Opening - Jack Pender, Blog #1

 INTRO:

    My name is Jack Pender. I'm from Tipperary and currently in my fourth/final year of the BSc Internet of Things course in WIT. I chose IoT Applications as my elective for final semester and so am now part of the team for the WIT Applied Robotics Lab USV project.

    Some of my interests include music, athletics, electronics and programming. Combining the last two, you get my perfect combination, hence why I decided to study IoT and am excited to be a part of the team for this project.



USV USECASES:

    Personally I think that the search and rescue aspects of this project are the most exciting. The possibility of being able to rescue someone in danger while not having to put anyone else at risk is a great and important step forward in technology. Being able to apply the Internet of Things to this advancement is also an added bonus. Having the ability to search for the person in danger using equipment like a drone and modern GPS technology, to then have an unmanned surface vehicle go and collect that person and bring them back to safety, all through the use of the internet and it's services has me very interested to see the outcome of this project and work towards that goal.

    Other use cases that could be interesting are water quality measurements and research into the flora and fauna of our waters. The water quality measurements would be important for the general safety of the public, letting them know if the water that they may choose to go swimming in is safe for example. It would also crossover with the flora and fauna research, indicating whether or not our waters are a good environment or not for our aquatic wildlife to thrive in. Overall I feel that the flora and fauna research would be intriguing, simply to know what exactly lives in our waters. This could hold us accountable for how we treat our waters from an environmental standpoint.

PROJECT OUTCOMES:

    Personally my own project goals include gaining more experience working in a team. This would include gaining experience from others, pitching ideas in a meeting and helping to solve the problems encountered by the team where possible. These would be value skills to take into the industry.

    I would also like to have more time participating in self directed learning, allowing me to further my personal responsibility of what I gain from being a part of this project. As well as this I hope to gain more experience in the field of IoT, discovering new use cases for it and learning more about it's possibility to impact the world we live in.

OUTRO:

I hope this post gave you a better idea into who I am, as well as informing you of my vision for this USV project and what I hope to achieve while part of the team. 

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