Changes
When Ravn started as a PhD student at DTU, it was a far cry from what it is today. The first thing Ravn brings up is the diversity. He thinks it’s great how much DTU and the people in it have changed over the years. Back in ‘84, not a lot of English was spoken in the offices – not to even mention the auditoriums. Ravn says, it gave everything a major lift, when he became head of studies in 2007 and it was decided to teach the Electrical Engineering master’s programme in English.
For the duration of Ravn’s head of studies position 2007-2017, the programme went from having 40 master’s students to 142. Of course the language change gave the intake a boost, but perhaps just some of it can be attributed to Ole’s strengthening of the programme - although he doesn’t really want to take credit.
Ravn explains that DTU has gone from being sort of dusty, to becoming a place where there’s always something happening.
When Ole started at DTU in ‘79, there was free entrance – so to speak. Anyone could come in.
He’s glad to see that DTU has become a place people think highly of.
Building something
You can change all the surrounding structures, but Ravn is actually still seated in almost the exact same office he started out in – and is doing pretty much the same thing, too, he says. Except there weren’t any laptops and smartphones back then. Minor detail.
The first 20 years were spent getting going, and building some education. The unit was called the servo lab (Servolaboratoriet), and was in the middle of a generation change back then in the late 80’s. Ravn says, it was tough. There was so much teaching to be done, whenever someone left and the rest had to pick up the slack.
Fortunately they managed, and in 2001, Ravn became group leader for the Automation and Control group – a position he would hold for the next 20 years.
He took great pleasure in the growth of leading such a group of people and trying to get some activities going. When he passed on the group leader torch, they group was around 50 people strong, and had several major projects. “That made me happy”, Ravn says.
And why?
Because, he says, he met so many great people, had good colleagues and students, who were able to talk things out, and they shared so many great ideas and good vibes.
A cover story
When people ask Ravn “how could you stand staying in the same place for 40 years?” The answer is simple: it hasn’t been the same place. It has changed all the time. Ravn explains that new situations have constantly presented themselves, in which he’s thought “that could be exciting to try as well”. At least, that’s the explanation he’s been able to come up with, for how he managed to stay for so long "that, and because they let me", he adds.
When the servo lab started out, it was mostly revolving around feedback control. Then in the 90’s they began working with robots, and what we would call autonomous systems today – self-driving vehicles and such. Ravn states that it’s been thrilling to be able to follow its evolution through the years.
Of course they did try to make the whole growth of that industry into a cover story. Whenever people would ask Ravn what he did, he would reply “I build robots”, and people would have a very clear image in their minds – whether it was a correct one, was of course and entirely different story, but it was easy to sell.
Competing
The team began partaking in international robotics competitions. They even started DTU’s very own, DTU RoboCup, in '97, and it’s still running.
It was great motivation for the students. Even at a technical university, not all students enjoy sitting around doing calculations, but if they can clearly see how they can use it in a practical setting, then it’s easier to make sense of it. Ravn describes it as an aha-moment, when he realized competitions could act as motivation – and the students stormed forward.
One of his proudest achievements has been the department’s continuous participation in the international robotics competition MBZIRC in Abu Dhabi, where some of the world’s greatest universities compete.
The department’s team won silver in both ‘17 and ‘20, by building and programming robots to navigate tracks and complete complex tasks on time – autonomously of course.
He states, that the essence is, that the most advanced solutions aren’t always the best, because they’re also the most fragile ones. Sometimes robust and simple is better.
Collaboration
Industry collaborations have offered Ravn exciting opportunities to go places, and see things he wouldn’t have had the opportunity to otherwise. He states that this is also part of what makes automation and control so thrilling: you can use it in so many fields. Ravn has been part of projects about everything from harvest machines to submarines and drones.
He once had a manager, who asked if the group couldn’t just do one thing. But as Ravn says, that’s not what the trick is. The trick is, that what they do can be used in all kinds of different ways and places.
He’s proud of the group’s collaboration with the agricultural business AGCO, for whom his team has actually been able to come up with solutions, which they hadn’t thought of themselves.
The team has developed technology that can control the insides of a combine harvester. Inside of it is a fan meant to separate the grain from everything else. If the fan blows too hard, all of the grain will end up on the field – great for the wildlife, but not so great for the farmer. If the fan doesn’t blow hard enough, then you won’t get all of the scraps out, and it will cake up inside the machine, which will then need to be cleaned. It’s a pretty sensitive system, which needs to be calibrated in accordance with how much the machine is processing.
Ravn likes this. It can’t just be theory. He could see this working in real life. He describes his approach: “It can be advanced, but it needs to be usable as well”.
The future
Farming generally interests Ravn. He explains that there’s a major shift happening in the industry. A lot of people are working towards making major changes in the industry, changing farming from monocultures, like 40 acres of rapeseed, to something much more sustainable, where crops interact. Ole is contributing to figuring out ways in which this could work. Of course you wouldn’t be able to just send out a huge combine harvester for this. You would need smaller robots that could drive around on their own and find out what has been sown in this particular area, and how it should be treated.
Of course we won’t see any of this out in the Danish fields for the foreseeable future, but it’s exciting, because there are so many perspectives in it, in regards to sustainability of course, but also biodiversity, efficiency and saving both time and human resources.
Ravn also thinks this is some of what has changed over the years. Back when he started out, the gizmos were the exciting bit; building something that could move or do something – and it’s still great. But now, it’s even cooler to create something that has a real impact on society.
