korea, I feel like I sneeze even more often here. As expected, I sneezed in class as well. One of my classmates immediately said, “Bless you”. I didn't expected it and automatically siad thank you. It felt like a scene I had only seen in American movies was happening to me. In Korea, people don't really care whether someone sneezes or not, so actually hearing “Bless you” was fascinating.
In the past, sneezing was considered as a sign of illness, so people said “God bless you” to pray for good health and this became a cultural practice. How adorable it is to wish for someone's well-being even with a tiny sneeze!

I tend to feel anxious about unfinished tasks. Since the language is different, even doing the same things takes more time here than it would in Korea. Such as reading books, preparing for presentations, or understanding lectures, everything feels just a little slower. Because of that, I constantly think about the time it will take to finish my tasks, and even though I'm working hard, I keep worrying about it. I think that's the reason why I'm always tired, even when I'm not doing anything special. Since I was anxious about not completing my assignments perfectly, I often said no when friends invited me to hang out or exercise together.
However, I suddenly realized that unnecessary worries and anxieties are stealing away valuable experiences and opportunities here. I’ve already been doing well enough, so I need to be more confident and get rid of this useless anxiety!

P (Proportional) control generates a control signal proportional to the error. When the P gain value is increased, the robot reacts more strongly. When the robot gets closer to the wall, it makes the robot to move away from the wall more quickly.
I (Integral) control considers the accumulated error over time. Increasing the I gain helps correct the accumulated small errors more strongly.
D (Derivative) control generates a control signal based on the rate of change of the error. It helps to prevent the robot from reacting too quickly to large errors, avoiding sudden direction changes.
Even small adjustments to the PID gains resulted in significant changes, so I had to experiment a lot to find the optimal values. By plotting the sensor values on a graph, I was able to observe issues like overshoot and oscillation, and adjust specific gain values to address them. As a result, although it's not perfect, I could see my robot driving quite stably.