It’s getting close to the end of the first week and our team has certainly come a long way in this short amount of time. Our robot design is certainly improving and we’re settling into a comfortable rhythm. We came in today morning with goals to meet and went about doing them. Apart from the work, we also found some time to talk about each other’s lives in our different countries – from how Lego robots are made in China to the Big Dog of the US Army’s connection to MIT. The conversations are entertaining and while providing a break from the exhausting routine of cutting and putting together of parts, they also provide an insider’s view of a lot of interesting topics. We also had an unofficial photoshoot, and had fun by using some of the goats left over from SUTD’s CNY light-up as props. Another interesting new development that happened today was the introduction of a music playing system which involved giving an opportunity to each country to play their own music, starting with Singapore and China. Listening to Chinese music was a refreshing change from my normal music collection, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the Chinese didn’t miss out on anything, and their music extended into rap and rock genres too.
There’s a lot of inter-group interaction, and ideas are exchanged and debated upon. Of course, there’s always time for some friendly banter in between.
In the evening the Singapore contingency took the international students on a trip to Bugis for some dinner and sightseeing. It was a good bonding experience as a whole. I also got a history lesson on some of Singapore’s historical locations.
It was a long day, and we came back exhausted. Looking forward to continuing the momentum!
Lakshmi Janaki Dhanya
Sophomore
Singapore University of Technology and Design
