Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1093246
MARCH 2019 I DESIGN007 MAGAZINE 55 Arriens: No, we were ex- posed to it in the team. When we started the team, we didn't have any expe- rience with Altium. We learned from our predeces- sors, who were already ex- perienced in Altium, and we also have a consultant in Sintecs who helps us by reviewing our layout. We're not experts in layout; we only have about half a year of experience with lay - out. We have a lot to learn, so we get help from expe- rienced experts in doing it. Shaughnessy: Do either one of you want to be a circuit board designer? What are your plans after college? Arriens: At the moment, I'm doing a master's degree in computer engineering, so I'm design- ing processors, but now that I'm in touch more with circuit board design, it is really interest- ing. But how can I do this in my career pro- gram? I'm not sure if what I find most interest- ing about it all because there are a lot of these aspects around circuit designing. Shaughnessy: What's your major, Martijn? van der Marel: Next year, I'm going to major in signals and systems, which is also next to an electrical engineering major, so I will definitely try to be involved with certain PCB designs in the future. It is a great experience. Shaughnessy: It must be very satisfying to de- sign this exoskeleton and give it to someone who's paralyzed and see them walk. van der Marel: It's amazing, especially when someone who's paralyzed stands up for the first time. To finally see all the effort that you've put into the whole year finally pay off when someone walks again is an indescribable feeling. Shaughnessy: How does it keep someone from falling over? Is there a gyroscope? Arriens: At the moment, the person walking in the exoskeleton still needs crutches to keep their balance, which is a disadvantage because it's useful to be able to use your hands. We're still working on making the exoskeleton self- balancing. That would be a huge improve- ment, but it's very difficult. van der Marel: Right now, we have a full depart- ment working on trying to figure out how we can do the balancing statically or actively. Shaughnessy: We see robots that are self-bal- ancing, but that's talking about millions of dol- lars each, I imagine. Arriens: And what's really difficult with exo- skeletons is that you have two different sys- tems. You have the user, which is the hu- man, and the exoskeleton apart from that, so it's more than just a robot; it's a robot plus a human, and you must learn how to interface those things. It's different from the self-balanc-