Working at Teledyne SeaBotix has been very different in comparison to working at Teledyne Impulse last year, but it has been eventful, which is very fun, in my opinion. So far, my supervisor, Leverette Bezanson, has been keeping me busy with lots of hands-on tasks that I find very necessary to expand and further my knowledge of engineering. Not only that, but Leverette has also given me the opportunity to work with the other engineers on their projects, which I find useful and am thankful for because they all have different specialties of engineering. I work mostly with Mike Poole, one of the Electrical Engineers. What he does is he makes sure that the ROVs (Remote Operated Vehicles) receive the right amount of power because if it doesn’t, it will either not run or blow up, if it has too much power. I have assisted Mike with testing on power supplies used with the vehicles and making sure that it will run the way we want it to. We are just about to conclude the testing, but I am not sure if I am allowed to give any information of the testing and the product, so I won’t.

I have also been learning some of the facts and common information of the vehicles and just trying to grasp as much information as I can because it is just what I should do as an intern, but also because I just found out that I will be working with the other interns at the AUV Competition coming up in late July.

Another project I have started and have been working on are updates on the parts and assemblies the company has and making sure it has the right logo and has the necessary length. I am very thankful that I was able to learn SolidWorks last year at Impulse because that is what I use during the updates and actually is also part of the reason I got the interview in the first place.

Lastly, one other project planned for me is working with fan validation. I’m not quite sure of the project just yet because Leverette hasn’t told me much about it because he is really busy being the manager of the whole engineering department, which I understand.

Honestly, I am just so grateful to have been able to do the internship again this year, I have learned so much more and wished I knew more to begin with. The people here are so amazing, especially the people who in the engineering department because they are so willing to help me and the other interns. It was really great, actually because on Friday, July 10, Brian Smallwood, my supervisor from last year and some other people came to SeaBotix as representatives of Impulse and it was just great to see him because it brought back so many great memories I had from last year, it was great to have seen him again. I also forgot to mention that I was able to meet a lady who represented Marine Tech Society, who came all the way from Washington DC, it was very nerve wracking and intimidating because I wanted to represent the Interns so well. One of the other highlights of my 3 weeks, so far, was being able to go to the docks with the other interns and drive the vLBV, a type of ROV the company builds and also drive a type of miniature boat that obtains data in the water. Well, I just passed my half way point and don’t want it to end just yet, it is too fun to end too quickly. Thank you again so much for giving us the opportunity to expand our knowledge of something we feel very passionate about.

Jesus Eder – El Cajon HS

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My tasks and position has been going well so far at NOAA. I’m currently helping Randy out with some calibration software. I have also been fine-tuning a graphical user interface that Randy uses in order to grab measurement lengths of objects within stereoscopic captured images. Streamlining the interface as well as the efficiency of the code within the application has also taken place.  An example of some changes that I’ve made to the application include a new file matching algorithm that I created that allows for users to quickly access the directories for a set of left and right stereo images, then having the software pair up respective left and right images based off of a set of parameters the user inputted. Another feature that was recently implemented was a resolution changing algorithm I added that utilizes bicubic interpolation of the image pixels and re-sizes them so that high resolution stereoscopic images are produced. this increases the overall accuracy of measurements made by the software, leading to less error when measuring objects.

The oldest task that I completed involved stereo calibration for the ROV’S cameras. I had to compile an enormous Excel document that was filled with measurements based off of calibration results from an open-source Toolbox application that takes input images (of a checkerboard from multiple angles and distances) and generates intrinsic and extrinsic parameters for Randy’s own measurement software to use in measuring other objects.

Primarily, I’ve been working with Randy on code related activities. As a result, most of my time has been spent implementing or debugging code. Sometimes I crunch numbers. Coding can be a fun task, since getting things to work and function always have their moments of joy. While I do enjoy the exercise of solving these virtual problems, I have also been interested in getting involved in technical work. Going into this internship, I had expected that I would be doing some work in the workshops. Cutting, drilling, and building are tasks that I thought I would help out with. I do have prior experience with most power tools and I know the basic safety protocols involving their use and storage. It would seem, though, that there isn’t anymore work that needs to be done on the ROV; so I suppose that’s understandable.

Summing things up, I’ve been finishing coding tasks for Randy with enjoyment and satisfaction. Meanwhile, I would greatly appreciate any tasks involving engineering or technical work. Even simple jobs with soldering or use of power tools are fine.

