Meet our Industry Person of the Week, Courtney Fernandez, Cofounder Fast One Solutions.
Q: How did you get started working in your field?
Courtney: I started as an electrical engineer in embedded systems initially after my BS degree but was pretty mediocre at it. I moved from northern to southern California and stumbled into a role working on a robotic crawler for the refinery industry and found my next decisions all pushing me into robotics after this.
Q: What do you love the most about your job? What are you most proud of?
Courtney: I most love getting to talk non stop about robotics and other automation technology to people who actually want to hear it (and then some). My second favorite thing is watching the next generation be so creative and natural with this technology. It gives me positive feelings about the future of manufacturing in general.
Q: What advice would you give to someone considering this line of work or new to the field?
Courtney: Don’t be so concerned with showing off what you already know. The ability to learn and the thirst for learning will take you much farther than the engineering/science facts you know right this moment.
Q: Can you talk about a project you recently worked on?
Courtney: Customer projects are harder to discuss, but I have exhibited at many tradeshows, and tradeshow demos showcase interesting aspects of emerging technology. Most recently, I worked on a demo using a mobile manipulator (a 6 axis robot arm on top of a mobile robot base) using a camera system to identify where a part was after parking. The robot would pick the part, drive to a second location and place it.
Q: Anything else you would like to add?
Courtney: I am a co-organizer of the LA chapter of Women in Robotics and I would like to see the chapter be resurrected this year. I encourage local women to reach out to me.
Connect with Courtney on LinkedIn.
THANK YOU, COURTNEY! WE LOOK FORWARD TO KEEPING UP WITH YOU THROUGH THE #PUMPTALK COMMUNITY!
