Get on the KUKA Robotics Challenge Leaderboard with advice from a frontrunner!
We sit down with KUKA Robotics Challenge participant Sebastian Castro to learn his motivations for entering, and hear his advice to other students
Sebastian Castro is a Udacity Robotics Software Engineer Nanodegree program grad. He is one of the early frontrunners in the practice rounds of Udacity’s KUKA Robotics Challenge, organized in partnership with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and leading robotics manufacturer KUKA. The challenge is open to all students enrolled in our Robotics Software Engineer Nanodegree program. The winner will receive a one-week, all-expenses-paid trip to NVIDIA GPU Technology Conference from October 9–11, as well as a visit to the KIT campus in Karlsruhe later in the week!
In his professional life, Sebastian is a former software engineer who now attends robotics competitions around the globe for Mathworks, a mathematical computing software company.
We spoke with Sebastian to hear more about his experience entering the KUKA Robotics Challenge.
Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you get into robotics?
I signed up for mechanical engineering as my undergraduate degree. Midway through, we started looking at things like simulation and controls. I loved it! I thought if I could program a robot to do anything, I’d be the coolest person ever! I joined the Udacity Robotics Nanodegree program because I wanted to get a well-rounded idea of what people are doing out there in robotics. The course was great for giving me that industry insight, and trying out all sorts of different robotics tools and techniques.
I’d been out of school for seven years when I enrolled. A lot of the online courses I’ve taken have just been about videos and quiz questions. But when I saw the Udacity syllabus, the word “project” was in there a lot. That’s a much better way for me to learn — doing something hands-on and working through all the real issues that come up. You really retain that information.
Now I work for a software company. I engage with supporting students that are in robotics competitions worldwide, and we also maintain a video competitions blog of our own.
How did you hear about the challenge and what motivated you to enter?
I received an email. Having just completed the first term of the Nanodegree program — which was very focused on Python and ROS — I noticed that I’d already tackled a lot of the requirements for the challenge as far as the pre-learning. I went in and did the setup steps and quickly got the robot moving.
“When I read the description of the challenge, I assumed that you’d only get to run your code on the robot if you won the competition. But as I started doing the challenge, I realized that as long as you get a passing submission on the simulator, you can upload it and get a video of your robot running!”
And so I decided “I have to get there.” For me, it wasn’t even about getting the best submission, but about getting something that completes so that you can actually say you put code on a high-end piece of robotic hardware.
How long did it take you to complete your entry?
I spent a couple hours doing the setup and making sure I could move the robot. After that, it was probably two evenings worth of dedicated coding. So about 10–15 hours.
For students just getting started, what advice would you give?
When you first get started on the project, it can be overwhelming looking at the laundry list of things you need to do. So start by breaking down the problem and making sure that you dedicate a time slot for taking care of those setup steps — just to get the robot to at least move somewhere you want.
Creating that little proof-of-concept for yourself is very useful because it removes that one piece of intimidation and allows you to focus on the algorithm and design. Once you’re there, that’s really the challenging and fun part. Don’t try to tackle the problem all at once but break it down into chunks. Before you know it, submitting seems within sight!
How excited are you about the prize package for the challenge?
It was definitely a factor for me deciding to participate. Getting to go to a conference and visit the research lab is something that students of the program are definitely interested in. But in addition to that, the trip itself can be a cultural opportunity and it happens to coincide with Munich’s Oktoberfest, which is a great bonus! The conference is a chance to mingle with some of the leading academics and researchers in the field, so it’s a good networking opportunity and a good way to get yourself motivated.
“If you’re new to robotics, there’s a lot of incentive in the idea of being at this big conference and seeing all the cool stuff people are building. And being able to say that you won the KUKA Robotics Challenge on your resume doesn’t hurt at all!”
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Thank you Sebastian for talking with us today! To learn more about the KUKA Robotics Challenge, check out the announcement and our landing page for more information. The official round for submissions will start on August 25th — 28th, though the practice rounds are open now for students to remotely run their code on the KUKA robotics arm at the KIT lab in Germany. If you’re passionate about robotics, don’t miss your opportunity to enter the challenge today!
