Summer On-Campus #2 by Jenny B. '25

(Check out what I did last summer!)

I’m staying on-campus again!

UROP

I’m continuing my Spring UROP⁠01 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program. Undergrads get to participate in real research with professors. with REALM (Reliable Autonomous Systems Lab at MIT). This is what I do in the day, except for weekends. Not only do I enjoy my project, but the people I’ve met there so far have been very chill.

Without going into the details of the research project, the general idea is that I’m working on a program that can navigate several robots such that they’ll follow a trajectory that helps them reach their goal. It’s a mix of formation control and neural networks within the field of autonomous robot systems.

During the spring, I was able to get a simulation of the program working so that it finds an optimal path for multiple robots to get to a destination. The goal this summer is to get that program working in actual robots. This process is called sim2real, or simulation-to-real.

After that, the next goal is to improve the program so these robots can traverse different kinds of environments, like rough or unstable terrain.

Desk work

I got two jobs this summer: UROP in the day and desking at night. If you’re a student, you get the chance to have free summer housing if you’re hired as a desk worker. Hence why I’m living at Burton-Conner for free.

Desk work is chill. You handle packages and mail that come into the building, but there’s a great chunk of downtime that comes with it. During the semester, students work on problem sets or procrastinate on them. I’ve been mostly playing games and occasionally busting out some writing. In fact, I’m writing this post right now while I’m on my shift.

Entering my buff era

I’m working out, baby!

I like exercising, and I want to be strong. Unfortunately, my laziness is usually stronger. But things WILL be different this summer. Reasons why:

1. I’m using a strength training app called Caliber to schedule regular workouts and send me reminders. It also customizes each workout including instructions for each exercise, so I’m not stuck in the gym wondering what to do.
2. I’m working out with a friend so we can hold each other accountable, and being with someone I know makes the weights a little more bearable.

Artsy things

How To Get Around MIT

Making illustrations for the next How To Get Around MIT (or HowToGAMIT for short). It’s a student-produced handbook that’s a guide “written by students, for students.” You can get an idea of what it’s about here.

Writing a novel, kind of

It’s sci fi! I’ve always wanted to write a book, but it’s much harder than I expected.

FPOP

I’m going to be an FPOP counselor for the First-year Arts Program this summer! FPOPs, or First-year Pre-Orientation Programs, are week-long programs that incoming freshmen have a chance to participate in before Orientation. There’s a whole list of them, and they have themes that range from entrepreneurship to ocean engineering to outdoor activities. I got to do the First-year Arts Program when I was a pre-frosh, and I met people who are still friends to this day. But more importantly, I have very good memories illustrating a Tim the Beaver x John Harvard fancomic.

I’m not the only blogger who’ll be a counselor this year! I’ll be working alongside Teresa and Fatima, who are also Arts Program alumni.

Misc. things

• Going to visit Maine with my parents later this July
• Listening to a lot of music, as usual
• Watching Barry
• I made a low-poly beaver in Blender