“There’s nothing better than getting a robot moving…” -Ket Hollingsworth, Harvey Mudd College, MuddSub
RoboSub 2024 Team Stories – Harvey Mudd College, MuddSub
From Christine Newell
Communications Coordinator, RoboNation
IRVINE, CALIFORNIA – RoboNation pulled Ket Hollingsworth during the 2024 RoboSub Competition and talked to us about his experience in Computer Vision in the team MuddSub at Harvey Mudd College. MuddSub, founded in 2018, grew from a small team of five students to now over 40 students! We’re excited for the future of MuddSub and appreciate Ket sharing his individual growth in the team.
Name: Ket Hollingsworth
Team Name: Harvey Mudd College, MuddSub | Claremont, California, USA
Q: How did you get into robotics? What is your journey like?
A: “I’m studying computer science and mathematics. I was first introduced to robotics actually coming into Mudd. I wasn’t previously involved in robotics until our club Mudd Sub. I just saw the robot and thought it was really cool. It was a very welcoming environment. I think there’s nothing better than getting a robot moving, so that’s just how I got introduced. Some goals that we have in the future, I’ve been a part of the club now for about 3 years, and this is the 2nd time that we’ve been able to do things in person and getting things working. I think a big focus is going to be trying to onboard new members and try to continue the club. And really focus on the learning process of the club, and rather approaching it as a competition and trying to continue from where we are now. I think in the next year, I’m going to be president of the club. So I’m trying to really focus on the recruitment process and making it as simple as possible. When first coming on, it’s a little overwhelming, you have a whole code base, you have a whole bunch of hardware you may have never worked with, and that leads to my advice for anyone coming on and it’s be excited and don’t be afraid to ask questions. We’re all here for the fun of it. So don’t be afraid to have fun, ask questions, and be okay with being uncomfortable.”
Q: What would you different as president with the lessons learned from this year?
A: “In previous years we’ve only done, kind of a one club affair a year. And I think that’s good, but doing follow up is important, and also providing beginner resources. Previously we have sub teams, but it’s important to get everybody onboard on the bigger picture on what the competition goals are because that’s what excites. It’s like we have to get this done, we have to get that done, and you don’t want to get started too quickly, you want to get a far sights, the goals of the future in mind. But a big part of that would also be, providing documentation, and starter resources, which I think we definitely have to work on for the next year.”
Q: What are your future goals for the team and for yourself personally?
A: “My personal goal is to get that documentation, get it all nicely packaged, so that when we do have new members, they don’t feel as overwhelmed, to introduce the idea and have this documentation introduce what the larger goals are, what the progress has been, so that they don’t feel lost or confused. And again, continuing to do the switch we made this year, recently we switched to having away from different sub teams meeting at different times (though it does work better for scheduling purposes), there is something about being in the same room, and being able to ask the another sub team member about a question whether that’s hardware, electrical, or software, being able to have that cohesive environment I think is important. So, we made that change this year, and we’re continuing to move that direction of cohesion and collaboration.”
We are so glad you were able to represent your team at the 2024 RoboSub Competition. We can’t wait to hear how you’ve reached your goals next summer!
Team Website: http://muddsub.org
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/muddsub/
Github: https://github.com/muddsub
