This blog post explores how high school programming studies and robotics workshops expand the problem-solving and design capabilities required in electrical engineering, and further, how they convincingly reveal future research potential.

Writing about academic experiences and reflections

“Studying Engineering in the Robotics and Electronics Department at Electronics High School”
I’ve been interested in robotics since childhood and steadily built related experience. My family environment was particularly conducive to robotics, with many engineers among my relatives and my father working on surgical micro-robots. Watching my father’s work and begging my parents to take me to robotics exhibitions everywhere, I resolved to grow into a future robot developer. That’s why I applied to the Robotics and Electronics Department at Electronics High School. Even in middle school, I was active in the robotics club and developed my own projects.
Entering high school was great because I could study what I had previously struggled with alone in a more professional manner. What I had tried to learn by reading related books and following along in middle school, I could now formally study through the regular high school curriculum. In my first year of high school, I gained fundamental background knowledge through Information Technology and Application, then built on this foundation with circuit practice. For circuit subjects like Electrical Circuits and Electronic Circuits, the practical sessions significantly outnumbered the theory classes, providing ample opportunity for hands-on practice. Crucially, our department’s curriculum split all subjects into theory and practice, with twice as many practical hours as theory, allowing me to grasp concepts much faster.
I learned programming during my sophomore year of high school. I also took a robotics fundamentals course simultaneously. It was beneficial because the programming I learned could be directly applied during the practical sessions building basic robots. Typically, when first starting robot construction, one builds either an assembly-type spherical robot or a multi-jointed robot. Programming knowledge was essential for coding various behaviors at this stage. Therefore, during programming practice, I deepened my study of the C language we learned, researching given tasks in multiple ways and practicing coding. In my third year, I studied robot structures in greater detail and, through robot-building practice, was able to challenge myself with intelligent robots. I also built robots using microprocessors and created an environment model realizing ubiquitous computing through line-tracers.

Writing about Major School Activities and Reflections

“Gaining Experience Through On-Site Robot Production Internships”
As an electronics high school, our school operated an on-site internship program where students were dispatched to general industrial research institutes or companies to learn. Through this program, I was able to participate in an internship at a university robotics research lab connected to industry. The field training course was recognized as academic credit and was part of the regular curriculum. Since participation primarily involved hands-on work, I aimed to give my best effort to the training tasks. Above all, I set the goal of completing my portfolio by building a robot I programmed myself through this training.
When I first started working on automation during the internship, I built a humanoid robot. I had previously practiced with humanoid robots through intelligent robotics and ubiquitous computing projects, and they were being developed as robots suitable for home use. To replicate human perception and motor functions, I attempted to achieve bipedal walking. Existing bipedal robots were widely available as kits, so construction wasn’t difficult. However, it kept falling during operation, and its movement functions weren’t well realized. So, I consulted with senior university students and professors within the lab to improve the issues. Since achieving stable bipedal movement requires extensive trial and error, I decided to modify it to a form where the torso was connected to wheels for stable movement, given my current skill level.
The head section of the humanoid robot was designed to carry a microphone and speaker, while the chest section incorporated touch sensors to recognize external stimuli. After that, attempting to use infrared sensors, ultrasonic sensors, and 3D sensors to recognize the surrounding environment and distances proved challenging. So, I studied by observing and documenting the research process as the professor at the lab personally installed and utilized various sensors. The professor, who was researching robots that recognize human faces and voices, introduced me to the programming process that enables this recognition. While the content was too advanced for me to follow immediately, I tried my best to understand and remember it.
After the humanoid development process was largely complete, I went through the basics with NXT, then studied the fundamentals of microcomputers using Arduino and AVR128D. For advanced microcomputer studies, I also attended classes taught by a professional instructor to properly learn programming through microcomputers. These classes were typically external university lectures where I participated as a guest, providing a valuable opportunity to learn advanced topics difficult to access within high school. Through this class, I learned about the latest robotics research topic: emotion recognition capabilities. I learned that the method utilizing a pre-loaded cloud-based emotion database has advanced to a level where users can directly apply the application even without a current scenario. Attending these lectures made me think that later, when I enter university, I should participate in developing emotion recognition technology myself.

Cases of Consideration, Sharing, and Cooperation and Reflections

“Operating a Robot Experience Booth at the Youth Festival”
Ahead of the final class session of our field practice, I participated in an external activity with friends who were also taking the practical course. We participated in the Youth Festival held at Songdo Convensia, operating an experience booth for two nights and three days. It was an event recommended by the university research institute, serving as an activity to publicly showcase what we had learned through field practice. We exhibited the humanoid robot we had developed at our booth and provided hands-on robot-building experiences as part of our educational activities.
The event we participated in was the Youth Festival, which had many young elementary and middle school students. Most booth operators were high school students or older. So, I met children younger than me and patiently explained the process of building LED robots and cleaning robots to them. Seeing their eyes light up as they listened to my explanations, and their interest in the humanoid robot’s appearance, filled me with a sense of pride. The younger kids had lots of questions too. They asked why the humanoid didn’t have feet, and how it reacted when touched with a finger. They were also fascinated that it could detect external sounds and movements, so I explained each thing in detail.
For the hands-on robot-building activity, I designed an age-appropriate task using a game the children enjoy. It was a target-shooting game to score points. While typical target games involve passively firing a gun or throwing darts, we could replace that action with a robot. So, we created a game where the robot itself served as the target. Depending on which part of the robot the ball hit, it automatically recognized and recorded the score. I collaborated with friends running the booth to attach touch sensors directly with the children to build the robot. When they threw the recognition ball at specific parts of this robot, it automatically recorded the score and even displayed the ranking. Seeing the children’s amazement and surprise made it all worthwhile.

Extracurricular activity that was meaningful for personal growth during high school

“Building a bipedal robot for school events”
During my senior year of high school, there was a graduation project exhibition for graduating students. I received a high score in the final practical class for the graduation project. I also received the best evaluation among my peers and was set to graduate at the top of my class. The school suggested I donate the project I submitted for graduation. They planned to display it in the lobby of the first-floor building to showcase during external events. However, I intended to keep this project for my portfolio and use it for practical assignments in college. So, I decided to build and donate another robot instead.
My original graduation robot specialized in a single sensor function. For the new robot, I decided to build a humanoid robot with multiple sensors functioning appropriately, aiming to create a piece that would attract attention. I chose a bipedal, modular robot – a representative robot form – and planned to use a modular robot kit to achieve a clean, sleek appearance. Thanks to funding provided by the school itself for this project, I had sufficient resources to purchase the kit, motors, cameras, and other components. I installed a microprocessor in the robot’s head and also added a miniature camera capable of distinguishing faces, colors, text, and movements.
To utilize this humanoid robot during school events, I configured it to be operated by connecting a laptop. Therefore, I equipped it with EZ Builder, which is coded via PC software, and programmed it to perform over ten different actions. Programming utilized a microcomputer, with intuitive actions like dancing, speaking, waving, and bowing recorded and inputted. Building and coding this robot myself gave me a sense of closure over my three years of high school, and seeing the finished product used at school events filled me with pride.