Imagine being in a pitch-black room, unable to see a thing. As you stumble through the darkness, you occasionally trip over something. In that brief moment of stumbling, there's a flash of insight. Suddenly you know exactly what to do, the steps to take to find the switch and light up the room.
That’s how most days at work feel for me.
It’s incredibly rewarding to figure out solutions to problems that even the engineers may not immediately grasp, because I’ve spent countless hours building walls with this machine, getting to know its quirks firsthand.
I started at Monumental as an intern, mostly operating the robot and quickly moved to an engineer position where I am mostly working on the software.
As a Forward Deployed Robot Engineer, I’m constantly at the intersection of the physical and digital worlds, making sure the robots do what they’re designed to do. Each month, I’m out on-site with the deployment team, navigating challenges to bring us closer to full autonomy.
We’re not quite there yet, pressing a button and letting the robot do the work is the dream, but troubleshooting is still a huge part of the job. You need to understand both hardware and software inside out to keep everything running smoothly.
An example of this is when we found the robot consistently placing bricks 2mm too far to the right. It seemed minor, but those small errors quickly added up. After investigating the system, I realised the depth camera was off-center, and we were compensating incorrectly
During my studies, I used to row, training 11 times a week and spending most of my time outdoors. What I love about my current work is the variety it offers. Sure, it can be tough waking up at 5:30 a.m to be on-site by 7:00, but you get used to it. Knowing that so many people are depending on you and your team for the success of the project makes it all the more rewarding.
On top of building walls, I work closely with everyone (software/hardware). My feedback on how the system behaves is crucial, and when I can make improvements myself, even better. The robot’s software has a long way to go, and every day is about making incremental improvements. When I first started, the robot could only build walls from left to right.
That’s just how the entire system was set up. But between builds, I found time to tweak it, and now we’ve expanded its functionality so the robot can build in multiple directions. Every small step moves us forward.
One of the most rewarding parts of the job is the people I work with. I’m constantly surrounded by some of the best software and mechanical engineers, and they push me to learn and grow every day. It’s never the same day twice, each one brings new lessons about robotics, software, and problem-solving. And that’s what keeps things exciting.
The biggest lesson I’ve learned? The power of iteration. In robotics, the ability to test, validate, and implement new ideas quickly is everything.
The robot we used a month ago already feels outdated compared to the one from today. It’s that rapid cycle of improvement that keeps us on the cutting edge. Being knowledgeable about our tech stack, while physically building walls every day, is crucial to making the system better. Each wall we build is one step closer to the fully autonomous future we’re striving for. If you want to play a crucial role in achieving this goal come work with me.