Challenge is what drives Marina! Specializing in robotics and automation, Marina therefore did not hesitate for a moment to leave her native Spain to study in the Netherlands. There she completed her master's degree in engineering at the Delft University of Technology. This led to her meeting with ALTEN, where she was offered a first project in the Netherlands: a professional and personal experience full of new challenges. Here, Marina learned, in addition to the Dutch language, to develop robots: fascinating technological objects where she discovered more about their complexity and perfectability.
Coding a robotic arm and valuing human activities
"The project I am working on is focused on creating flexible solutions for the logistics sector. Our developments enable robotic arms to sort products and organize inventories and deliveries for e-commerce companies. As a software developer, my job is to program new functions that can be implemented in these robots."
So Marina is one of the human intelligences behind the behavior of all these robots that correctly prepare and ship orders placed online to their recipients. "Together with the team, we test the robots and then deploy them to customers. When we talk about new functions, we mean that we teach the robot to behave in the presence of people, to make movements such as picking up products and putting them on the conveyor belt in order to reach the production line. But also, for example, to integrate new equipment, such as a vacuum gripper designed for transporting particularly heavy objects..."
Marina emphasizes the important impact her work has on the quality of the professional life of logistics operators: "Thanks to the robots we develop, people can avoid tasks that are too dangerous, sometimes painful and often very time-consuming. So these robotic arms really help operators in their daily work, by saving them the physical effort and thus allowing them to focus on other value-added tasks, which improves their well-being at work!" Marina is very proud of the fact that she can help with this. "I feel that I am contributing to a form of progress in our society."
"I feel like I'm contributing to a form of progress in our society."
Marina is the first female engineer working on this project, but certainly not the last!
In the future, Marina hopes to work as a systems architect in order to take a more global view of robotic systems, better understand the technical interactions between hardware and software, and therefore appreciate the results of her work even more. "Seeing a robot perform the functions I helped develop at a client's site is very satisfying in itself, but fully understanding how everything comes together at the system level would be even more satisfying!"
This love of technology, which Marina felt at a very young age when she began to take an interest in how machines work, surprised some colleagues when she became the first female expert to participate in the project! "The perception of society is changing," she emphasizes. "I quickly felt comfortable in my role because I quickly proved that I had the skills that the team and the project needed."
What advice would she give to young girls who might be hesitant to choose technical professions?
"There are more and more women joining our teams...So if you like a challenge and advanced technologies, by all means get into it and prove that it's as much a woman's profession as it is a man's profession, regardless of what some statistics say.
Go for it!
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