This summer I worked at VT Pro Design, a production studio for creative technology. One of their specialties is utilizing industrial robot arms for all kinds of entertainment projects by attaching cameras or LED screens to it.
I worked in a team that is preparing the robots for MTV's annual Video Music Awards. The client wanted two huge LED screens that would separate as performers walked through the gap. This called for the utmost precision since the robots would be in close proximity to celebrities.
The studio already has software to control individual robots, but it was the first time we had synchronize multiple robots and calibrate their position relative to each other. My project was to design a tool that would calibrate these robots so that they are in the same coordinate space as each other, which is the main focus of this internship.
There were two ways of calibrating the robots. The first is to attach skewers to two robots, and move the arms so the pointy ends touch. Doing this several times at different locations creates a point cloud, and from that we can calculate the position offset of the robot from each other. The second way is to use a laser tracking machine, giving us the utmost accuracy and convenience. Renting the laser is expensive and will only be used for larger jobs, so the calibration software supports both modes.
We shipped the robots just as my internship ended. Two weeks later, they went live at the VMA's.
Takeaways
I learnt to see the bigger picture.
At the beginning, I was given a collection of subtasks . As the project became more and more clear for me, I was able to "own" a section of the project, taking initiative to generate my own tasks to make that part better.
I became curious of other departments.
At the end of the day I would often walk past the creative content team and chat about what they are working on. They always had something cool rendering on the screen. By being interested in their work, I established good relationships with people from all over the office and learnt from them in addition to my own department.