‘The social relevance of this project is outstanding’

“I did a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering and now I am taking a year off of my studies to work at Project MARCH. After that I plan to continue with a master’s degree.

I started working on the project in August and will be doing it full time for 13 months. I’m the project manager and I’m in charge of planning, like how we prepare for certain deadlines and milestones. Additionally, together with the chief engineer I think about design processes and how we can optimise teamwork.

The social relevance of this project is outstanding and that’s why I really wanted to dedicate myself for a full year to this project. Moreover, my studies have a technical nature and this is really more business oriented, which means that this project is a great opportunity for me to investigate if I like project management.

‘We are actually able to work with all 26 of us at the same time’

Covid has certainly impacted the project. We had to leave the Dream Hall because it’s closed due to Covid. We had to find another location and luckily Robovalley had some space. Now we have two large office spaces in which we can work safely at 1.5 metres apart. We have a lot of space and that means we are actually able to work with all 26 of us at the same time. Of course, sometimes people have to stay home if, for example, roommates are being tested for Covid.

My main focus is on communication between departments and making that work well. For our team in general, we have set the goal to make the exoskeleton a bit more dynamic and perhaps we want to even go outside with it. That’s our big challenge for the year and hopefully one we are going to achieve.

After this I think I want to study systems and control, but I might also study something related to business. Perhaps I’ll do two years of systems and control and then a year studying at Rotterdam or another university. I’m really looking into that this year to see if it would interest me.”

This interview was conducted before the most recent Covid measures took effect. In accordance with the RIVM guidelines, it is not currently possible for all 26 team members to work together.

• Who are the people who work and study on campus? We meet them in Humans of TU Delft. Want to be featured in this series? Or do you know someone with a good story to tell? Send us an e-mail at humansoftudelft@gmail.com  

Heather Montague / Freelance writer