There is more to Greece than ancient temples and beautiful islands. The country also spawns great robotics specialists. We had a talk with Kapernikov robotics consultant George Kouros about joining our company and about working in the land of chocolate and beer.
George joined Kapernikov in January 2019. After an extensive career in robotics research at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, at the Pandora Robotics Team and at the Centre for Research & Technology Hellas (CERTH), George felt ready for a change of scenery, both professionally and geographically.
An odyssey into robotics
“It had always been my dream to work abroad,” says George. “And I also wanted to trade academic life for a job in the industry. Both things came together nicely when I was asked to join Kapernikov as a robotics consultant.”
The biggest difference between Greece and Belgium? “The weather, obviously. And the fact that in this part of Europe, you can find more companies like Kapernikov, where you can do great work as a robotics specialist.”
As a robotics specialist, you can do great work at Kapernikov.
Visual odometry
Today, you will find George working on a project about visual odometry, which is the ability to determine the position and orientation of a robot by analyzing successive camera images. More specifically, he is investigating the use of a stereovision camera system as a way to localize forklifts in large-scale manufacturing and logistics environments.
According to George, that is the big difference between the academic world and the industry. In the latter, you can work on projects that have a direct, tangible impact on the customer.
Encouraging atmosphere
But job satisfaction is more than a job title. For George, it’s the Kapernikov vibe that convinced him to join our ranks: “The first day I met the people at Kapernikov, I already liked the friendly and encouraging atmosphere. Other than that, it is great to work on state-of-the-art technologies with experienced people from various backgrounds. Kapernikov also gives you the space to work on your own pace. This kind of flexibility is a breath of fresh air to me.”