October 31 Last week (October 31) the team got really close to completing another mission. Eli and I are working on completing the moving the levies mission while, Peter S. is working on the ice core driller to the research center. Also, Jevon and Teddy our doing the moving the polar bear and snowmobile to the research center. Peter W., Jevon, and Teddy are figuring out a way to a line the front wheel to be straight so the robot won’t go off course. We are practicing the technical judging, in which we will be judged on how our robot is robust, accurate, etc. We have been practicing telling the judges how these attributes can apply to our robot. We are also getting our costumes ready for the presentation we made. The presentation is going really well.
On (Monday the 3rd of November) we met up with Dave Dishman who is a Conservation Engineer with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) and Melissa Webb who is a Snow Hydrologist with the NRCS, and by teleconference, John Busch a Irrigation Engineer with the NRCS. They all gave us a detailed summary of their jobs and the importance of the work done by the NRCS. We got a lot of vital information regarding snow pack and irrigation that we needed for our project. We asked questions about areas in Oregon that struggle with irrigation problems, possible solutions to solve the irrigation issues, other areas around the world with similar irrigation problems, and a lot more.
Our goals for this week are to get more missions completed, learn the different aspects of the robot so we can do well at the technical judging, and get the costumes ready for the presentation.
October 31 Last week (October 24, 2008 on Friday) our team decided not to do the ad after all. Mainly because it was mandatory to film that day and we didn’t have the preparations ready. We rehearsed our updated presentation, although, we still need to add the props and costumes. The script presents our point in a fun, but informative way. We still haven’t finished our second mission yet, but it seems very close that we have another one soon. Also, last Saturday October 23, both teams went to OMSI and demonstrated how the NXT works. Our team showed OMSI visitors how the robot runs, how and why it uses sensors to complete tasks, and how to program, while the Fire Breathing Rubber Duckies demonstrated the missions they did for the competition last year. Altogether it was an amazing experience. Our goal for next week is to get another mission completed and rehearse our presentation.
October 24 Last week on the Friday the 20th of October, our team rehearsed our presentation for the competition. The script written by Jevon and Teddy describes of how irrigation affects farmers around the state of Oregon. We plan to have a projector in the background that will project the different scenes that take place in the presentation. Plus we are preparing the props for the characters and places. So far we have completed one mission. We are almost finished with one a them, so we should be able to complete a couple or at lest another Friday. By next week, we should have our ad ready to be filmed. Also, this upcoming Saturday we will go to OMSI and demonstrate how to run and program an NXT. We are thinking about demonstrating our presentation to a few elementary schools. It should be a very exciting week for our team we plan to get a lot done like practice our presentation for the competition, complete filming our ad, succeed in completing another mission, and show gracious professionalism at the OMSI event.
October 17 Last week on Friday, our team got a lot done. We finished our, first mission! There are several others almost done as well. We unfortunately didn’t get around to filming our ad, but if all goes well, we should be able to this week. Last Sunday both teams participated in a live teleconference with girls about thirteen years old from Singapore. We all introduced ourselves and asked them a few questions that we prepared beforehand. We learned a lot about their society, culture and what there’re doing about the energy crisis. They said that Singapore hasn’t put up very many solar panels and that hydro-electric dams wouldn’t work because their rivers don’t have enough water flow to generate electricity. Participating in the teleconference was amazing. It seemed like they were right in the room with us. Our goals for next week is to have our next mission completed and our ad filmed.
October 3 Last week our team worked on finding ways to use attachments in missions. We came up with various ideas that, with a little more testing and determination, could enable our team to do very well at the competition. We also are very close on duplicating our robot. We need a duplicate so that we can have two groups working simultaneously on missions, and so we can program, test programs, and add new attachments to the robot twice as fast. This week we will be filming our ad to put on television! The ad will attempt to encourage viewers to join a Lego Robotics team (at least we hope so). Our team is working well together and we are working hard to do well during the competition.
September 26 Last week we worked on attachments we could use for the competition. We broke up into teams or people to work out the attachments for each mission. We are almost done with the secondary robot, and hopefully we can start programming this Friday. We also reviewed the team project and voted to study the impact of the snow melts in Portland Oregon. It should be an interesting topic to study. I think the team has done an exhalent job so far.
