Interview with a French engineering intern
By: Plen Robotics
Tags: Study Abroad, Engineering, Robotics, AI, Intern

Hello everyone! It’s been in a while.

I am Hitomi, a new marketing intern from PLEN Robotics.

We’ve just restarted writing on Medium to let you know more about our company. We will offer information about what kind of people are currently working here.

But first, let me introduce myself:

I am a 3rd-year university student. I am currently in the middle of a marketing internship.

Are you interested in people from other countries working in Japan? We have colleagues who have different backgrounds at PLEN Robotics. This time, I interviewed a French engineer student, Chloé, and I asked her about her job!

What is PLEN Robotics?

Do you know about PLEN Robotics?

We are a Japanese hardware startup company with the goal of solving global problems through innovative robotics technology for all. We’re currently developing the “PLEN Cube”. This is a robot that recognizes people with a facial recognition system and offers hands-free controls using vocal commands. We can use it to check attendance in schools, confirm hotel reservations, perform health check-ups, and temperature checks with accumulated data.

Q: Why did you come to Japan?

A: My hobbies and interests include AI, medical robots, and anime, so I was really interested in Japan. I love anime! I watch One Piece, Attack on Titan, and other shounen anime.

I have visited Japan twice before I started this internship. As for Japanese food, I like ramen and sushi!

Q: What are you doing in France?

A: I am a student at CPE Lyon, a science university. At school, I studied computer technology, robotics, and image processing.

My brother is an engineer, and he inspired me to enter a school where I could learn about robotics. I am studying software, and at PLEN Robotics, I was in charge of the front and back end, using programming languages such as Python, Javascript, Html, and CSS.

Q: Why did you choose PLEN Robotics?

A: Because it is a start-up company and I thought I could work with a lot of discretion. Also, one of the students in my school had worked at PLEN Robotics, so I contacted her and got some information.

Q: How did you feel about working here? Did you find it challenging? What are some of the challenges you faced?

A: It was as I expected in the sense that I could use a lot of discretion. For example, I participated in the recruitment of interns and had a lot of interviews with Japanese students. I think it was because I was at a startup that I was able to have such an experience because at a big company your role is fixed. Talking with Japanese students, I realized that Japanese people are very humble. In France, people don’t go out of their way to say what they are not good at, but I was surprised to hear Japanese people say things like, “I’m not good at English…”.

Q: Is there anything that you were unable to achieve?

A: In terms of work, not at all! I feel that I was able to improve my skills, especially in coding.

As for my personal life, I was a little disappointed that I couldn’t go on the trip I was eager to take because of Covid-19. But as well as Tokyo, I went to Aomori, Okinawa, and many other places. I wish I could have visited Hokkaido and Kyushu….

Q: Besides Japan, which countries were you considering?

A: I was planning to go to Singapore. It was attractive for me because my friend was interning in Singapore.

Q: What will you do after working in Japan?

A: I’ll intern in Norway to learn about robotics from August until December. That company is also a startup robot company like PLEN Robotics, and I’ll learn software there. After this, I’ll graduate from my university! I want to work overseas, preferably outside of Japan in the future.

I want to discover new countries.

I am sure that she will be a great engineer working all over the world!! I feel she is very admirable and full of potential. I’m honored to have interviewed an engineer from overseas.

Chloé, thank you for answering all of my questions!

We are recruiting internship students to work in engineering! We hope to create a diverse company with engineers who have various backgrounds!

Thank you for reading!

Au revoir! Goodbye!