Top Global University Project: Waseda Goes Global - A Plan to Build a Worldwide Academic Network That Is Open, Dynamic and DiverseWaseda University

Hiroki Uchida | 1st year master’s student, School of Fundamental Science and Engineering

• Visiting Period: September 2023 to November 2023
• Study Abroad University: The University of Edinburgh
• Country/Region: Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

 

Below is a study abroad experience report from Hiroki Uchida (1st year master’s student, School of Fundamental Science and Engineering), who was able to go to Edinburgh, Scotland, to study at The University of Edinburgh. This study abroad experience was possible due to support from Waseda University’s Top Global University project “Waseda Goes Global”, referred to as TGU below.

 

Reason for studying abroad

There are two reasons why I wanted to study abroad. First, I wanted to get more knowledge about software since I mainly studied hardware during my undergraduate years. The other reason is that I wanted to be in a completely new environment interact with a lot of researchers and see what kind of discoveries I could make in that environment.

 

Content of the study program

I spent three months in Professor Sethu Vijayakumar’s laboratory under the supervision of Dr. Namiko Saito, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK (formerly of Waseda University’s Sugano Laboratory). I was in charge of a part of Ms. Saito’s research, and my part was to estimate the contents of an object in a box whose contents were invisible while manipulating it with a robot.

Study results

At the time of my return to Japan, we had succeeded in linking the image recognition system and sensors for learning, and VAE (Variational Auto-Encoder) was able to rely on image information to recognize objects, but the next step, learning without using image information, did not go well. I plan to work with Dr. Saito to improve performance and summarize the results in a paper.
It was also very stimulating to attend the meetings held every Friday to get feedback on our research and to listen to the discussions of other researchers’ research presentations. In Japan, small meetings by research groups often take a lot of time for discussion, but I have the impression that in large group presentations such as those given by the entire laboratory, the presenter often spends more time talking. However, in this laboratory’s plenary meeting, I was impressed by the fact that researchers in different fields of research, although related to robotics, actively discussed each other’s research and tried to review their research methods. I believe that because they have different knowledge, they can suggest new ideas for each other.

The University environment

Prof. Sethu’s Laboratory is famous among researchers in the field of robotics for owning a lot of robots, and many researchers and visitors come to the laboratory for those robots. Therefore, I had a lot of opportunities to explain my research. The school building and facilities were very beautiful and useful, so it was a great environment for research.

My experience abroad

I participated in the American football team activities on weekends and had a great time with my teammates. When I came back to the sideline after a good play in a game, everyone tapped my shoulder and said, “Well done!” Also, at the Thanksgiving party after the last game, I received a Scottish flag with a collection of messages on it!

The housing environment

The cost of living in the UK is high, but over the past few years the rent in Edinburgh has skyrocketed, and the depreciation of the yen has added to that, making the rent outrageously expensive. I spent about two months looking for a place that fit my budget and found a flat (which is called a shared house in Japan) about 30 minutes by bus from the university. There were four of us living in the flat, and everyone was very friendly, and we had a stress-free time. In particular, I became friends with a Chinese student who moved in at the same time as me, and he treated me to local cuisine, gave me souvenirs from his travels, and even bought me dinner on the day we parted.

About Edinburgh

Edinburgh is like Sendai in Japan, prosperous but also full of nature. I loved the atmosphere of the historical buildings and the natural surroundings.
The climate is colder than in Japan due to the high latitude, and the temperature around autumn in Edinburgh was almost the same as the temperature in winter in Japan. Also, the length of the day varies. Sunset can be later than 9 p.m. in summer and earlier than 4 p.m. in winter.
It rains a lot in Scotland, especially in the fall and winter, so I often hear that summer is the best time to go out. The weather changes so much that there is a saying, “There are four seasons in one day.” Many people always wear water-repellent clothes like windbreakers rather than carry umbrellas, and I found myself not using an umbrella anymore.

Local cultures

Before arriving in Edinburgh, I thought that British English was the common language of the city, but the percentage of immigrants was quite high, and I heard many different accents. There were many Chinese, American, British, and Indian people, and they would joke about the differences in their accents and laugh at each other.
As for the food culture, there were restaurants from many different countries, and I never got bored. However, there were no restaurants with affordable prices, and a lunch cost 2,000 to 3,000 yen, so I cooked meals myself. Buses were my main means of transportation in Edinburgh, and long-distance buses called Coach were used to travel between cities. These buses were sometimes quite late, or, even if I pressed the “get off” button, they didn’t stop.

Influence on my future career

During my study abroad, I met many people from different countries who have different hobbies and values, which made me think that I would like to live in an environment where I can relate to many people regardless of nationality. In addition, I could interact with many excellent people both inside and outside the laboratory, and I decided to try to become such an excellent person myself.
I want to thank all the people who supported this program and all the people who helped me in the field to have such a valuable experience.