"From an early age I used to disassemble everything that got into my hands and study its structure. Later on, my older brother used to experiment with batteries, dc motors and small light bulbs making various small circuits, and this is how I got interested in electronics," Stefanos says.
Three years ago, and already a Bachelor of Science graduate in Electronic Engineering, he heard the term ‘Mechatronics’ for the first time. He thought that a job that combined electronics, mechanics, control engineering and programming sounded really fascinating.
"My mind was made up. I decided to study Mechatronics; the study programme which would provide me with the knowledge necessary to build anything from simple electronic thermometers to autonomous robotic arms."
Practical experience and project work
"
One of the many things I like about studying at the University of Southern Denmark is that we get to do a lot of practical projects; with my favourite so far being the quadcopter."
"For this project, we were given a toy quadcopter and we were asked to connect it to and control it through a computer. My teammates and I decided to challenge ourselves by taking it one step further. We wanted to design and build a new quadcopter from scratch and control it wirelessly, and we had the full support of the university for this," says Stefanos.
New friends
"Not only did I get to combine my electronics skills with my recently acquired knowledge in mechanics and control engineering, I also got the chance to work with three great individuals, each with a different educational and cultural background. The knowledge and ideas exchanged with these people gave me a new perspective on problem solving."
Stefanos’s next big challenge is his master thesis. The goal is to design and develop a portable monitoring device to measure a set of medical parameters indicating human condition. The device is an example of an embedded system with typical features such as mixed-signalled analogue/digital processing, low power consumption and small size.
"This is going to be the highlight of my studies where I will have to combine all the knowledge and the experience gained in all the years of studying, and which will, hopefully, pave the way for an interesting and dynamic career," he says.