Ascend summer job
Every summer, Ascend members take their skills beyond the workshop and into industry internships. This year, three of our former team members share how their Ascend experience shaped their summer jobs and helped them tackle real-world challenges.
Ole Kristian Brettingen
Summer Intern Procurement and Supplier Relations - Equinor
My name is Ole Kristian, and I served as Head of Business for Ascend Team 25.
I have lived in Trondheim since 2020, during which I completed a BSc in Industrial Logistics. I am now entering my second year of an MSc in Global Manufacturing Management, specializing in Procurement Management.
This summer, I worked as a summer intern at Equinor in the PSR (Procurement and Supplier Relations) department. Over the past seven weeks, a colleague and I developed two automation projects using low code/no code solutions, aimed at increasing workflow automation. These solutions will free up time for relevant employees to focus on more value-adding activities.
In addition to these projects, I participated in an interdisciplinary initiative with other interns at the Bergen office. We also visited the Kollsnes facility in Øygarden, gaining valuable insight into Equinor’s operations.
While my responsibilities as Head of Business were not directly related to my internship tasks, the presentation skills I developed in that role proved highly valuable, particularly during the final presentation of our summer project.
Denisa Petraru
Junior Hardware Engineer - EBS Electrical Group
EBS Electric Group is a Romanian company providing complete electronics and electrical engineering solutions, including product design, PCB assembly, testing, and embedded software development. They manage the full production process, serving industrial and residential markets with a focus on innovation and quality. One of their brands, Konnect Plus, specializes in high-performance, reliable battery packs that support energy efficiency and sustainable storage of renewable energy.
As a Master’s student in Embedded Computing Systems, this company provides me with the opportunity to engage in the complete design and development of fully functional systems while closely overseeing the entire process. In my role as a hardware engineer, I focus on printed circuit boards, which serve as the foundation of every electronic product. My responsibilities include selecting appropriate components and integrating them into a complete circuit, with a particular dedication to the board layout.
Most of my projects are within the company’s smart battery systems division, where I contribute to the design of advanced battery connection solutions. I have gained valuable experience with battery management systems through my work on the hardware team at Ascend. Participating in the IARC 10 drone design project laid a strong foundation for my current role by exposing me to high-current challenges, allowing me to learn and improve through practical problem-solving after each "short circuit" along the way.
I am more than grateful of being part of these two incredible projects, and thankful for their help in the beginning of my career path.
Andreas Jonsebråten
Summer Intern 'Local Hawk' - Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace
My name is Andreas, and I'm entering my fifth and final year studying Cybernetics and Robotics. I’ve been part of Ascend for two years - first as a member of the Control team, and now as a member of the Perception team.
This summer, I interned at Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace (KDA), a provider of advanced technology solutions for defense and security applications. I participated in their student project, LocalHawk, which focuses on drone technology. This year’s challenge was to develop a drone swarm, but it was up to our team of seven students to define and realize the concept.
We worked with two types of development drones and implemented computer vision, two-way communication, and autonomous mission handling. Our concept involved each drone flying a predefined mission autonomously. If a drone detected a specific object on the ground, it would send its GPS coordinates to the rest of the swarm. The other drones would then abort their missions, fly to the detected object, and finally return to their respective launch sites. This behavior was successfully demonstrated - even under windy conditions.
My experience from Ascend was very helpful during the project, as I had encountered many of the same challenges before. This included working with flight controllers and onboard computers, troubleshooting motors and electronics, and performing mission planning and object detection.
In the end, I believe this internship became even more rewarding thanks to the hands-on experience I had already gained through Ascend.
Some pictures:
