Ruel Faruque, who graduated in December with a master’s degree in mechanical engineering, hrefused four potential job offers for post-gradation work, instead opting to work with TORC Technologies, a small robotics research company within Virginia Tech’s KnowledgeWorks in Blacksburg.
Company president and chief executive officer Michael Fleming said TORC specializes in the accelerated development and commercialization of robotic technologies.
“TORC’s success is mainly a result of our strong, working relationship with the university and the Virginia Tech alumni we hire,” Fleming said.
While being a software engineer with TORC may not compensate at the same level as the other four job offers he received or present the same level of national prestige, Faruque was happy to land his dream job.
“It’s a small company right now, but we do what we want, which is great,” Faruque said. “It’s going to turn into something big. All of us hope to be here when in does in twenty years.”
The transition to becoming a full-time employee with TORC was not hard for Faruque. During his time at Tech, he worked with the company in similar competitions and projects as a student. One such project he always wanted to work with was Urban Challenge.
“Urban Challenge and the robotics aspect were the main reasons I ultimately chose TORC,” Faruque said.
Sponsored by the Department of Defense, Urban Challenge, planned for Nov. 3, requires teams to design a vehicle that navigate through a 60-mile course, including obstacles such as obeying traffic signals, merging and switching lanes and steer through intersections all in less than six hours and without human control.
Fleming expects the Urban Challenge team to be an extremely competitive contestant, whose ultimate goal is to win.
Faruque’s expectations encompass more than winning or losing.
“Currently, robotic technology is not yet accepted in everyday society,” Faruque said. “So if we do well in the competition, we can show society that robots will be able to safely interact with other humans in the city in our cars.”
He predicts that this acceptance of robotic technology within current society will take at least 10 to15 years and will be achieved through smaller steps of integration.
