Lego Robotics

Another project we had to do for out engineering class was create a autonomous robot that could navigate a course that was laid out.  We had to practice programming in order to accomplish this goal and our group was able to accomplish this goal and complete the course in a short amount of time. Here is a picture of our final project of the robot.

Prop Cars

Another project we did for our engineering class was we had to create prop race cars.  We were simply given the task to create a car using only the motor given and then race them on the given day and try and get the best time.  When race day came me and my group was able to win second place out of the six teams.  Here are some pictures of the project.

For our car we saw it was a common theme that when you would try and turn and the car would flip over so we adopted a idea from are fellow classmate Sean Mulvey and glued coffee stirrers on the side so that when the car would try and flip over it would hit the sticks and would not be able to flip over.

Sean Mulvey at one point tried to attempt something and that was to try and make a car fly, even though the very popular show Mythbusters tried to do the same and proved the it was impossible (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHUsGFGhfmk).  Sean still decided to try and was unsuccessful as you can see in the videos below.

Marble Sorter

Achievements Earned: 13
In our Engineering class we had to create a marble sorter. Our goal for this project was to sort 15 marbles (3 different types, wood, metal and color) as fast as possible.  Even though our class was pressed for time my group was still able to accomplish the goal and we were able to sort the 15 marbles.  

List of Achievements and pictures
1. Organize it!: Title you post and organize it by section in a logical manner

2. Brainstorm!: Provide at least four of your team’s brainstorming ideas for the design solution. This should include brainstorming sketches. Each sketch should include labels and descriptions for communication.

3. Enter the Matrix: Evaluate your solution ideas (4 minimum) using a decision matrix. Determine the best solution to the problem. Explain your rating system and share insight on why you rated your solutions as you did.

The way our rating system worked was that we ranked them 1-5 but you could only use a number once so their could be not ties and we also use yes/no answers.  From this ranking system we should have gone with the first solution but we decided as a group to go with the second because we wanted to try and use the programming to actually sort the marbles.

4. Design Solution: Create a detailed pictorial sketch or use 3D modeling software to document the best solution, based upon your team’s decision matrix. Your sketch or 3D model should include a rationale for the design selected as the final design solution. Each sketch should include labels and descriptions for communication.

5. "I've Made a Few Special Modifications...": Document modifications made to your design during implementation. Explain the reason for the modifications and describe how the new design solution will solve the problem. "Story" is the split between expectation and outcome. Tell us a story regarding what your plan was and how it actually came out! Use photos and sketches to call out three changes. (Nerd points if you know where the quote for this Achievement title comes from)
This quote came from Han Solo

Our first design was to use a foam board to create a channel for the marbles to go doen but the problem we were facing was the we could not find a way to isolate the marbles to have them be read by the color reader.

So the way we fixed that problem was by using a pbc pie where we could feed the marbles through in single order and then we have two motors that create a isolated chamber for the marble to read and sorted.

6. Final Implementation: This section will showcase your final hardware and software solution. Include photos of your hardware and program. Call out at least three key features of your design that were significant to its performance. Report how your solution performed in the challenge.

One key features of the program is that all of them loop so that we could avoid the problem of trying to reset the placement of the buckets.
Another is that we were able to make it so that the second gate does not open until the bucket is in place so we had to find out the time it took to get into place and then incorporate that into the program
A third is that we were able to open and close the first channel before any other marbles were able to get through which required a lot of speed and precision but we were able to accomplish it

7. Final Implementation - Video!: Embed a video that showcases your solution in action!

8. Reflection: Adress the four feedback types that we use in our courses (+, -, ?, !). Solicit feedback from someone outside of your team as well.
Some questions to consider in this section: How well did you accomplish your objectives? What would your team do differently with your design solution and why? Do the results fulfill the problem statement? Provide a brief explanation of what you learned, the challenges of working in a design team, and the purpose of the design problem.

+ This project was good because it required us to use all of the skills that we have learned throughout the years we had to implement skills from programming and use our creativity to create the best possible set up to have the program and the design work together.

delta- what i would change about this project was the for our class we had a very limited time contraint and I felt that we had to rush through the project and was not able to create the best possible solution.

?-My question about this project is why we didn't do this earlier in the year.

!-my idea for this project is that we do it earlier in the year so that we do not run into the time problem we had this year.

9. Reference: Post a hotlink to material you referenced on the internet. Explain why this information is significant to your project.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4RFQ_weI_I 

the reason that this information was helpful was because we were struggling in the beginning to figure out how to build it and so we just decided to model our design after the on in the video.

