In graduate school, I worked at Intel on the Assembly Test Technology Development team. I worked on a metrology tool issue that I was lucky enough to own (with help, of course). I worked in a lab doing sensor characterization on a C++ platform, used Octave to develop algorithms, and helped to trasnfer the solutions to the supplier of the machine.
It was an amazing time despite working in Arizona over the summer (seriously hot). I really felt like I had enough ownership to work on the project in my own way, while having lots of support from the surrounding team. Definitely was a model for me for how a good intern project should feel!
This isn't a real picture of the machine of course. But it shows a general idea of how metrology is used and has some similarities (and a lot of differences) to the machine I worked on. Source: https://metrology.news/laser-profile-scanners-cutting-edge-performance-improves-production-quality-and-performance/