The First Person From His Family To Attend College, Somnath Malik Shares His Internship Experience

Somnath Malik completed a 21-week-long internship with the Siemens Centre of Excellence at NIT Kurukshetra in the Department of Robotics and Industrial Automation. The first person from his family to attend college, Malik made the most of his internship - learning through uncertainties to become the team leader. Here’s his internship story: 

The Overwhelming Hunt For An Internship

During 2021, we all were at home and disconnected from friends, due to the pandemic-induced lockdown. 

I was unaware of how to proceed with my career or what possible opportunities to look out for. I was stuck. But NIT had already started its internship process and Samsung was the first company. Though I applied for it, I was unable to clear the exam. I wished to apply to other organizations but I missed the internship notifications with the ongoing studies and exams. 

I am the first person in my family to experience college life. Even an internship was a new concept for me. Thus, this was an overwhelming experience for me. When I learned that I could participate in an internship program with the Siemens Centre of Excellence (SCoE) at NIT Kurukshetra itself, I applied for it even though the payment was only INR 2,500. Thus started my SoCE internship journey. 

Becoming A Team Leader

My internship started on January 06, 2022. Within a week, by January 15, we were divided into teams. Two months later, on March 7, I was at NIT - my first visit to the campus since COVID. 

From the first day itself, I was very excited. To stay coordinated, I formed our group and initiated engagement. The project assigned to us was to build a “Conveyor System Material Handling Process using Industrial Robot”. 

I was very active in taking initiative. My approach and attentiveness in engaging with my mentors led my teammates to suggest I take on the role of the team leader and be the face of the team. As a leader, I started researching the topic and divided the possible roles as per the project for documentation, planning, programming, material outsourcing, and costing. 

I would say my role in this project was multi-dimensional. I was the single point of communication between my team members and our mentor. Throughout the internship, I was busy making plans and communicating them to team members, making backups, motivating the team, talking to different stakeholders with clarity, etc. 

I talked to every member in a particular role of the project, made reports, and became a key stakeholder in some of the most crucial aspects of the project like costing, programming overview, sensor interfacing, etc. As a leader, I was also responsible for constantly updating our mentor about the project status. However, I also fought for my team when required, even going against the mentor at times. 

The Only Team To Meet The Project Deadline

The most challenging part was that we had to build the whole project in just a month - this involved building the conveyor, pallet, pick, and place box from scratch, along with a Powerpoint presentation and project report. We had to program the robot too, according to the plan. 

When I researched and contacted some sellers, I discovered the minimum market price of the conveyor was INR 15,000. The six of us (my team) couldn’t even think of bearing this cost. Though our mentor asked us to buy the conveyor, I inspired my team to instead, build the conveyor from scratch. 

Thus, we not only made the “best out of industrial waste” but also, cost-efficiently got the customized output we wanted. We used the abandoned beds and cut them to make the material for the conveyor. Here comes the cost-effectiveness. I painted the conveyor myself with proper care. It was my first encounter with paint.

However, the very first conveyor we made was rejected due to durability issues. When we presented the conveyor we made to the mentor, he asked us to change its color, rotors, and structure. But, this time we had an idea of what to do. 

After analyzing each team member’s skills, I allotted them as efficiently as I could. We made the changes using the CNC lab. This led to a grand success as we completed the task in just two-and-a-half weeks. Practically, we made two conveyors within the given deadline.  

I led my team to become the very first team to complete the project by the deadline (May 22). Our USP was cost-efficiency. 

Major Learnings From The Internship

I ended my internship with invaluable memories, experiences, and learnings. Here are some of the major learnings: 

• Leadership, Teamwork, and Communication skills
• Documentation: After incorporating the modifications suggested by the mentors, I not only drafted a perfect project report for our project but even helped two other teams to do the same.
• Stakeholder Analysis: Being a team leader, I had to analyze the extent to which each person could aid the project, how to approach them, etc.  
• Automation: I was responsible for programming the robot.
• Critical Thinking: In some instances, I had to take the final decision on which direction the team should take, in terms of efficiency, cost, feasibility, etc.
• Improved Knowledge: I got to know more about sensors, robots, material outsourcing, and other industrial processes.

My internship allowed me to come out of my comfort zone and lead a team from different backgrounds to fulfill a common goal. These teammates ended up becoming close friends.

From Cracking Quizzes To A YT Video: Major Achievements

My internship left me with certain noteworthy achievements. During the early phase of the internship, there were quizzes organized that our team won. I was also praised by both, my faculty and industry mentors for my communication, presentation, and listening skills. Our mentor, Ajay Sharma, and other students gave me a standing ovation at the end of the project.

At the end of the internship, I even made a 10-minute-long video which I published on my YouTube channel. Though I knew the video may not receive a lot of views, I was still happy to have made it - it was the result of a 6-month-long investment. 

The integration of SCoE with NIT was a nice move by our former Director. It’s successfully providing students with relevant industry exposure, in terms of both - technical hard skills and soft skills. However, I do believe that some incentives for the project must be given to the students so that state-of-the-art ideas could be realized actually. Overall, the organization is quite relevant for the youth in terms of understanding industrial project execution.

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