AFRL was my first research experience in a professional setting. AFRL is the Air Force organization responsible for funding and conducting research designed to assist the military in the long term. At the Discovery Lab, I was recruited by Dr. Robert Williams as a part of a college internship program to develop software.

 

One of the biggest pushes at the Discovery Lab is to utilize open source virtual worlds to facilitate better communication. To this end, my first job was to develop a system, called Mobile Command Center, that routed media from smartphones that soldiers had, to the virtual world command center used by generals. After completing this project, I began work on my own project, Traffic Camera Dangerous Driver Detection.

 

I began by gaining experience in the Computer Vision field, as I had not done any work in the field, by taking free online courses. I then used Octave, MatLab clone, to begin developing my application. 

 

As part of my time at the Discovery Lab, I assisted with the use of Double Robotics' telepresence robots. I also was asked to present at the Internship Kickoff for the college students to present my research methodology and work. 

 

As my first experience in institutional research, I gained valuable insight into the professional world, and allowed me to jumpstart my personal project.  Working with Dr. Williams gave me the opportunity to see the amazing things students could achieve when given opportunities, and helped encourage me to continue pursuing research.