My Experience So Far

My internship at idealworks has hit the halfway mark of what has been a very enjoyable experience. Idealworks has given me the opportunity to work on a range of different topics which have broadened my skills and understanding. A fair share of the work so far has been with 3D assets, in particular for synthetic data generation. Synthetic Data is used to teach the iw.hub autonomous mobile robot about its environment and helps improve the decision-making process when out in factories and warehouses. Essentially, we are teaching the artificial intelligence within the robot. This is parallel work to the SORDI page that was recently released by BMW, which previous interns and current Academy staff have been a big part of. The generation of this data is carried out through the NVIDIA Omniverse platform which has been another exciting tool to learn and integrate into my processes.

One of my upcoming projects will also be the first in-depth user study of the AnyFleet system at idealworks’ customers workplaces. Having done some user orientated research at University I am excited to apply some of the skills to a real-life study, and hopefully we can push the direction of the management app in the right direction. For those who are unfamiliar with AnyFleet, it is the application and user interface that the iw.hub’s are controlled from. The research study will also be interesting as most of it will be in German, ensuring we collect accurate and meaningful data will therefore have an extra layer of complexity.

The last major area of work has been some traditional industrial design work. Over the last month two projects have come up that I have had the opportunity to have a major influence on. It was very enjoyable being able to take a project further than most university assignments and refine all the little details right down to the nuts and bolts. The industrial design degree at QUT had equipped me with a good foundational skillset and the confidence to present my ideas. Working with some of the engineers at idealworks expanded my knowledge and refined university taught skills, especially when it came to preparing for manufacture. The first prototype should hopefully arrive at the office over the next few weeks which I am very excited for.

As I continue on towards the second half of my internship I am growing more confident in my abilities and am excited for the challenges ahead.

Thanks for reading,

Søren Waldmann
Digital Design Intern, idealworks