OTTO™ Motors, a division of Clearpath™ Inc., designs, manufactures and operates self-driving vehicles to automate material movement inside busy factories and warehouses. Using self-driving technology much like the Google Car, the easy-to-use OTTO vehicles move inventory in a safe and flexible manner throughout the indoor supply chain. Customers include Fortune 100 brands like General Electric, John Deere, and Toyota. For more information, visit www.ottomotors.com.
Get to know the humans of OTTO Motors, what they do and why they chose a career at OTTO Motors!
What drew you to OTTO Motors?
I wanted to go to a place with lots of growth potential. OTTO Motors is a place that instantly caught my attention. There are so many different aspects to the company and it’s really given me a chance to learn and grow.
What differentiates OTTO Motors from other companies?
Our robots! I still love telling people I work at a robotics company, it’s always a great conversation starter. I like to show pictures of the robots or demo videos of the Lifter and people are always amazed by it, just like I am.
What does your team do?
I was told I can’t say that we “Keep the whole ship floating” so I’ll say that we provide support for OTTO, CPR, and Clearpath administration. In Desktop Support, we are the ones grabbing all the tickets that come in. We set up laptops and accounts for new hires, as well as running the IT portion of the onboarding process. We want to ensure our newest team members have everything they need to be successful here.
What does a typical day as a Desktop Support Analyst look like at OTTO Motors?
It depends on what I wake up to, some days can be vastly different if any unforeseen issues arise. I may find myself hopping in my car and going to an unexpected location to work on whatever issues may have arisen. Some days there are no (metaphorical) fires to put out, and other days there are four fires (blocker tickets) that are submitted before 8AM. Otherwise, I am keeping an eye on Jira for incoming tickets, Slack for any issues, or tweaking our Robot Database.
What’s the most satisfying part of your role?
I love being able to help other team members with their issues, something that seems “easy” to me may be a game-changer for their day-to-day work. I also really enjoy finding the solution to a problem and it’s fun to close a ticket.
What do you look forward to when coming to work in the morning?
Checking in with my team in our daily meeting to make sure we’re all on the same page and none of us are stuck on any tickets.
How did you get into IT?
Being a nerd! I have always been the go-to for tech questions in my family and I decided to follow it as a career path. My wife refers to my office as the “junk room” as I’ve always got ongoing side-projects and… I can’t throw that out, I may need it one day, I’ll definitely need it one day…
Did you have any prior experience in Robotics?
Before coming to OTTO Motors, I had approximately 5 years in the IT industry after completing IT Support Services at Conestoga College. I had the opportunity to work in the Electronics department at Conestoga where I got to see a lot of people building circuit boards and integrating them into different things. I would often witness a lot of basic controls being set up for toy vehicles or small robots.
What are the must-have skills or knowledge for this role?
You have to be somewhat of a jack of all trades when it comes to being the first line of support for a company the size of OTTO. There are a lot of moving parts that take time to understand, I’m always learning and always growing.
What advice do you have for someone interested in applying to OTTO Motors?
Do it! We’re always expanding and often have open roles in different departments with different levels of experience required.
Who is your favorite robot? And why?
The Lifter! I used to work at a grocery store receiving trailers overnight. It took 4 months of receiving trailers by hand (manual pallet lifters) before I could attend a training session to be certified to use an electric lifter. If it wasn't for the fact that I was 18 and in better shape than I am over a decade later, I would have quit long before I got my certification. I used to have to track down a manager and make them take a pallet off of a trailer because it was over 4,000 lbs and I couldn't move it manually... I would have loved being able to summon a lift to save at least 20 minutes every trailer.
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