This past summer, I had the incredible experience of participating in a Caltech SURF (Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship) at Georgia Tech in Atlanta! As a senior, this is my third off-campus SURF (you can read about my first SURF in Miami and second SURF in Pittsburgh here!) and was by far the best one yet.
During my ten weeks at Georgia Tech, I worked in the Dynamic Mobility Lab to design and fabricate a five-link planar bipedal robot with a platform to test basic controls strategies. In non-robotics terms, I had to build a mini robot with two legs that could walk with some support. I nicknamed my robot BiLLIE (Bipedal Locomotion and Learning Integration Environment)—see some pictures of her below! It definitely took a lot of long hours in the lab, but by the end of the summer, BiLLIE was able to walk for 40 steps!
More than the time I spent in lab, I really loved living in Atlanta. The apartment I was subleasing from was in Midtown, which is really close to the Georgia Tech campus and is super lively. In my free time, I was either cooking (Publix, the best grocery store ever, was right across the street) or venturing to one of the many restaurants or cafes in the area (stacking up that Beli account!).
I also spent a lot of time in nature! I often took long walks on the Atlanta Beltine, a long, 22-mile walking trail that winds throughout the city. I was a frequest visitor of the Eastside Trail (it was only 3 miles long). It connected Piedmont Park (one of Atlanta’s biggest parks) and Ponce City Market, a huge mall with a diverse food court. Once, I rented an electric scooter to ride on the trail on a humid day with my friend from home who was visiting me. Another time, I was walking to find a place to watch the FIFA World Cup Final and unfortunately got rained on (the lovely perks of Southern weather).
Atlanta also has a huge art scene! About a mile from my apartment was the High Museum of Art, the largest museum for visual art in the Southeastern US. The second Sunday of the month always has free admission, so I ventured over there one weekend to draw at the museum. Here are some pictures of my art at the museum!
Enjoy some more pretty pictures of Atlanta, including the view from my apartment and sunsets around the area 🙂
Reflecting back, I couldn’t have asked for a better summer. I got to participate in robotics research in the exact field I want to pursue graduate studies in, all while being able to explore a new city and meeting new people! I hope to be able to spend more time in Atlanta in the future (especially to visit the remaining restaurants on my list).
