In the summer of 2016, I was selected to participate in a research project at La Salle University in association with the "Barcelona International Youth Science Challenge."

After overcoming a tough selection process, the 8 of us selected were supposed to work on a "bioinspired" solution using robotics.

In particular, our goal was to design and build smart cars for smart cities, inspired by how ants communicate with each other and how they use pheromone and "Ant colony optimization" to find the shortest path, and in our case, we would also use it to avoid traffic, and accidents caused by it.

(Un)fortunately, we had to face situations that improved our problem-solving, communication, and persuasion skills.

The weekend before the presentation, the robot (prototype) didn't work. Part of my team wanted to give up and give the presentation without showing the prototype. It was understandable.

I decided to change our approach and try to find a solution to make our robot work. I talked to the representatives of the university to ask them for their approval. After a short talk, they gave us a chance, so we went to an electronics store. I had a list with all the required materials written during our subway ride. We came back to the university, and they agreed to cover the expenses.

Finally, we worked hard and made the project work before the presentation. The researchers from all the invited universities congratulated us. The experience of running our own project made me feel comfortable, even though I was only 17.

Moreover, I personally had the chance to improve my "pitching skills" since I gave a presentation in English, for the first time, in front of important researchers. However, the most significant thing I realized from this experience was that I fell in love with programming, Arduino language, and especially with artificial intelligence, and, since then, I had no doubts about what I wanted to do in the future.