Although I think otherwise now, studying ROS was a very challenging process.
Different from Java, Python, and C++, ROS is not about writing individual functions or programs but organizing messages from separate programs, which in my case are a combination of C++ and Python, and produce a feature of the robot. One of the most important concepts, for example, is "publishers and subscribers". There are many "topics" in a huge robot operating program, to which publishers give information and subscribers receive information. One of my jobs is to organize the relationships and abstract the right information for the right programs.
On thursday I began my first project. I need to design patterns of the LEDs on a robot that can tell people whether the robot is asleep, ready-to-move, unbalanced, or moving in a certain direction.
Beside the robotics, I understood more the relationship between management and technology. As I was studying ROS, I tried to make good plans and time myself in every section. However, all my plans failed because I simply didn't have enough knowledge to predict the my work and solutions to problems. I realized how knowledge in science is necessary and essential for business: if one cannot understand the science oneself, one could not organize a group to research and to invent. I shared my ideas with a graduate student who came new to CMU five months ago from India, and he suggested that management should also consider creativity: if the management is too strong, the engineering will not be able to produce surprises.
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