Drone Technology Internship in Greece

Hi, my name is Brendan. I am from Boston, Massachusetts, USA. I completed both my Bachelor’s and Master’s in cell and tissue Bioengineering from Northeastern University. I chose to do an internship in order to gain more hands-on lab experience outside of my theoretical coursework and also the prospect of Cerca Abroad has been really exciting to me. I was able to perform DNA extraction and purification, as well as PCR, PCR sample prep and also get to see some sampling and sequencing. I am very happy with the communication, well organized, and also our accommodation has been very nice in the city. I enjoyed it very much, personally, it’s a fun town and Greece at large is very beautiful.

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Hi, my name is Sean, I am originally from California in the USA and currently I am a rising sophomore at CU Boulder in Colorado. I am eighteen years old and I am an intern here at the Atlantic University. I chose to intern in the field of drone automation because I am very interested in how precision hardware like drones or quadcopters intersects with a field like animation or AI. I chose Thessaloniki because I heard it has a vibrant student population, beautiful beaches and weather. During my time at the Hellenic University in my internship, I repaired a drone, which involves taking the drone apart and using precision hardware and soldering to repair this drone which has a broken motor. After that was done, we started testing with the sensors. The sensors I coded using Arduino on the bottom of this drone take readings through a DHT sensor, which senses humidity and temperature, and also a raindrop sensor, which detects leakage or, you know, raindrops. Now, this is important in the application of greenhouses or agriculture. The data is stored on the EEPROM terminal of the Arduino, which is an electronically erasable programmable read-only memory. It can be read back using a separate program on Arduino again. During my time in Thessaloniki, I visited many fun tourist spots like the beaches of Khalkidhiki and Mount Olympus, and these are very fun places to visit. The food here is great. The coffee is tasty. The people are very helpful, hospitable and kind. The students are plentiful. The city is very walkable and there is a vibrant nightlife as well. I have learned a lot about technology, culture, and history and I would love to come back in the future if possible. Cerca Abroad has been super communicative and organized. I loved it. The guides are super nice and also communicative. I really enjoyed this whole program. I would totally recommend it for friends and family. Thank you, Cerca Abroad.

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Hi, my name is Scott, I am from Zanesville, Ohio, in the U.S. I am currently twenty years old and in my second year at Ohio University studying Mechanical Engineering. I chose Cerca because through my university I am required to gain some international experience during my time in college, so I went online and found it, and the engineering program through Cerca seemed very appealing to me. It seemed relevant and practical to me and it just seemed—honestly—kind of scary to live somewhere new compared to where I am familiar, which was exactly why I wanted to do it. Through Cerca I was put in the Automotive Lane at the International Hellenic University here in Sindos in Thessaloniki, Greece. I’ve been mostly working with an aerial drone here; I’ve done three different projects. Firstly, we tried to make the drone fly in an exact pathway; we attached a temperature sensor to it to measure the temperatures in its path. After that we used a proximity sensor to make the drone navigate through obstacles using built-in WIFI, which we struggled with unfortunately, and we haven’t been able to complete yet. As a final project we tried measuring the sound of the drone using noise-cancelling technology to try and set up a future intern with the resources to develop some technology to make the drone quieter as it operates. Here in Thessaloniki you will never run out of things to do. I really like it because everyone is friendly here. It seems unfamiliar at first, but it won’t stay that way for long. Even the coffee shop that I got to know better—there’s something for everyone. Like I’ve said, I mean there are beaches, museums, it’s a great place to go running, there are nightclubs—anything you want is here. We even went bowling. The food is fantastic. It’s almost never super processed so it always tastes very good compared to American food in a lot of cases. Not to mention it’s really cheap. The people are great. I am getting to know even people at the university. Some of the workers in the dining hall are always very friendly. They play music and there’s always a smile on their face. Even in our department we’ve had a couple of events like a barbeque; we got together, it was a lot of fun and we got a lot closer than some groups in America do. So, it’s really friendly here. It’s a great place to be.

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I am Adam I am from the United States and I am here in Greece for this Engineering program. This program is a cool opportunity to both travel and to taking an engineering internship and specifically in drone engineering which I am particularly interested. I got to see the end of the SMARTSEA program for underwater drones and it was very cool to go to the port and actually launch drones. I got to fly an air drone and video that while happening. On this side of the planet its definitely warm, Thessaloniki I a very cool city and I never seen a city so live at 2am at night

