Atakan Varol: the idea of being among the first generation of mechatronics engineers in Turkey and having the opportunity of educating the first generation of robotics and mechatronics engineers in Kazakhstan was a mesmerizing dream for me

ATAKAN VAROL

PhD, Electrical Engineering, Associate Professor, Department of Robotics and Mechatronics

I got my BSc in Mechatronics Engineering from Sabanci University (Istanbul, Turkey). Sabanci University was a start-up during those years as well. Then, I went to the States for pursuing graduate studies and received my MSc and PhD from Vanderbilt University (Nashville, Tennessee) in Electrical Engineering.

After finishing my PhD, I worked at Vanderbilt firstly as a post-doctoral researcher and then as a research assistant professor focusing on the development of bionic devices. I worked as a part-time bioinformatics programmer during graduate school.  I also did a six month internship during my undergraduate studies at the BMW Research and Innovation Center (Munich, Germany), which was very important for my engineering formation. I have been also consulting for prosthetic companies for the last five years.

Before coming to Nazarbayev University, I was primarily a researcher. My only teaching experience was graduate level courses related to my research. At NU, we are in the process of starting graduate programs now and I have taught only undergraduate courses at NU so far. I have observed that the Freshman students of 2011 have grown so much both personally and technically. Having contributed to their educational formation was a very positive experience for me. Additionally, my father is a university professor as well and he always tells that one learns best when he/she teaches. After teaching undergraduate students and getting all possible questions in these courses (some extremely simple and some deviously complicated), I completely agree with this statement.

From the research perspective, my research on bionic devices significantly contributed to two emerging products, a knee and ankle prosthesis and a robotic hand prosthesis. Having the chance of my research translated to products helping people can be considered my main contribution. Here in Kazakhstan being a founding faculty member of the Nazarbayev University, I did my best to create a strong world-class Robotics and Mechatronics Program. I believe that we are on the right track to accomplish this goal and once we are there, this will be my greatest contribution to the field of education.

I graduated as one of the first generation mechatronics engineers of Turkey. Many years later, I met my future wife at Vanderbilt. She was a Bolashak Scholarship recipient getting her Master’s degree.  After finishing her studies, she had to go back to Kazakhstan for five years as a condition of her scholarship. This was a problem, because as one might expect the job opportunities for a robotics engineer specializing in bionic devices are only present in a handful of countries in the world. At that instant, miraculously she showed me a news about a world-class university being opened in Astana in collaboration with top universities of the West. Having talked to Kazakhstani students in Nashville, I knew that Kazakhstan was a rapidly developing country with a bold agenda for modernization under the leadership of President Nazarbayev. Once I started reading more about Nazarbayev University, I realized that it was a very serious project and had also a Robotics and Mechatronics Program. The idea of being among the first generation of mechatronics engineers in Turkey and having the opportunity of educating the first generation of robotics and mechatronics engineers in Kazakhstan was a mesmerizing dream for me. Then, I applied, got accepted and the rest is history. I am here at NU since August 2011.

So far, I taught at Nazarbayev University the following courses: Introduction for Robotics, Programming for Robotics and Physics, Electrical and Electronic Circuits 1 and 2, Microcontrollers, Image Processing and Machine Learning. Most faculty members in established older institutions end up teaching at most a handful of courses in their career. I was lucky at NU to have the opportunity to teach so many different courses.

Persistence is a great skill to have.  Most of the successful people I know are persons who try to do their best at everything they do. They never give up. Students, who are persistent and are serious about their studies, usually tend to succeed in studies and also in life. I also tell my students that they should face their weaknesses and try to improve them.

After an initial period of two years, in which I continued collaborating with my old research group, currently most of my research is NU based. I conduct my research with NU research assistants, undergraduate students and faculty members. Therefore, they participate very significantly and without their help I cannot proceed with my research. Luckily, thanks to the Bolashak Program NU and Kazakhstan have an elite cadre of young individuals with very good education in technical fields from the best universities of the world. Now, we are creating the next generation of researchers at NU. I am working on multiple projects funded by NU, Ministry of Education and Science and World Bank.  Our flagship research project is the development of a multigrasp robotic hand with an integrated depth camera for intelligent industrial automation. Another one of our projects is the inertial motion capture based teleoperation of a mobile manipulator. This project was one of the finalists for the KUKA Innovation Award. We also work on the design and control of variable impedance actuators, which try to achieve human level dexterity and safety in motion. You can visit our website to get more information about these projects.

In my opinion, living at different places makes one’s life definitely a fuller experience.  I was living previously in Nashville. Recently, it has been selected one of the most livable cities in the United States. It was very lovely and quiet. It had not much traffic. Nature and climate was perfect. It was also full of country music, for which I have developed an acquired taste over the years. Before Nashville, I was living in Istanbul. Istanbul is a great city, where East and West meet each other. Modern and historic architecture are intermingled in a chaotic way. It is very dynamic, excellently connected with the rest of the world and a great tourist destination with a sophisticated cuisine.

For the last three years, I have been in Astana. It is a so much different from Nashville and Istanbul. I love Astana and it is great to be a part of this architectural and social experiment. It is literally the architectural playground of world’s best architects. I can associate the word “change” with Astana. Every time when I come back, I realize something new has opened. Very few people will have the opportunity to witness the foundation of a great capital city in their lives. It changes and matures constantly.  It has also many young people living and making their careers here. This adds dynamism to the city.  For the first time in my life, I also experienced harsh winters in Astana and the city looks magical at -40 degrees with the water vapor crystallizing in the air.