Today we toured the museum and factory of Skoda, a Czech automobile company. We learned that they transitioned from bikes to cars in the 1800s and have been competitive with other European brands. In my opinion, the most interesting part was touring the factory. They had belts that carried car bodies while hundreds of people worked on installing various parts. It was impressive to learn that each step is done in less than one minute. We later visited the auto body shop where robots were used to shape and weld the various parts of the metal car body. I thought it was important that Skoda emphasized the importance of keeping their human workers and treating them well, but still using hundreds of robots to do the heavy lifting and dangerous tasks.
So far, Prague has been amazing. We have explored the popular parts of the city, as well as the lesser known areas. Each spot has its unique charm and impacted my experience greatly. My favorite thing so far has been the cooking class and being able to immerse myself in Czech culture, while also learning about their traditions.
Swanson School of Engineering 