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Hi, I am Sarvesh Rajkumar, I am nineteen years old, and I am pursuing my undergraduate degree in computer science engineering in the National Institute of Technology Trichy, in India. It has always been my dream to pursue a career in robotics. As a kid I’ve always chased that. So now, since I’m in college, I have chosen this internship, as I stumbled across this. So, my first step towards robotics was getting my own drone. As I came across engineering drones, I was really interested in this program. That’s’ why I’m here- I really like doing it. So, my first task was building a drone. As I had three printed parts of the drone and they helped me make more of it. The first thing to do was to assemble the drone, gather all the electronics. Make all the connections. We have done the sorting of the wires. We had tried then to calibrate the software behind the flight controller. The idea was an auto pilot and we had to calibrate all the sensors, the motors and to check on any safety failures since there are many parameters for that. After that we had to connect the controller so that it can connect through Wi-Fi, using a machine planner. As you can see, this is an assembled drone, his here is the flight controller. Before I had to come here, I’ve had a few issues with my visa as well. That was the first time that I would have to be alone in Greece, but Cerca Abroad has helped me throughout it. They have dealt with any issues. The admin was really helpful and my mentor here who’s been helping us has been really supportive and friendly and he seems to be just one of us but he has so much experience and many things to teach us. Once here, it’s been really good so far and I really enjoy it. Since my first time in Greece, I’ve been across countries in Europe but Greece was my first time. I do stay in Thessaloniki. It’s really beautiful. I got to use the buses and the transport system.They are convenient. There are stores that are 24/7. It’s really nice and safe to walk around here. There are many different archaeological Museums, the beaches… it’s really great down here.

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Hi, my name is Gabriel, I am nineteen years old, I am an undergraduate currently and I’m going to study at the University of Newcastle in September. I’m going to be studying mechanical engineering. I chose this engineering internship in the basis of my passion for innovation, design and problem solving and this internship portrayed whatever met those needs. I was able to build a drone; I fulfilled what I went to study. So the first task I was handed to, was building a drone. I followed on from the previous interns’ task, where they had to build the electronics for the drone, as well as designing the drone. I, then, had to follow on and build the rest of the drone using a 3d printer. I designed the rest of the parts. Made sure they would be stable and able to fly. A few other tasks I was handed to was to design and build some ? which I sketched out and see how to fundamentally sketch in mechanical engineering. I was also towards the basics of some of the tools used in mechanical engineering. Which I think will be very handy for my engineering degree. My internship was hosted by Cerca Abroad. During my first week my coordinator was ill, so I thought that things would go slowly. However there was a mend during the second week and turned out more smoothly. On the second week I learnt the most and I was able to complete the project for my drone which made me feel that on the second week I made the most out of my internship. So, yes, it was good. This is my first time in Thessaloniki, as it is my first time alone. I was able to mature and find my next step in maturity. I was also able to help with ? which is about half an hour from the center. I was able to sightsee and see some of the amazing beeches they have to offer. As well have the chance to view some of the architecture in Thessaloniki. I was also able to go shopping and visit some of the food sites of which I was able to taste some of the Greek cuisine, including tzatziki etc., which I enjoyed thoroughly.

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Hello everyone, I am C.C. Aiyappa, I am doing my graduate studies in electronics and telecommunications. The name of my University is N.M.I.M.S. The reason I chose this internship is because it involved engineering and drones really fascinate me, the number of tasks they can achieve and the future potential as well. I believe drones can be used on how to reach places in situations and environments that it is not safe for humans to walk. That is collecting data on research basis and I think we will keep growing by using drones. In the beginning of my internship I was to familiarize myself with the types of drones. I realized how the underwater rov and air drones and other drones have similar structures, similar electronics that are being used. This is a small model that I have made, which is still in the making, that I use solid works to a model. I use different kinds of plastics for the parts. In my free time I really enjoyed at first exploring the city. I loved my evening walks next to the boat side. Exploring the city, walking by the boat side. I really enjoyed going in the evenings there, daily actually. I always found people to play with there. In my experience the people here have been friendly. I have learned a lot of Greek. A lot about the Greek culture. It’s been really fun and safe. My living space has been safe as well. I’ve been enjoying myself and still do what I enjoy more. So I never had any issues but whenever I had any smaller problem I was given a lot of individual attention by my mentors and my professors and I had a very comfortable stay.

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Hello, my name is Joseph I will be 22 years of age at the 20th of April and I am currently studying a bachelor at mechanical engineering at the University of Oregon Australia. The reason why I am completing this internship is because I must complete twelve days of industrial training in order to graduate from my University in Australia and to finish my degree. I also really love travelling and so I decided to do both at the same time- travel and complete my internship. That way I experience the best of both worlds. I also chose this internship as I was really interested into the program it has to offer. During the first couple of weeks I had to familiarize myself with the mechanics, in a way to better understand their function and mechanical features. This was important as the main task of the internship was design of marine drones and then printing a model on the 3d printer. I also spent some time flying this drone in order to better understand the way they function. This is modelled in 3d printer. It was modeled through the use of software and printed with the 3d printer through the ?. My free time consisted of a wide variety of activities and adventures. I visited many beautiful and historical locations in the city. Then I went out to explore locations outside Thessaloniki such as Volos and Mount Olympus. During the second half of my internship I also had the time to visit Istanbul, Turkey for four nights. My accommodation was also very comfortable and safe and all my needs were attended through during the entirety of my intern. I didn’t exactly face many issues. However when I struggled with a task assigned to me, my supervisors would always attend to my needs and provide me with feedback and positive criticism. This helped me to ensure that I would complete my task with minimum obstacles and with great success. I would also like to thank ? and Vassilis for being great mentors throughout this entire internship and also to thank the professors for their help when I needed it. Also a big thank you to Cerca Abroad for providing me with this internship opportunity.

