Saturday 13th April 2019
Today we are going to Poznan on the train, and getting a taxi to the train station, we took the train at 9:15, we thought we were going to miss it, but in the end we made it in just in time, the train was packed so we had to stand up for the duration of the train journey, we arrived around 10:45 at Poznan, we visited a castle, we got to the top of the castle, which took ages, as there were loads of steps up, there was about 187 steps up, and then took pictures of the view, we then visited a art museum and got to see some very interesting art, went to a Chinese for food, we got a train at 5 to 5 back to ostrow weilpolski at around quarter to 7, and then got a taxi back to the hotel at arrived back at the hotel at 7 o'clock, spent the evening finishing of maths assignments, got food in the shop made a meal. Sunday 14th April 2019 We were tired so we didn't want to get up early, so we slept into 10:30, I wanted to get up earlier but the others didn't want me to be banging stuff around, so I slept into 10:30 as well, I got up then I went down to the shop and bought some stuff, I got milk and cheese and made a roll with them, then we decided we'd go visit a lake near the hotel, it was a long walk around the lake, and I got a ice cream, I got a delicious double chocolate magnum, we took pictures of the lake and then made our way back to the hotel, spent an hour in the hotel spent a while finishing off assignments, as the maths assignment was due tomorrow and everyone wanted to have their assignment complete, then got ready and then back into the town, got a bit of dinner, and came back had an early night. Monday 15th April 2019 Today we met with Sebastian Szczot and he's a project engineer, he gave us a presentation about robotics at zap, and show use videos and pictures of them in use at the company, and talked about how zap uses them what we will be doing with the robots, we met with Mathew and he gave us an introduction on how to use the robots and told use about all the tools and machines that are used with the robot, there was a computer device that looked like a remote, and on this device, you write the program and the robot takes instruction and with this device you can choose the coordinates you want the robot to be at, we had a lunch break at 12 o'clock and got a small meal at the canteen in the building, and then he showed us some welding that we were going to be doing, we finished around 3 o'clock and we got food and we back to the apartment.
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Tuesday 16th May:
The second week of our Erasmus we began robotics. This consists of Programming a robot to weld using the instructions you give it. Programming robots is without a doubt one of the most interesting tasks I have ever performed. Our tutor Mathew makes it so interesting by making it very hands on. He gives us new tasks to perform everyday individually gradually becoming more challenging. We began by learning to how to control the robots discovering all the different directions it can move and all the actions it can perform. In between he would talk to us about welding and try and inform us on what is required, why it is required and how to fulfil it. After an hour of coming to grasps with the machine not including Monday, he set us exercises to weld. All in all, I believed it was relatively easy compared to computer programming. At 12 o’clock we all went for lunch and got to know him a little better and vice versa. By the time we got back there was only an hour left so he gave us a run through of some more practical involving welding. Wednesday 17th May: Everyone was tired today. It seemed the week of early mornings and late nights got the best of us. What made it a little easier was knowing we were going to be welding our initials later on in the day. However, before that we started learning how to weld an object at difficult angles where we would have to use the table and rotate it to the right degree, so the robotic arm won't collide with the object being welded. This was not actually very difficult and took only a small amount of time to get used to. The only problem was that it involved one person at a time, and it was boring watching on for twenty-five minutes at a time waiting for your turn. Roughly the same time as Tuesday we went for lunch. Disappointed is an understatement for how I felt about this meal. From the time we ordered until the time we got our food was well over an hour. At this point we were all starving. To make matters worse when the food did arrive the portion of food was so small, I had to go and order a kebab afterward. Thursday 18th May: Today was the most entertaining and challenging day so far. We were set four tasks that we all took on individually. They were all to do with welding, adjusting the table and robot arm to prevent collision, setting up a for loop statement for a programme that welds more than one object. The trickiest of these by far was Creating the for loop. It ended up all four of us working together, and still it took us almost an hour (with help) to figure it out. The reason being was on the coding panel used different formats to java code which made it difficult to wrap our head around. Up to the point I was assuming robotics was relatively easy due to how fast we all picked it up, but it was good to be challenged to show us that the next learning step after beginner isn't so easy. Wednesday 10/04/2019 We started off the day, being our third day in work placement in ZAP Kooperaciza by connecting to the servers and diving deep into the server and firewalls learning more about networking, PHP and FTP. I found all of this new material really interesting and somewhat hard to understand because i had never seen anything like it before, behind the servers and what it entails to set up a full network for a full industrial park with over 250 employees. After our lunch another employee gave us a task to do with the whole first floor printer, that it wasn’t connecting to the servers and we had to configure the device and install new drivers through the software on the device. We all found this really interesting as we were working with both software and hardware and was also something we had never even seen before. After work, we stopped off in the shop on the way back to the hotel to get a few more basics to have in the hotel for our stay. After an hour or so of doing some assignment work, Cory and I made a really bad decision to go to the gym for an hour, Very bad decision as either of us cannot lift a bottle of water afterwards. As we arrived back to the hotel room Veda and Declan were still working on their Maths assignment. As we all came to the agreement to walk into town as fast as possible to try another delicious restaurant of Ostow Wielopolski as we were all ravenous. After the meal we soon went back to the hotel to get ready for the next day with a couple of hours sleep. Thursday 11/04/2019 Today we got shown the software that is connected to every machine, showing the state of the machine, products