ENSPIRE and the Roboboat team provide a wonderful opportunity for me as a Bionics/Biomimetics MSc student with mechatronics engineering background to get more hands-on experience in an applied engineering project, as well as work together with fellow team-members from different disciplines and backgrounds. Here, I am able to use my current studies in bionics as an engineering tool to have fun and (re)build an automated research boat with new technologies and capabilities. And the brilliant thing about this experience is that even with no previous knowledge about and barely any contact with marine vessels, I am still able to take part in the team and get to learn about this field on one hand, and share my knowledge and contribute to the success of this project on the other hand.