Making robotics understandable
Yusra Farah works in product communications for collaborative robots at ABB Robotics. Her job connects technical work with stories that customers, journalists and colleagues can understand. Study in communications, business and consumer behaviour prepared her to think about how people encounter and use a product.
Learning by opening the box
Soon after joining, Farah was asked to unpack, assemble and begin programming a small robot. Manuals and colleagues helped her get started. She describes that hands-on experience as essential to communicating accurately about the product. In another exchange, asking what a manipulator was revealed a simpler term: a robot arm.
Confidence and credibility
Farah says she did not doubt that she belonged in the field. Persuading others that a communications professional could understand the technology was a different challenge. Technical questions and product experience helped, although she says the difficulty can return with new colleagues. She distinguishes understanding the product from knowing every engineering detail.
Questions without an apology
Her advice to younger listeners is to try unfamiliar things and ask for explanations without first dismissing the question as stupid. Looking back, she also remembers worrying about her future and changing an early ambition to become a doctor. Her route did not require a settled plan at fifteen.