Designing Artificial Hearts: A Virtual Global Intern Blog

Designing Artificial Hearts

For my virtual global internship, I was placed with RobotsCrate, a company based in Ecuador that specializes in robotics and artificial organ design. My coworkers and I had the opportunity to choose between different projects to work on such as a massage robots, exoskeletons, and artificial organs. I decided to work on improving artificial heart design.

Most of my work was individual. I had biweekly meetings with our supervisor and he'd discuss topics we should research regarding the artificial heart. In our check-ins, our supervisor gave us feedback and provided resources to improve our design. Alongside this work, we utilized CAD (Computer Aided Design) software, such as Solidworks to visualize and create our design. We presented our research and design to a cardiac physiologist who would give us feedback on what we created.

Learning to Work Independently

If I could describe my time working, it would be very individualistic while also being collaborative. I felt that was a great learning experience. I learned more about being able to do independent research while also learning about working in a team. Most of us did our own research and explored topics independently. Towards the end of our internship, we worked together to compile our research and delivered a presentation. I also found that as I researched and looked more into artificial hearts I became more and more interested in the topic. Surprisingly, it’s a good conversation topic to talk about with people. For instance, something interesting we looked into are hearts that don’t have pulses like a regular heart would have. These hearts instead use a rotor and magnets to move blood through the heart and veins, which is why they’re called rotary artificial hearts.

Things I Would Have Done Differently - Advice For Future Interns

If I could turn back time, there are definitely things I wish I knew before I started the internship. Here's 3 pieces of advice for those who are thinking about doing a virtual global internship:

Reach out to your supervisor more

Since my work was more individual, I didn’t have much of a chance to really talk to my supervisor outside of our meetings. After having completed it, I felt that I really could have asked more questions or asked for more guidance when I was researching.

Be ready to adapt to different work environments

From work culture to setting, it’s crucial to be able to adapt. For me personally, I'm not someone who works well online, I prefer working in person. However, for this internship I felt that I had to get adjusted to work in an online setting.

Have good communication with others

Even though I worked in a team, I felt that I could have reached out more towards coworkers, especially for the individual research that we’ve done. Even though I can sometimes be nervous reaching out to people who I don’t know very well, my teammates were very nice and I felt we worked very well together.

An Overall Amazing Learning Experience

As a whole, I’m glad that I chose CIS Abroad as my Virtual Global Internship provider. This was my first experience working since starting college. I felt that this internship was a great learning experience, one that I'll apply what I’ve learned towards future career opportunities. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who has the time and chance to embark on this opportunity.

Pursuing a virtual internship abroad has definitely brought me much needed experience regarding working in an online environment, especially considering how the world is moving more towards it nowadays. Additionally, I had great experience working across borders. Since my supervisor was from Ecuador I had to take into account language barriers and importantly, time differences. It was important to clarify times with my supervisor and coworkers. 

Looking for a remote opportunity that also gives you international work experience? Visit our Virtual Global Internships page to see how you can get started.