Hamad Iqbal

The A levels I chose reflected my interest to develop a career in the robotics industry. During my studies I wanted to take advantage of gaining experience within an industry that I find so interesting and challenging.

The opportunity to participate in the Nuffield research placement at the University of Manchester meant I had the opportunity to work alongside a professor at the university. During my placement I worked with the professor to complete a robotic vision programme, ultimately developing a programme in Python that recognised musical notation and output the corresponding sound in an audio file.

Through the four week placement developed my programming skills (which are becoming increasingly important for engineers) and developed a greater understanding of the robotics industry (an industry that I hope to have a career in) by working alongside an expert in the field. It has been very useful in my studies and provided insight into the programming aspects of my computer science coursework.

The placement relies on skills and information that is beyond the A level syllabus so it is challenging, but the opportunity to learn directly from an expert in a field that I am interested in was fantastic. It has consolidated my ambition to pursue a career in the robotics industry.

Hamad has just secured a place at Stanford University, USA to read Computer Science.