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My name is Mahen and I am from Vancouver, Canada. I am an engineering student from the Langara College. I chose this biotechnology internship to gain transferable laboratory skills and some exposure to active work. I believe this internship would help my career as an aspiring bioengineer. During my time here in this lab I was able to see various lab procedures that are used in industry and academia. Some of them being DNA extraction and PCR. Other than that, Thessaloniki is beautiful during the summertime and the view from the white tower cannot be missed. Time flies by here. With the arrangements made by Cerca Abroad, I was mostly happy. Just be ready to have some off line time. There will be times when you may need to disconnect from everything and soak in the experience. I found the city to be really accessible, so this made my experience very nice. Everybody is friendly here and you won’t find any trouble finding the things that you need. If you’re confident, you can make your experience one of a kind and unforgettable.

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So, my name is Landon and I’m a computer science student from San Francisco, California. I just do this internship because the title was really interesting to me. I like working hands- on with electronics and this was the electronic vehicles and drones program. So, I was able to learn a lot about programing and all things related to flying drones and staff like that. So, the first week was me recording a lot of videos and getting to actually fly the drone myself and then I programed a facial recognition software for the drone and a couple of other features that it’s not even designed to be capable of doing. So it’s been really fun getting to learn a lot of those things. Also, the city was really beautiful. I really enjoyed the food and the professors really helped me out, telling me places to go and stuff like that. On weekdays I had got time to get my own schedule. I’ve had a lot of personal freedom with the program. And then, also the weekends I got into to go and explore more areas of Greece myself. So overall I would really recommend it for anybody to come here and check out the lab. There’s a whole bunch of stuff. I got to use the 3d printer for the first time and you can see the drone back here, some other underwater drones that some of the other interns are working on. So it’s been really fun and I would recommend it.

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Hi. My name is Ajay and I’m from Vancouver, British Columbia and I chose this internship because it was about flying drones and electric vehicles and I’ve always had an interest into things that fly, and eVs of course. I’ve picked this internship to learn more about drones, building eVs manufacturing processes and had some real life experience. During my internship I had the chance to work on small aerial drones and I was given the task to put some sensors on it, to make some readings to make these drones smart. Alongside, I also got the chance to work on the auto here, I enjoyed my time working on it and I learnt a lot on the way. The professors and the Cerca Abroad people were really helpful. They accommodated and helped me a lot whenever I had any problems. The city of Thessaloniki is really nice, The people here are really nice, the food is great, people are great, I’ ve had a lot of archaeological places to visit. There are a lot of things to do on the weekend and I would definitely recommend someone to once come here. This place is awesome.

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Hi. My name is Erin, I am twenty two years old, I am from New Jersey, US, and I am currently working my master’s in mechanical airspace in Rutgers University and I am here for four weeks during my Cerca Abroad engineering program. I chose the Cerca Abroad program in Greece because when I was an undergraduate I have studied abroad in Rome and ever since I have wanted to study abroad back in Europe. I was looking for an engineering program abroad because it’s what I have always wanted to be doing for my degree in engineering. So I’ve been for two weeks here so far, and each day I’ve been working on a different project. First week I’ve been working with another intern on 3d mapping and building on campus with a drone, so basically we’ve drawn a bunch of pictures of the building with a drone so that we can use the software to create a 3d map of the building. We used that 3d map for an analysis of the roof of that building to look for different areas of water damage. The second project I’ve been working on has been building a drone. Again with other interns we’ve found the design of the drone and 3d printed the parts before making adjustments to the design and then we worked on wiring with the electronics. So we have basically been working on manufacturing this drone, It has not been completed yet but almost done. So I’ve lived close to the sea in Thessaloniki so I’ve been able to walk in different places, there’s so many things to do. I occasionally found myself going on walks by the water. There’s a pathways that I loved walking on. There’s also a port with a boat that can take you to beaches so I;ve been doing that. I;ve done that last weekend. Thesaloniki has actually many things to offer and I feel super safe and I’ve met some other interns who are students at the University I’ve been going and have fun and go sightseeing. So, this program to me has been really great all the advisors and directors are super nice and really welcoming. The only thing that I would wish that more women would apply to programs like this. There not so many women, especially in engineering, so it’s been great to work alongside with other women.

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