Life experiences of an engineer

by Aleksandra Bojic and Janine Biner

Lijin Aryananda Blatter studied electrical engineering and computer science at MIT and earned her PhD in the Humanoid Robotic Laboratory at the same university. Since then, she was working in the field of robotics and exoskeleton for over 15 years, for example as Technical Project Leader and  Head of Technical Projects at Hocoma. What experiences did she make as an engineer? Which advice would she give?

Aleksandra and Janine: What inspired you to pursue a career in engineering?
Lijin: I studied engineering without a specific intent. I liked math and therefore chose to study at MIT. Most majors there are in engineering, so I ended up studying electrical engineering and computer science and I continued my PhD at the Humanoid Robotics Lab.

What skills do you believe are crucial for engineering?
In my experience, solid technical skills and creativity are crucial. The biggest challenge is to find the optimal solution, which most of the time requires a compromise, especially when it comes down to budget. This tends to be challenging for engineers, as we are trained to optimize based on technical criteria. I believe in giving the highest priority to the users and stakeholders, which sometimes require ignoring your own perspectives. Only when I am able to do this, that I can see the right solution.

Can you learn creativity?
I believe creativity is a way of thinking and can be learnt. Sometimes I think one gets creative because one refuses to give up. Real life experience is important of course, but you collect it on the way anyway – no need to worry about it now.

What was the biggest challenge for you working in this field?
The challenge of robotics and engineering in general for me lies on the application. When I entered the field of robotic neuro-rehabilitaion, my first challenge was to learn how to imagine how various devices would affect neurologically impaired patients in terms of comfort and function. It took time to learn how to relax most of my muscles in order to experience how a patient would feel as much as possible. This was very useful once there is some kind of prototype to test. A second larger challenge was to learn how to invent new solutions as it is very difficult to predict whether it would also work for neurologically impaired patient. I had to throw out many ideas.

What about technical challenges?
Sometimes we focus too much on technical aspects and are rigid in our assumptions. In a project, our goal was to develop a gait rehabilitation devices, which enables neurologically impaired patient to train overground walking and allow patient to go through doors. We naturally assumed that an omnidirectional drive behind the patient would be the only feasible solution. After some exploration, it was clear that it would be too expensive. A frame around the patient was discarded earlier on in the project because it was not possible to walk through doors with it. Stuck in this conflict, I thought: “Let’s do it anyway and see what we come up with!”. Thanks to clever engineering from the team, what we learned enabled to shift to another solution, a lightweight frame slightly shifted to the back. And guess what, it was even able to fit through doors!

Can you share a particular project you are proud of?
In neuro-rehabilitation, the true physiology of walking is very important. Weight shift and hip abduction/adduction are crucial for balance. In the earlier product version, these degrees of freedom were fixated. Significant efforts have been made to enable this, but additional motors are simply too heavy and complex. As a newcomer to the company, bringing in a fresh perspective, I was very lucky to see an easy solution with only one additional motor. I was very happy to be able to realize this solution, together with a team of exceptional engineers within record time.

What contributed to your success as a technical project manager?
As a project manager, I see my main job is to achieve all project targets and optimize project outcome. I believe this is achieved best by harnessing every cm of passion and motivation of each team member, not only in development team, but also everyone involved to launch the product, from procurement, production, sales, etc. I take every step earnestly and put my best effort. Specifically relevant to the development team, I believe my biggest challenge was to balance each person’s motivation and the ability to accept when their wish/idea cannot be realized. I took the time to get to know each person, especially to understand each person’s trigger. I believe this went a very long way. I still maintain my friendship with most of them until today.

How do you find out what motivates them?
I tend not to separate professional and personal relationships and I got to know each person as well as I could. Automatically I also learned what motivates them. I know this might be unusual, but I see more positive aspects in it and so far, I’ve never had a negative experience because of that.

What do you think about networking events?
I used to attend them. I’m the kind of person that learns most things from people hence these events were perfect for me. I like to ask questions and learn from people.

Were there any significant challenges you faced as a woman entering the engineering field?
I tend not to notice gender. My father raised me to be gender blind. I remember only one instance in my professional life where my gender played a role. It was a very disrespectful experience, thus I gave a very direct answer and left the room. However, my gender definitely started playing a role after I became a mother. It was very unexpected for me, but I felt a lot of guilt for not being at home. I cannot logically explain it until today.

What would be something you would have done in your life if the risk wasn’t so high?
I would have founded a start-up. I always had ideas, but I never took the risk.

Do you have some advice for young people?
Never give up on what you want. When things are not working, give it time. Do not give up.

Women in Engineering

Women continue to make significant contributions in engineering fields, yet they remain underrepresented. Women in Engineering offers an empowering platform to celebrate their accomplishments and connect with an industry speaker who shares relatable experiences and insights. It’s an occasion to share ideas, exchange experiences and foster connections. At the Women in Engineering in May 2024 Lijin Aryananda Blatter shared her educational and professional journey. Our next Women in Engineering will take place in spring 2025 at SCS. Stay updated at www.scs.ch/en/events/.