At Princeton, I’ve formed close friendships with students across all years and departments, witnessing their challenges, hard work, and achievements, from difficult courses to their independent work and senior theses. When my friends often name-drop courses from their departments and share exciting insights from their day, I realize I haven’t taken many of those classes myself. This realization sparked a desire to generate deeper conversations about their academic interests, even if I don’t fully grasp all the technical details and concepts of their field.
One of these conversations was with Jeremy Kiil ‘24 about his experience in ‘Car Lab’ (formally, ECE 302: Robotics and Autonomous Systems Lab), a required course for all ECE juniors. To my surprise, our conversation wasn’t focused on the nitty-gritty details about hardware components. Instead, Jeremy shared insights applicable to all students. I found his advice on making consistent progress, staying resilient, and taking care of oneself as wonderful reminders for everyone. Inspired by our conversation, I wanted to document and share it with a broader audience.
Alexis Wu (AW): How would you introduce the course to someone who doesn’t know anything about Car Lab?
Jeremy Kiil (JK): Car Lab is a self-paced, mostly unstructured lab design course where students work with a partner to build up all the functionality of a remote-controlled car, from the hardware to the software. The main milestones in the course are: speed control of the vehicle independent of incline and decline, navigation of a track of black tape within a specified time limit, and an independent final project where students submit a proposal, order parts, and build something unique. For each milestone, we needed to first come up with a design to complete the task, then construct the hardware, and finally design the software to control the hardware.
AW: What would be your advice for overcoming challenges in this course?
JK: Our common challenges were tiny design errors, tedious tuning of control parameters in code, and inconsistency in the car’s operation based on what batteries were being used. Working with a complex system means it’s much more difficult to diagnose issues. The professors and TAs are great resources and help you troubleshoot. But while some problems seem impossibly challenging, so much so that even the TAs are stumped, there will come a point when it clicks and you finally figure it out. It can be frustrating, but it’s a common experience for everyone in the class. I’d prioritize understanding the material as you learn it instead of getting a task done as fast as possible: if you take a little extra time to figure out what the staff is showing you and how it fits in the larger picture, you’ll move faster in the long run.
AW: How did you balance your other coursework and extracurriculars during the semester you took Car Lab?
JK: A really important principle for this class is being okay with leaving the lab when you’re stuck to get enough sleep and going back the next day.
It can be really tempting to pull all-nighters, but be mindful of the time you’re spending in the lab so that you still have the energy to balance your other courses and extracurriculars.
Working consistently over the semester and remaining calm when issues arose is also crucial. At the end of the day, everyone finishes their projects and no groups are left behind.
AW: How has taking the course influenced your career interests?
JK: This course gave me the confidence to apply for hardware roles, even though it wasn’t where I initially thought I’d end up. The class radically improved my ability to troubleshoot, solder, read datasheets, pick parts, and think critically about complex systems as a whole. I feel like Car Lab clarifies whether or not you want to actually work in hardware; some ECEs take Car Lab and realize they’d prefer to go into more software-oriented roles because hardware can be super finicky. For me, there’s just a certain appeal to building something tangible—it’s incredibly rewarding.
Responses have been edited for clarity and length.
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Jeremy’s discussion about the challenges he encountered in Car Lab really resonated with me and my own experiences. As a student taking four or five classes a semester, with student jobs and extracurricular activities, feeling the pressure of a deadline is not uncommon. However, his approach to learning—giving ourselves the time to deeply understand material, making steady progress throughout the semester, and balancing coursework and self-care—is a crucial framework that can be applied for all students in the context of academics, research, and industry.
His last answer on how Car Lab influenced his career decisions illustrates how engaging with hands-on work (potentially through a course or a lab) can provide pivotal moments of self-discovery and open up new career paths. For students who may have not previously considered research or practical courses, his story demonstrates that new experiences can really take us in directions to great places we had not previously considered.
I hope this was a worthwhile read and that you find your own takeaways from this dialogue. Wishing you the best with your academic and career endeavors!
— Alexis Wu, Engineering Correspondent
