Why I am Babbling Here?
A brief introduction of this blog
An Inofficial About Me
Well, I am a foreigner—though not officially—who has been studying and working in Germany for over 12 years.
I can’t quite recall exactly how naïve, curious, or full of expectations I was when I first came here to begin my studies on mechanical engineering. But one thing is certain: this journey—from student to research assistant—has been filled with many interesting moments ranging from frustration, conflict, and regret to gratitude, joy and (more or less) achievements.
My carrer as a research assistant in Aachen has been a long and eventful journey 
. Along the way, there are many things I have observed, experienced, and learned—some of which might be far from what you’d expect.
At the end of the day, I can’t fully express how grateful I am—to my dear friends (e.g., Dr. Schönitz, Dr. Ennen, Dr. Wen, Dr. Hsu) and to some unexpected but amazing mentors (e.g., Prof. Tim Barfoot, Dr. Hsu)—for sharing their time, insights, and encouragement with me throughout my research journey.
And that’s exactly why I want to start blogging:
- to share those memories, and
- to talk about the problems and the inconsistency we encounter in research, work, and life.
I’m not sure if you’ve had the same experiences as I have. but what I’m certain of is that you’ll find some joy and inspiration in my blog. Or even better, share your comments and insights. 
What can you expect from my blog?
Maybe I could somehow integrate into the German culture, and do as a German does: complaining. But, there are indeed problems genuinely need to be addressed, aren’t there?
Anyhow,
the first—and most important—hint I want to make clear, is: I am not a crybaby who cannot handle life’s challgens 
.
The second-and also important-hint that must be announced loud, is: I am not humiliating anyone who may have done something silly 
.
This brings us to a few take-home expectations I’d like to share with you:
- Lessons learned from my study and research career, often paid for with real effort and mistakes, including, but not limited to:
- Good and (mostly) Bad study and research practices,
- What kind of chef/leader/work environment I am expecting (in research),
- What kind of chef/leader/work environment one should run away from (in research),
- Different (mostly funny in a negative tone) perspectives/figures I have seen in research,
- Mentor and mentee,
- Get papers reviewed as an author or a reviewer,
- etc.
- Interesting problem statement in robotics with my interpretations, including, but not limited to:
- Kalman filters and Batch optimization,
- Bayesian inference,
- SLAM,
- etc.