My grandfather, a carpenter, has magical hands that can turn wood into delicate and durable furniture. The dining table and chairs in my house, made by my grandfather, have been used for 43 years. Since my childhood, I have learned to make and repair things around me, ranging from windows, lamps, cell phones, and computers, to innovatively designed furniture. My grandfather taught me how to design a hidden lock in a drawer, while my father cultivated my ability to design, plan, and read professional design drawings. My father also taught me that being an engineer requires outstanding skills, professional knowledge and the ability to design and organize. As an outcome of my familial education, therefore, I knew I should fix things myself as often as possible; and if there is no suitable choice on the market, make my own one.
In the ninth grade, an animation called Toaru Kagaku no Rērugan spurred new dreams of having my own coilgun. To materialize this virtual invention, I gathered a group of classmates to establish a research club focusing on coilguns. Two years later, I successfully created the coilgun I had been dreaming of. I never stop making things for my need. At the end of my high school year, I build my own PC Tablet that can run most of the existing high performance game. After my high school graduation, I built my first 3D printer. The 3D printer is a watershed of my life. By understanding how electronics drive motors and allow a simple mechanical structure print physical objects, I realize this is what I want to do. From then on, I fall in love with robots and I decided to be an electrical engineer in Virginia Tech and make robots. I am still on the way of my dream. Now I’m a Virginia Tech electrical engineering student. I have join three Virginia Tech research labs. These labs include TREC Lab (The Terrestrial Robotics Engineering & Controls Lab), DREAMS Lab (Design, Research, and Education for Additive Manufacturing Systems DREAMS Laboratory) and AMP Lab (Autonomous Mastery Prototyping Lab). Although I am a freshman in 2014, I joined the junior design team of DREAMs Lab and focused on improving 3D printer for public use. We built 3D printer that can accessed by public. These printers are call Dream Vendor and are currently serving in Goodwin Hall. Any Virginia Tech student can 3D print their design by swipe their Hokie ID. On the other hand, I am an undergraduate researcher in TREC Lab. We built a humanoid fire fighter robot for submarines of U.S. Army. With our robot named ESCHER, we made to the DARPA Robotics Challenge in California 2015. Currently, I am designing and building a customized 3D printer for TREC lab. I am also one of the AMP lab Leadership team. By having my own prototyping project, Motorized Longboard, I was able to understand what prototyping is and what the role of a leader is. All these extracurricular activities make me feel closer and closer to my dream. My dream is to build an exoskeleton suit in Iron Man. This suit will reinforce human power, be low on maintenance costs and effective in resource employment. As the pinnacle of human intelligence, this suit will offer human beings the ability to resist hostile environments, including vacuum, high temperatures, extreme cold, intensive radiation, and resource shortages. Finally, people will be able to explore the deep sea and universe, and possibly leave the Earth for the vast unknown realms. Although this sounds ridiculous, I am sure I will make it happen and I am on the way of my dream. |
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