I did think that I could build a bot that expresses emotions because I had prior experience. However, what shocked me was the extent of emotions that the Emoto Bot could convey. I did not expect that it could dance smooth criminal or fall, so that was a pleasant surprise. Throughout this experience, my project partner and I both displayed active listening and emotional intelligence when we are contributing and working on the performance of the bot. There were still elements that we wanted to control but had a hard time doing so, like trying to code the bot such that it exits the loop after executing everything once so it is not on repeat, but both of us were really flexible in knowing that we should not focus on that part if it was not working since the emotional expressions were more important.
I would say be surprise at what the emoto bots can do and what you can learn from this experience. Another important distinction I noticed about myself working with someone else is that I feel like I significantly improved my active listening skills throughout this semester and in comparison to my sophomore self. I feel pretty proud of myself for that, especially because I never even envisioned that I could be in this state today. I would like to remind my present self of the progress I have made, because it is so easy to disregard them.
Self-efficacy is the most important lesson for me right now, because the only person that can definitively say no to me is me, and so that I should not close so many doors for myself and instead just throw myself out there to experience the different opportunities life will grant me. Rejection is just redirection, not a reason to hide! Every obstacle is an opportunity for me to grow and though it is difficult, it can be overcame.