Brent's Cultural Research Project

All the ICEX students from Cal poly are doing a cultural research project and my project is on Computer Science and Information Technology as a major source of national income in Malta. The topic came out of the startling fact that Malta has very few natural resources that it can base it's manufacturing sector on. My idea was that if Malta couldn't make physical products then why not make information based products?

In Malta I plan to talk to Computer Science and Information Technology professors to get their view of the current state of the industry and what they believe might happen in the future. The final product for my project will be a piece of writing explaining the findings of my research.

Goals and Progress

Over the break I've worked on integrating the data from Smart Tether into the FastSLAM algorithm for better localization of the ROV in the underwater caves of Malta. The algorithm will match up several Smart Tether measurements with the times of the sonar scans and use an average of those measurements to calculate a weight for a given particle's estimated position of the ROV. I've also started to make sample Smart Tether data based on the data we collected at the pool to use for testing.

Having worked on localization with the x80 ground robot and a known map in Prof. Clark's Autonomous Robot Navigation class, I am interested in the technical challenges presented by underwater localization and with having no map initially. I've studied Latin for four years and Italian for two, so I'm very interested in the history of Malta as it dates back to Greek and Roman times as well as the culture of Malta and the Mediterranean region.

Cultural & Technical Goals

Having been to Malta once already, my learning goals are probably slightly different than the rest of the team's. Culturally, I am aiming to get a deeper understanding of how Malta developed as a country in order to better understand the cultural background of the country. I'm hoping this will giving me a better insight on the Maltese traditions and cultural norms. Most of the research will occur before arriving in Malta which should allow for some interesting social interactions.

As for the technical goals, I am aiming to enhance our scan matching algorithm to handle 3D sonar scans. This will help us generate a more accurate representation of the cisterns as well as help the visualization team generate more realistic models.

Goals

This will be my first time going to Europe, so my cultural goal is to experience and learn about the differences in lifestyles between people in Malta and people in the United States. I think it will also be very exciting to learn about the rich histories of the places we will visit.

As for the technical side, I am interested in co-operating with everyone and seeing how all of the different projects fit together. My personal goal is to develop my skills in working with new API and learn more about the algorithms involved in autonomous vehicles. Professor Clark's class was my first experience with robots, so I would also like to see how everything is going to work in the field.

I look forward to getting to know everyone working on the project!

My Learning Goals

My overall goal is to walk away with a priceless experience that I would try to have again. I want to learn as much as I possibly can both culturally and academically, so these experiences can help to shape me as I move forward through college and my future career.

Some smaller goals I have are to learn more about the robotics and computer science fields. I don't know much about robotics or computer science, so I'm very excited to learn about them and then to compare them to my own engineering field.

My last goal is kind of cliche but I want this program/trip to help me become a better leader and teammate. I know that always seems to be a goal for everything, but I really do think that this would be a great experience to learn something new about being a leader or a team player since we will be working with people of all ages, interests and beliefs.

Going with what Bret did. One of my favorite quotes is "Don't let your schooling get in the way of your education." by Mark Twain. I want to learn as much as possible through this experience, but as I already said, that doesn't strictly mean academic knowledge. I want to learn the culturally stuff too.

I am so excited for this and I hope you all are too!

Goals for the Program

Earl Nightingale once said that "People with goals succeed because they know where they're going." It is only fitting that each of us have goals for the ICEX project and our trip to Malta. I have a main goal and two learning goals.

My main goal is related to the project I am assigned to lead. I am in charge of acquiring, analyzing and displaying the marine data (salinity and temperature) for local marine biologists. My main goal is to accomplish this in a way that the result is helpful to the research of the marine biologists.

Of my learning goals, one is technical and one is cultural. My technical goal is to leave the program with real world experience in graphics programing, interface design, application and analysis of algorithms, and autonomous robotics. My cultural goal is to leave Malta with a better understanding of the culture and people so that I feel it has impacted the way I think and look at the world.