Today is the last day of my engineering internship here at CrossRealms, and I’m stunned at just how quickly the last seven months have gone by. Our team has completed a prototype ChatterTale: an audio playback device designed to help both underprivileged and visually impaired children listen to and record stories — with the goal of improving literacy.
During my time with the CrossRealms Sustainability Team, I worked predominantly on the software driving the logic of audio playback and recording, including writing, testing, debugging and refactoring C and C++ for Arduino devices. This was my first time working on a C++ project of this size and my first experience working with programmers from other countries and universities. In addition to software development, I was able to learn from the other interns about hardware design and implementation. I was invited to help my co-workers with the chip and board selection for the project and learned elements of electrical engineering including breadboard prototyping, how to read and implement electrical schematics, and electronics debugging. Finally, I also had the opportunity to work with one of the company’s 3D printers and learn the basics of 3D modeling, printing, and printer troubleshooting.
What was particularly rewarding about my tenure at CrossRealms was that I was welcomed to participate in all aspects of the hardware implementation process. It is my impression that it is rare for an intern to have this kind of input. I was invited and required to come up with projects for the team to work on and was part of the project-selection process. Our team was small and given a large amount of freedom as to how to design and implement a product satisfying our goals. We were given deadlines and access to resources in the company and “let loose,” and I found the experience gained to be tremendous.
~Chris Lowe
Engineering Intern
clowe@crossrealms.ca