GRIP, Virtual Internships Abroad My First Two Weeks

Drishti Works, India

I initially decided to intern at Drishti Works this summer because I was interested in learning about the intersection of technology and agriculture as well as its application toward boosting agricultural productivity in developing countries in Asia. When the internship first started, my expectation going into it was that I would be working on business strategy and development with a rather concentrated focus on Drishti’s agricultural initiatives.

A few days into the internship, however, I quickly realized that agriculture in reality represented only a fraction of the application usages of their robotics platform. Drishti essentially had created a core robotics technology that would allow them to reuse and tailor the technology for any industry application. This meant that the company was not only dealing in agriculture but also in construction, lifeguarding, and surveillance industries—customizing their autonomous rovers for any application that their clients may need.

Accordingly, the projects that I focused on these past two weeks were geared towards the development of Drishti’s new partnerships for robotic applications in construction and lifeguarding, respectively. One of these partnerships represents a foreign contract, which is important for the company as they are currently looking into opportunities to set up sales, marketing, and other development resources internationally. As a Business Strategy and Development intern, I coordinated with my supervisors on the presentation of Drishti and its core strengths to the client. I also worked directly on revising various documents that would be used during the meetings with the client.

One thing I’ve really liked about Drishti so far is the ease of communication I’ve experienced with the team. Working in virtual settings before, I feel like one of the challenges I always faced was the lack of accessible and quick communication that is more readily available in an in-person working environment. However, with Drishti, I’ve found that it’s very easy to meet up virtually. Instead of sending meeting invitations, I usually just send a quick message and show up in the virtual meeting room—quite akin to spontaneously popping in someone’s room for a chat. Furthermore, with my move from the US to South Korea, it’s been easier for me to communicate with the rest of the team and engage in synchronous work than before with a more manageable time zone.

Hence, despite the virtual working environment, I have so far enjoyed my past two weeks of interning at Drishti. It’s been a great learning experience and I’m looking forward to the remainder of the internship!