Beijing, 16th March, 2016(BISTU) ---　I happened to see the notice on selecting students to attend the cooperative project between BISTU and University of Fukui. Fascinated at this piece of news, I started to learn more about the project. While I am still young, I think, I should seize the opportunity to travel around and see more of this world.  

Then my dream came true. With a few schoolmates, we flew from Beijing to Shanghai where we were to transfer to Japan. After arriving in Japan, we took our bus to Fukui. Quietness accompanied us all through the way, without anyone making noisy calls or loud chatting. Not until a while later did I start to realize that all is very quiet in this country, the airport, malls, markets, even stalls.  

My destination is the University of Fukui, in Fukui, a city close to Pacific in the west of Japan.　With open greenery view and a motivated learning atmosphere, the University of Fukui welcomes hardworking and innovative students. I own great thanks to BISTU scholar which offers me the opportunity of learning on a campus which I have never experienced and where I could settle myself down into learning.  

The research institution where I belong is Interaction Robotics Laboratory, a lab on human-computer interaction studies. When I firstly entered this lab, I was met with numerous issues which I cannot understand and which I am now aware of. Obviously, I was going to face with hardly-to-imagine difficulties: at BISTU, I have been learning mechanical design and automation; yet here I have to study intelligence system which focuses more on programing and much less on hardware. In other words, I put myself in a completely fresh program. And I was asked to, in addition to starting off from the beginning level, take over a project and achieve something. Another barrier for me is the language and culture. Luckily, in my research institute there are Chinese seniors from whom I learned a lot about the institute, the project, and other things about my Japanese classmates.  

At least the research institute will hold one meeting in a week, in which an important part is to let the members to deliver an international level speech on the project which he or she is responsible for, followed by various peer questions. Meanwhile, each member has to report research progress in previous week. In addition, there is at least one face-to-face meeting with the tutor to explore the project. I felt the pressure from the meeting, report, and face-to-face interaction with my tutor. However, it is just during these meetings and reports that I saw my progresses. During the whole year in Japan, my tutor has never directly told me what I should or should not do. At the most he would offer me a suggestion. I had to explore, learn, and research on how to achieve my goal.  

My research is on navigation of indoor mobile robot based on RFID system and laser range-finder avoiding obstacles. At the beginning I researched on my project, including the history, current situation, future possible progress in this area, and ultimate goal as well as what good it will do to human beings. Then I started my research from individual components of robots, i.e., laser range-finder. I checked specifications and instructions, talked to and consulted seniors in this field, and conducted some simple experiments. Then I read papers of the seniors and made more experiments based on my understanding.  

The following are some pictures and illustration of my project:  

　　Medium of my research: AMC robot and its model and rendering in domestic working environment   

Working status of robot in world coordinate system and pixel-valued environment 

The real path of robot  

In the past year, professors have helped me with numerous questions, supervised my research progress, offered us the opportunity to simulate academic publication, and even urged us to express our ideas in academic conferences. In the research institute, we could consult seniors and classmates for questions, start independent research, and enhance our competence in an all-around way. Based on my observation, hands-on capability of my Japanese peers could be generalized as (such as in program analyzing): accuracy in locating the errors; speed in correcting them; and strong in independent analysis. 　　 

Teaching in Japan is small-class based. Usually there are less than ten students in one class. For the whole year as an exchange student, all the modules I have chosen are taught by Japanese professors in English. I have chosen Mechanics Engineering, which impressed me a lot. It was delivered by three professors who presented and illustrated knowledge of this field from various angles and levels. Report, PPT presentation, or in-class operation is taken to enhance our learning. Also the professor would invite members of their institute to communicate with us. 　　 

Also I chose C programming. The professor did not always stay with us. However, he asked students of his research institute to learn together with us. It is more like team learning: we developed program, found errors, and overcame barriers together as a team. In this module, all work was done by teams--- the seven students were divided into three teams, respectively responsible for part of our project. Personally I think it was a great way to motivate students by offering them the opportunity of realizing their thoughts in their works.   　　 

Learning language is also full of fun. I was arranged into a class of seven students, Chinese and Indians mixed. We started to understand each other’s culture. Our Japanese teachers are the most unforgettable, loving teachers. They taught us the language in very innovative ways to help us better understand Japanese language and culture. 　　 

Of course, in addition to on-campus learning, we had done pretty much outdoor practice and off-campus training. We have taken a compulsory module name Traditional Industry which brought us off the campus and contacts with people from all around the world.  

In one of the lectures, we went to a very ancient place of paper-making where our professor and local residents taught us how to make a piece of make. We completed each step on our own and finally made the paper with our styles. Meanwhile, the professor and workers would tell us history, feature, and future development of paper making in Japan. 　　 

We were learning in a porcelain-making place 

We observed origin place of bamboo-made stuff in Japan   

Exploration on Japanese Sadou and buckwheat noodles  

The University of Fukui regulates that professor of institutes, at regular intervals, shall lead their members to serve the university, i.e., mowing grass or clearing up rubbish. It is aimed at cultivation of the spirit and attitude of serving the university. 　　 

Working on the lawn to serve the university  

Time waits for no one. When the year has become the past, I would like to extend my gratitude to BISTU for having offering such precious opportunity, to my teachers for their help, to my families for their endless support.