Thanks for this opportunity so far,

Xiao Bao Bao –  La Jolla HS

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I’m rounding out my 5th week at Teledyne RD Instruments. I’m astonished at how much I’ve learned in that span of time. It’s like nothing I could ever get from school- first off due to the office environment. Despite the expected independent and professional atmosphere, everyone here is incredibly friendly and helpful. It’s due to their helpfulness that I’ve gotten so much accomplished. My project was to devise a contained system that RDI’s thermosalinograph could be easily brought aboard and demoed for potential customers. The great part about my project is that I was involved with departments from all over RDI- Sales, Engineering, Manufacturing, Testing, Requisition- so needless to say I’ve made a lot of friends. My project evolved into researching and purchasing a device to accompany the sensor, which required business phone calls, as well as designing an adapted nozzle for the thermosalinograph. My first week at Teledyne was spent lost in the building and learning Solidworks (to draft the nozzle), but it didn’t take long for me to learn my way around, grow my confidence, and fearlessly seek out guidance when needed. I’ve come a long way; my project that seemed so daunting in the beginning is about to be realized and completed. I couldn’t be more proud of myself, and a little surprised at the capabilities I didn’t know I had. This has been a summer like no other, and has influenced my thoughts on majors and career options. Thank you!

Ava Scally – Mt. Carmel HS

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So far my time at Sidus has been an exciting, educational opportunity, meeting people with various backgrounds and experience in engineering and helping them in their daily work environment. In my time so far I have completed a wide scope of tasks for the various sections of the company, allowing me to experience how you, as a company, work. In production I have been helping organize and take inventory of parts, salvage pieces of previous projects, producing your current products, and testing them as well. In engineering I have been primarily working on developing and improving different skills in Solidworks, which I have now begun to use for the company, helping check different Solidworks constructs in order to ensure their accuracy and ease of interpretation for the people producing them. I have been grateful for this amazing opportunity since the first day and I hope my remaining time at Sidus will be as good an experience, if not better, than my first few weeks.

 

Sincerely,

Peter Hartmeier  – Cathedral Catholic HS

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I would like to thank you again for coordinating the MTS Internship program!

I just finished my fourth week at Sidus Solutions and everything is going great. All of my coworkers are very nice and funny, creating an awesome working environment. I have gotten to do so many different tasks for all the major sectors of company (engineering, production, and management) and have learned a lot. These tasks include soldering microcontrollers, soldering “whips,” degassing pan-and-tilt systems, CADing parts with SolidWorks, programming GUIs with Visual Basic, testing and fixing products, making assembly manuals for company employees, and setting-up camera and video-logging systems that the company hopes to use. I have also spent several days shadowing employees, learning what they do and how they do it. As a programmer, I have always been more focused on software than hardware. However, through this internship, I have been exposed to a number of hardware concepts and gained a lot of experience that I never would have been able to learn in school or through reading books. While all of this was very exciting and interesting, I have also had to do some jobs, such as inventory, that were not as much fun, but very important for the company. However, these tasks have given me a sense of how companies are managed and provided me with real-life experiences. I still have around two weeks with the company and cannot wait to see what else I will get to d

Thank you,

Francisca Vasconcelos – Torrey Pines HS

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Well first of let me just say that I am completely grateful and blessed to have the opportunity to be interning here at Sontek. I love the environment here. I’m treated as a co-worker, and everyone is willing to help. It just has a nice, serious atmosphere, which is a great working environment.  Everything is going well. Martin has helped me improve my coding skills, giving me “tests” or tasks to accomplish and they’ve really helped. Also Dwayne introduced me Cubify invent and cubeX, where I created my own model planes. Unfortunately, the 3-D printer isn’t working at this time, but we hope to get it running before I leave. My actual task given, which was the Hydrophone and transducer is going smoothly. I was stuck for a while, but ever since Adam returned, it has been smooth sailing.

Fu’ad Rabi

The Preuss School

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Things are going well at Teledyne Impulse.  I feel treated as an equal. My “boss,” Gracelin Opina, does well in keeping up with the work I am doing but is not overbearing.

For the first two weeks, I trained on the production floor, learning a variety of jobs. I got a good overview of all the jobs. I worked in molding and trimming epoxy, polyurethane and neoprene. I learned the general processes of how all connectors are made from start to finish through doing each job. During those first two weeks, each day I did 2-3 tasks that are performed on the floor. I got a good overall view of the work. Once I finished doing the jobs on the floor, I have been tasked with two things. The first is creating designs in Solidworks 2015. I am given old designs that are not in 3-D and my job is to make them in the program Solidworks. My second task is to take tools/products made at Teledyne but that have been rejected for different reasons.  I review the rejected products, trying to figure out why they were rejected and then my job is to create a solution for the error.

Thank you for helping me in get this internship. It has been a great experience.

Sincerely, Martin Alvarez-Kuglen – Dehesa Charter School