September 19 Last week (October 3) our team found interesting information about the impact of climate change irrigation in Portland Oregon. We researched the impact of changes in the snowmelt due to the warming of the climate. We decided that we would study irrigation impact as our project. Now we are looking at the possible solutions to minimize the irrigation effect in Portland Oregon.
Unfortunately, we didn’t get around to filming our ad last week. Nevertheless, we looked at the ways we could film it, like new camera angles, and other detailed plans. We also finished duplicating our robot. We didn’t use the duplicate that much last week because we finished it towards the end of the class. Our team is very close to finishing our first mission (one example: delivering the polar bear and the snowmobile and other items to the research center) but there are several very close to completion and they should be up and running very soon. Our team’s main goals for next week are filming our ad, completing our first mission for this year, and evaluating the solutions for the irrigation effect in Portland. I think the team is coming along extremely well and we all enjoy working together and I am honored to participate.
September 19 Saturday (9-13-08) our team participated in showing the kids from the Big Brothers Big Sisters event how to use an NXT. The kids seemed extremely interested in the robots and programming them. They were very friendly and enjoyable to work with and everyone from team Um was delighted to show them useful techniques and guidelines.
September 12 As planned, last week (September 5th) our decided the robot we will use in the competition! Peter W. designed an excellent robot. The robot has a great drive train and maneuverability. It has a lot of room for attachments and I think it was a great robot choice. Teddy will be working on trying to slant the NXT on the robot so it will be easy to operate during the competition. Also, he will be making a latching mechanism for the arm. We have already started to duplicate the robot so that we will have a spare to practice with. This will prevent everyone from relying on a single robot. Last week we also took a field trip to the FOX-12 news station. It was a blast! We got important information to help us with our project. Everything seems to be going extremely well! I’m really looking forward to the competition.
August 29 Lego Robotics is very challenging but, at the same time, a lot of fun. Here are a couple of the things we do with robotics. Let’s start out with building. Just think of it, you have all the Lego pieces you need laid out neatly in front of you, but instead of building houses and models you’re going to build a robot. Building a robot is fun and exiting. You not only build robots but also attachments. Attachments are necessary in most cases to complete missions, but some missions may not require them at all. Attachments can be sensors which allow you to analyze certain areas making the programs more efficient or they can be long arms, paddles, and containers to enhance the robot. Next on the list is programming. Programming is very challenging in that it requires a computer which communicates with the robot telling it what to do. With programming you have to try and try until you get a program how you want it. Like I mentioned before, sensors are also programmed, and sensors can follow a line (light sensor), bump an object and go backwards (touch sensor), turn backwards before even touching and object (ultrasonic sensor), and go forward if you say a phrase like “ go forward” (sound sensor). There is always something new to learn with programming. When you have a robot and a computer the possibilities are endless. These are a few of many reasons why I truly enjoy Lego Robotics.
August 22 I would like to introduce my fellow team Um members. We have a great team with many complementary skills making the whole greater than the sum of the parts (∫ > ∑).
Peter W.: Peter is very skilled in working with computers. From programming to creating designs for our team website, Peter always has some technological input.
Peter S.: Peter has a lot of programming knowledge and experience. When anyone needs help he is always glad to assist.
David: David is a really good robot designer. He can make great attachments as well. He also has a good sense of humor and lifts the team’s spirits.
Jevon: Jevon is always there to carry the baton. When we think the impossible has just struck us, Jevon will try his hardest to try and find a solution.
Teddy: Teddy will put 110% of his energy into something into something and never give up till it’s absolutely hopeless. Any idea is a good or at least an okay idea to Teddy.
Eli: Eli can always put a smile on someone’s face. He encourages the team to try their hardest. Eli really holds the team together.
Benjamin: That is me. I’m exceedingly brilliant and add the good looks to the team =).
August 15 Team Um selected three robots for the final robot design vote. The three robots were designed by Peter W., Peter S., and David and we decided to vote to select one of the three. Selection of the robot will be based upon performance on a course which will show strengths and weaknesses of the different robots. The robot that best meets the expectations of the team will be selected by a team vote. This evaluation will be completed between August 15, 2008 and September 5, 2008.