being made, how many that are made and how many are yet to be made along with the state of the machine and the state of the material coming out, if there is any fault with the products. We also got to look at the code behind there user interface that the workers use to enter data into the database at the end of the shift or the production line. We also got to see the amount of code that goes into Web-development and joining the web page to a backend database. After lunch we got assigned the task of connecting the bosses computer to the new printer that was installed last week, We had to change I.P. address on print server and then download drivers to the computer so (fingers crossed) it would connect to the printer full functional. We were unsuccessful in connecting the printer over the network 100% fully functional, even the “I.T. Guy” was unable to figue it. So the task of connecting the printers on the whole bottom floor awaits us tomorrow. After work we took a walk into town, once again ravenous for food as we skipped lunch trying our hardest to connect the printer to impress our boss ~ Jurand. Speaking on behalf on everyone we ate way to much food, as soon as we got back to the hotel we went into a food coma for about 2 hours. We then cooked our own dinner in the hotel and watch a movie for the evening after a stressful day trying to figure one simple task. Friday 12/04/2019 Today as soon as we got in the door we met with Karol, he explained the printer problem to us, it was a outdated hardware issue, so that made us feel a little less guilty about not being able to do a very simple task. After looking at some code ~ PHP, Javascript and looking at Linux operating system we got relieved to grab some breakfast, but know the task of connecting all the printers still awaits us when we get back after brunch. All in all, we are loving being in the real world work environment. As soon as we got back from we got greeted at the door by a I.T. specialist that also works at ZAP. We worked together to connect the first computer to the new printer. All in all we configured and connected over 20 computers. After work we went back the hotel to meet Anna. We had a meeting about how our week went and if there were any issues with either the hotel or the work placement. After the meeting with Anna we went for a well needed nap after a hard weeks work…. As soon as i woke, Cory was up and excited to hit the gym. After a painful workout walking out of the gym with dead arms not able to lift the bottle of water, we went into town as a foursome to try some more Polish cuisine. After a very positive week. Full of taking in the scenery and working in a company we got a taxi back to the hotel to get ready for the weekend of adventure and exploration. Day Two. We started off looking at the network in the server room to see how things work. It was interesting when he was showing us the different switches and what each of them do. Then we went to our main work room that’ll function as our office for the next few days. We were provided with laptops if we didn't already have one and our supervisor Karol projected his computer screen onto the wall for us to see what he was doing. He showed us a company network that he created over the past 2 years and he also showed us how to use Linux, Firewall and Webmin. It was really interesting, and we learned a lot today After work we went grocery shopping to stock up the fridge and made a nice meal for ourselves in the hotel room. Having work start earlier and end earlier has been really nice since we get to have the evenings to ourselves to explore and hang out together. Today was our first working day in the ZAP - Kooperacja company. We got a full tour of the company, which consisted of countless rooms filled with heavy machinery, offices and the likes. They explained what it is that they do - they are sheet metal manufacturers, and have different departments for programming, etc.
After getting to see what the company was like in the different departments, we got to get familiar with where we would be situated and some of the things we would be doing. For lunch, we got to see what the canteen looked like, and tried some of the sandwiches they had which were nice. We then got to know our supervisors a little better through a small meeting and went over what tomorrow’s work will be. Once we finished up with work for the day, we decided to do a day trip with Mark and Anna to Antonin and Gołuchów. In Antonin, przygodzice we got a tour of the area and got to see inside the buildings which was really fancy. Frederic Chopin was a beloved desk in Antonin, and there were many different taxidermy animals, examples of wood from the forest, and examples of butterflies that were collected and displayed around other buildings. Then we went to Gołuchów and went for a long walk around. We got to see bison, and Gołuchów Castle. Sunday morning could not come sooner. Or should I say Saturday night? I paced around all day excitedly, packing, checking everything was packed, double checking, even triple checking. I was looking forward to my trip so much that I could not wait for what lay ahead.
The bus journey wasn't very long as everyone was in and out of sleep. It was 4 in the morning when we got there after all. We checked in our bags and wandered around the airport in the meantime, waiting on our flight. Everyone was starving and they were already serving breakfast. The breakfast fry’s definitely filled the gap. We loaded up on tea and coffee, which kept us going as we boarded our flight. By the time we landed, we were all exhausted. But as soon as we walked outside and saw a completely different place in front of us, we perked up and were ready to take on the day. It was only about 7 in the morning and incredibly sunny, which was something we haven't seen in a while with it being so cold in Ireland. We could not let a day like that go to waste We were greeted by her as soon as we arrived at the hotel and were welcomed warmly. She showed us to our rooms which were really nice. After we unpacked our things, we decided that it would be a good idea to go exploring. It was a really well-kept town with lots of different buildings for different things, but everything was closed on Sundays. But we decided that we were definitely going to make a day out of it after work sometime. We sat outside and relaxed in the sunshine after ordering some food. It was about 18-19 degrees Celsius, which was pretty much a heatwave for us. And once the food arrived, it felt like heaven. I could not believe the quality of it when I looked at the price. 20 Zloti. Which is equivalent to 5 euros. Dinner for the 5 of us probably cost about 25 including drinks and the best quality food I’ve seen in a long time. The trip was already off to an amazing start. When we got back to the hotel, we went our separate ways and flopped into bed, exhausted. Pretty much two days awake, minus the bus and plane naps, caught up on us all and we were out as soon as our heads hit the pillows. |
IT 2018-19Cian Campbell Map of Poland |