Hej!
Today had a bit of a slow start, but by the end of the night, it turned out to be a pretty good day. Breakfast consisted of the usual meal, but I added some raspberry jam for something different. It was a miserable morning with dark grey skies and intermittent rain. I was late for our morning meeting, so JJ wasn’t thrilled, but the blisters on my heels needed some TLC and band aids.
Our first company visit today was to Hasselblad. We arrived late after a missed tram and some navigation hiccups. The office was very nice, with walls covered in famous images taken with a Hasselblad camera. Today was the first time I’ve tried and espresso shot, and I was not impressed. I knew I needed caffeine o stay awake during the presentation but was not prepared for the bitterness. Mr. Ove, a former product manager explained the rich history of the company. Then we were allowed to hold some of the cameras that cost mre than anything that I own. I found it fascinating that the company actually makes adaptors so that the old film camera bodies can be turned into a digital display that snaps seamlessly on the back. Also, they make lens adaptors that allow consumers to use the new lenses on old bodies. It was also interesting to learn that Hasselblad cameras are not made for action photography, but studio or landscape applications.
We then toured the very small assembly area where all the Hasselblad cameras as are assembled by hand and individually calibrated. I thought this was very impressive. And with that, we wrapped up our short time at this fascinating company.
We then had a lovely time trying to arrive at ABB Robotics as we left the first company much later than we should have. This led to a series of unfortunate events where we ran to catch buses, missed buses, and waited on the side of a highway for almost 30 min. for a bus in the damp misty drizzle that covered Gothenburg today. Once we finally arrived at ABB, we had lunch. They were very generous and specially made vegan meals for us that were incredibly delicious (and much better than the rice, vegetables, and soy sauce I had for dinner).
Bert, the global product manager of software products (and JJ’s old boss) talked with us today. His discussion on technology was fascinating because of his extensive experience and knowledge in this field. Mainly, he spoke about virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and general robotics applications. My main takeaway from this presentation is that technology is like the force: it can be used for good and evil depending on many contributing factors. It was interesting to learn about how AR and VR can be used to help teach the robots the patterns they need to follow on a daily basis.
We rounded out the day by having dinner at a Chinerse restaurant with Morgan and Silvia before going to a Frölunda Indians hockey game. This was my first ever hockey game, and it was the European version too! Bigger rink, less checking, and no fights differentiates it from hockey in North America. The game was very exciting and they even won, which worked out well because we sat next to the very loud fan section. Although most of the arena was relatively mellow, we made sure to bring some of our rowdy Americanness to the game to show our support. There was some tour guide inception when Moran and Silvia from Volvo were talking with the tour guide from SKF who also happened to be at the game.
All in all, I’d say today was a pretty good way to spend a birthday.
Daily Reflections:
- Hasselblad cameras have a 100 megapixel image sensor, while phones have one less than the size of a fingernail.
- The photo of the first footprint on the moon is not actually the first, but just one of the very early ones.
- Pea soup and pancakes can only be eaten on Thursdays in winter.
- Joel Lundqvist, the team captain, celebrated his 1,000th game tonight with an 8-4 win against Brynäs IF.
- Sometimes it pays off to wear a Blackhawks jersey to a Frölunda game because you might get free fan scarves.
Adventures in Sweden 