Active Inspection: Hands-on experience with Dr. Arun Dalmia
Seth
Experience Information
Employer: Active Inspection
Job Title: Computer Engineering Co-Op
Major: Computer Engineering
Received Credit: Yes
Paid: Yes
Abroad: No
Description of the Organization
Active Inspection is a small vision inspection company based in Grand Rapids, specializing in software development for applications that pair vision systems with machine learning, cloud-based framework, and more. For 20 years, AI has provided services to numerous manufacturing companies that visually analyzes a variety of products, from single small parts to indefinite printed rolls of material. Because of the smaller size of the company, this allows for more personalized services and a more-closely supportive workplace environment.
Description of the Tasks/Projects Completed
Over the course of this session, I have been tasked with training in C# application development by developing and debugging console applications, along with building C# unit tests for programs in Active Inspectionýs common repository. I have been thoroughly testing front-end applications for bugs and overall functionality before release, practicing with identifying and fixing the bugs I find, assembling computers fitted with Active Inspection applications, assembling enclosures for electrical systems, writing/appending user manuals and presentation slides for the same applications, and maintaining a housekeeping system I developed for application testing and development.
Skills/Knowledge Gained Through The Experience
I developed the intermediate skills needed for C++ and C# application development by developing console applications, along with building C# unit tests using the Boost library and NUnit framework. I learned how to build applications that managed File I/O, used TCP/IP to transmit data over a local network, or used media player libraries to manage live-streaming camera acquisition. I also started to learn how to create GUIs using the WPF framework. Lastly, I have become familiar with setting up computers to run our applications and building entire electrical cabinets to house our systems, fit with computers, cameras, lights, and other necessary peripherals.
Favorite Part of the Experience
During one of the debugging sessions earlier last month, I was stepping through our code-base, trying to find a bug in the process that calculated the correct gain value to send to our machine-vision cameras. For the last two rotations, the code-base has been a mess I havenýt been able to wrap my head around, but during that debugging session, everything clicked all-of-a-sudden. I was finally able to see more clearly how this massive code-base interacted with itself, and I was able to think through and contribute a working solution to the bug once it was found. Working as a student on similar projects, it becomes very easy to keep everything confined to one file or one method. I was afraid of having to keep up with expanding complexity, a fear I only recently got over working here. It felt good to professionally contribute and improve the work my co-workers have done over the past few years, and itýs something I would like to carry into future endeavors.
How the Experience Influenced Future Career Goals
As much as I have learned here, being near the end of this experience has reminded me that still I have so much more to learn before being truly ready for an engineering career. I have to develop my programming and my embedded systems skills a little more, on top of absorbing all I can in my upcoming CE/CS electives. The best lesson I learned during my time here is that a good engineer never stops learning. From the looks of it, Iým going to need to keep that in mind and work hard to secure my success for the rest of the program, if not much longer.
Internship Format
In Person