Back to the activities of the Computer Engineering program at Insper, student André Corrêa Santos, in his eighth semester, can already evaluate the two months he spent in the Summer Research Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, in the United States. At the Parasol Lab, Santos worked on a virtual reality interaction system project with robotic joints used in hazardous areas. The mission was to program a learning system for robots based on human demonstration of gestures and movements, which was supported by virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) and maintained the functionalities of robotics.

 

In Brazil, the research was supervised by Luciano Pereira Soares, professor of the Engineering programs at Insper, who guided him in the Institutional Program for Scientific and Technological Initiation Scholarship (PIBITI). Nancy Amato, Director of the Parasol Lab, and professor Marco Morales were the advisors in Illinois. The project aligned with the learning in the Computer Engineering program. “I have taken most of the courses in digital games, virtual reality, and augmented reality," says Santos. "The work allowed me to apply much of what I had already studied at Insper. It was a nice union because I had experience in programming in these areas, and they had the theoretical framework of robotics, which was new to me."

 

The advisors set a quite reasonable goal for the two months of the summer program, facilitated by quick decisions. Thus, the team achieved the objectives with a dedication of six to eight hours a day, assures the student. A summary of the project was presented on September 23 at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Icra) of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Santos accompanied the team of doctoral students from Parasol, honored by the presence of Nancy Amato. “It was a luxury to be able to dedicate myself like this to the project because in college, sometimes we have to deliver the assignments from one week to the next. I was proud of the work outcome," he says.

 

From his days in the lab, Santos remembers it as a lively place, always full of people, with a cultural background similar to the undergraduate colleagues in Brazil. “It was easier to adapt than I imagined,” he says. “There were several people from other universities who were also going through the summer program in Illinois. The undergraduate students doing the project with me, for example, were new to the lab, so it was new to everyone. If I got stuck with a problem, Grace, my work partner, helped me solve it. And I could help her when I figured out the solution first.”

 

Santos reports: “The lab has 40 Ph.D. students around and masters to answer any questions, all always attentive. Marcelo Marchetto, a student from Insper, was also there, working on another project, but right next door. We had weekly meetings with Luciano Soares, Marco Morales, and Nancy Amato. Nancy directs Parasol, coordinates a bunch of university projects, and still attended the meetings to give general guidance. I was impressed because I did not imagine that she, with so many responsibilities, could give such attention to a summer project.”

 

 

In the weeks following his return to São Paulo, Santos had to step away from research to finish the report for the technology initiation program at Insper, submitted on August 29. “Now they have resumed the weekly meeting schedule, and I'm back to working with the lab,” he says. “I have access to all the virtual reality devices in the Insper lab and some of them at home, so for me, it’s easy to test here in Brazil what they are doing there. I still talk a lot with Grace and feel reassured knowing what's going on there and being able to contribute as much as I can remotely.”

 

The lunch and dinner hours were used for socializing with the Parasol team and the other seven students from Insper sent to the summer program. There was even a sightseeing trip to Chicago. But the favorite leisure activity was a bit more challenging. “Earlier this year, in São Paulo, I started practicing sport climbing,” he says. “And, by some divine accident, there was a climbing wall at the college gym. I would go there every other day after work. And I cycled every weekend to a large climbing gym located a bit more on the outskirts of the city. It was wonderful to be able to bike to climb. Here in São Paulo, I can't bike as freely.”

 

Santos reveals that his colleague Marchetto knows how to use digital market tools like no one else. “He found a seller who was selling good bikes extremely cheaply. We bought them and, on the last day, managed to sell them. In the end, I didn’t rent the bike, but it broke even,” he says.

 

When he was a child, Santos lived for six months in Washington D.C., the capital of the United States, while his mother taught as a visiting professor at Georgetown University. Other than that, he has always lived in the São Paulo capital. Thus, for the first time, he lived away from his parents' house—and about 8,200 kilometers away.

 

Those two months were like a “test drive,” he jokes, for the possibility of staying away from his family for a longer period, should he opt for an M.Sc. or a job in another city. “At the dormitory, there was a corridor just for Brazilians. If I got bored in the late afternoon, I just opened the door and walked into a friend's room to chat. At night, we would go out for dinner or do something. It was very cool,” he recalls.

 

The climbing sessions also brought new friends, all of whom he met at the gyms and, interestingly, were all from Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or Physics. He made a point to ask everyone what they were doing. The answer was almost always an M.Sc. or a Doctoral Program. “Many said that graduate school was too hard and that I should go into industry and make money,” he says. “I understood everyone's reasons, of course. I'm getting close to the point of deciding what to do after college. The important thing is that, with all those conversations, I am better informed about my career orientation.” They say that the practice of climbing improves concentration and prepares you for eventual falls, but the purpose remains the same: to face any obstacle without fear and without haste.