10. Process 15 marbles in less than 1:30 minutes.

11. Process 15 marbles in less than 1:45 minutes.

12. Process 15 marbles in less than 2:00 minutes.

13. Use at least one motor

Manila folder bridge design

For last week me and my group were given the task of creating a bridge out of Manila folders and three feet of tape and our first design was two triangle being connect by rolled up pieces of Manila folder but then I came up with the idea to roll whole Manila folders and try and make a bridge out of it and after much experimentation we came up with our final design which broke the class record of 37 magazines and won the competition with holding a total of 49 magazines

This weeks work

For this week we had to work on the truss worksheet and because it was a short week that was all we were able to accomplish

Cardboard Canoe Challenge

My team and I earned 13 Achievements.  Our design was based off of the boats in WWII and the drop boats designs.  We were mainly going for the idea of the angle in the front we did not really want it for the angle but the angle that it gave you at the bottom of the boat and that was all we cared about.  Our boat was able to float but it was not stable enough so it just rocked everywhere and just capsised and then it was over.  But our boat was also very hard to sink we kept ttrying to get it to sink and it would just not go to that was an achievement all on its own.
1. Define the problem and Brainstorms solutions- The problem that we faced was to build a canoe that would be sturdy and be able to be fast enough to beat all of the other teams.
1, indian canoe
2. saving private Ryan
3. v-bottom
4. outriggers
5. sailboat
6. hampster ball
7. submarin
8.box
9. paddleboard
10.kayak
2. Criteria & Constraints-the one constraint that we were going for was to be the longeset in the water becuase we were making a very sturdy design that would not sink and had high wall so that water would not get in.
3. Sketch Ideas here are the pictures of the sketches that we did.
4.  Prototype Ideas- we alswo did prototypes of ideas that we had.
5. Select an Approach- we we did the idea from the Saving Private Ryan and went with the that design to go with for are project
6. Surface area!-our surface area was 63.7 ft^2
7. Build It!-This is a picture of our final design
8. The Early Bird Gets the Achievement- we were the first ones to finish our desing and we even had time to add some design to our boat.
9. The Longest- even though are team sank we could not get are boat under and destroy it so we were still afloat when time was called.
10. Videographer- we did take a video but we still have to get it up but we have a picture
11. Feedback-1. more ductape 2. outriggers 3. longer hull 4. longer rope 5. could make it a v-bottom 6. put the weight in the middle 7. make it a higer wall 8. also have a paddle. 9. make it a lot bigger 10. have a lighter person in the group
12. How Low Did You Go?-we lasted about 5 minutes in the water until the boat capsised
13. Redesign- if we were going to redesign the boat we would probalb y go with a wider design and have a paddle in order to be able to move and have a more stable deisgn by adding outriggers.
14.(Make Your Own Achievement)- The achivement that i had in mind was being able to have your boat surviv when someone jumps into it from the deck of the pool.

Mouse trap race cars

Mouse Trap race cars

This year me an my group (Carlos and Brooke) participated in the 3rd annual mouse trap race car competition.  In our process we started out with a original design but had to take it apart and rethink our design completely.  The main problem that we faced was the fact that the string that was attached to the mouse trap was not getting enough grip to the axle to propel the car forward.  So the way that we fixed this was by adding a spiral piece to the axles giving the string something to spin on, we also gave our car more length and a lighter frame making it easier to move.  We mostly got this idea from the Indie race cars and ow they had that open body with a very long and narrow frame and then we tried to incorporate elements of that into our design.  Then on the day of the race we were able to pull through and win the distance challenge but came in second on the acceleration challenge and we were beat by the team mach 3. In this activity are team won a total of 14 achievements.

1. Brainiac: here is the paper which we brainstormed our ideas onto.

2. visualize it: we then created 2 sketches that we decided upon to make our first car and test it.

3. Build It: this is a picture of are very first design

4. The Price of Glory: our final car costed a total of 50$

5. Competitor: Our group competed in the 2nd annual mouse trap race car

6. Long distance winner: after many tweaks here and their are car pulled through and was able to win the competition

7. Going the Mile: since we won the competition w also earned this achievement

8. Heavy Foot: our group was also able to come in second place in the acceleration event 

9. Feedback: +:we decided that our first design was very lightweight and extremely simple. change; we decided that the design had to many flaws and it had not enough space for the mouse trap and that it could not spin the axle. ?: we were wondering what our next designe would be and how it would fix our current problems.  !:we then came up with the idea of the Indie race car and it work very well.

10.Re-work: we changed our design from the old one to one that was longer and was able to spin the axle. Here is a picture.

11. Game Changer- A new rule that i was thinking of was not being able to tape anything to the mouse trap.  For example we taped a metal rod to ours so that it would give it a easier pull and make it go farther I feel that if this element was taken our it would make it a lot more difficult and make the person think harder about how they could create a car.

12. Name it: the name that i was thinking of changing was "Re-Work" and then changing it to "Mulligan"

13. Leave it cleaner than you found it: our group was always very clean about our materials every day when we were finished working we would all gather up all of the loose materials and put them back in the rack and then place a car in the locker and make sure that everything where we were working was cleaned up before we left.

14. Design/Build: the design build process if showed below, and we experienced it in many ways especially step 10 because we were constantly running into more and more problems and it seemed every time we fixed one a new one would appear to that was the one step that we spent that most time on until we were able to finalize the project.