The first two weeks of class very litle happened so i have decided to bunch it together into one entry. The first day Neato introduced himslef to the class. he told us that the point of this class is to help people decide if they want to be engineers. This is my fourth time taking the class so I'm pretty sure I like engineering.We started the spaghetti bridge wednesday challenge which in my opinion is the most difficult of the year. Also the vets started to make a saftey video for the class so that the video the class sees has the 589 flare. so far we have a camera shot list and a general idea of what to say. Also we found out what the JPL invention chaallenge is and we started woring on it. We have 6 different ideas right now: a car, an over head track carrier, a gimble system, an arm that just flings the cup over into the recepticle, the last is a trash truck concept that lifts up the cup and dumps it into a tube that takes the waster and fish to the recepticle.
Today we worked on filming our saftey video for the class. we finished most of our shots. we also discussed the JPL invention challenge and our different ideas for completing that.
Today we had a big discussion on our 6 ideas for JPL chall. i recorded it but cannt post it right now ill figure out how to do it later. I figure that there is no better way to explain what we did than to llitteraly hear what we did. Also I think this will be a goodd way of keeping us accountable and on task.
Today we worked on our spaghetti bridges.The group I'm with is really good they are having fun but are still achieving goas they set forth and geting stuff done.
Today the JPL group sat down and read the rules a few times over. This gives us a better understanding of the rules so that tomorrow we are prepaired to answer questions from the crowd and Mr. Wilton. Also Sam put together a powerpoint to help illustrate our ideas and the goal of the challenge
Today we presented the rules and our ideas to Mr. Wilton Dr.Neat and the class. Mr. Wilton wanted us to remember that we dont have that much time so we need to stay on task and focused. Our goal for next week is to possible narrow ideas down and wed out flaws.
Today the JPL group did a quick intrest poll on device concepts. If people arent interested in making certain ideas then there is no point continuing to push rsouces into them. we were able to narrow down our concet list to four main concepts: The Kevin arm, The overhead track, The gimble, And he trash truck. We spent the last bit of time working on websites.
Today we worked on bridges again. my group began fabrication of final bidge. It will be a triangular prism with triangular support braces. Not really much to talk about.
Today my group glued and pinned up our bridge so it is taking its final shape. We will be more than reeady to compete tomorrow.
Today was only a half day so we had only 38 minutes. We did our bridge competition. I poured water, Kevin weighed the bridges an payloads, and my dad recorded data on is phone. the results came out this afternoon and my group got 6th witha total score of 7.8 I think.
Today was a chill day. There was nothing to do because the class was just filling out wedchall forms but I had already completed mine. Funny story from this weekend is that i was in the mountains and uploaded my website from a mcdonalds to try and get it in before gradeing. The irony is that my dad was the one who was supposed to grade and he didnt knw so he didnt start yet. Here is a pick from me uploading my website.
Today when we split off we realzed that we only have two days to accomplish our goals we had set forward so we just sat down and got to work. First order of business was a schedule for our presummed progress. We got that hammered out and then started working on a list of requierments for the devices.
Today after my dad expained how hw would grade websites the vets finished the LOR and broke into groups to work on each idea. I sort of walked around and made sure everything was productive and smooth while helping sam beacause hee is alone.
Today we presented our progress to Mr. Wilton and the class. Mr. Wilton was not pleeased with our progress even though we ony had 2 days to work but we were pretty happy with our progress.
Today I worked with alvin talking about different funnel ideas we also talked with Kevin and sam about their ideas.
Today I went with Lucas, Ian, Kevin, Sam, Brendan, and Neato to glendale tech week. It was basically a colection of paneels designed around the glendale tech cluster and growing small buisness. It was also an opportunity for us to showcase the work we do in engineering class. I had a lo of fun and enjoyed watching people ride my skateboard.
Today I was absent because i didnt sleep last night due to an econ project.
Today we were tasked to build prototypes in about 30 min to demonsstrate or ideas to the class. it went well except no one got the fish in and only abot half th water in.
Today we decided to make a new ffunnel that would be steap enough to get the fish to slide while also being less absorbant than the prvious. I sat with sam andd worked with him on the idea development and CAD. The CAD for his device is coming along great in sketchup hweve i am worried it is a bit complicated.
Today was another day spent working through and refining CAD we talked about several ways of making the otion of the car pour the water in by way of a rope and hing.
Today Sam and I began working on the structure for his track using the post office metal. Ths is a better prototype than what was made previously but nt by anymeans a final product. we are nearly complete with th CAD wich puts us a few weeks ahead of schedule.
Today I made the slider/car for the sam machine and then we spent the rest f time further refining CAD in preperation for tomorrows presenation.
Today we presented to everyone again. Mr. Wilton suggested we make the part that holds the cup move up and down so th first thig that will happen is the cup be pulled up. he lso suggested we some how lower the deve so that the cup is just barly claring the rim of the funnel.
Today Sam and I focused on futher refining CAD and implimnting Mr. Wiltons ideas into it. These ideas include the cup holder being able to move vertically from the same power source as the rest of the device. This way things are much less complicated.
Today Sam and I spent our time thinking about the slider and how it needs to move better and how to make that happen. we also worked on adjusting angles of the frame to make it fit the 3 meter requirement.
Today sam worked on CAD and I spent my time working on the slider to try and make it perform better without wheels. I forsee us useing wheels later on though just because the coefficient of friction overall would be much less meaning it would slide faster and smoother.
Today I continued the work from yesterday trying to refine the sliding mechanism.
Today we presented our progress to the class and Mr. Wilton. The feedback we got was basically wheels are a good idea and we need to look into that and we need to get moving because Mr. Wilton is worried about time.
Today Sam and I discussed the important topic of what will power our device. We basically have a few concerns about each Motor: requires power/ programing, would it have enough torque? Bungee: sorta ghetto, can be unpredictable and wear down.
Today we spent alot of time watching a boston dynamics video which is cool but most of the vets had seen it already and just wanted to work. When we finally did start working I cut out a ring of hardboard to se as our lifting mechanism. we hot glued some dowel to it and tied it onto our device. it is slowly but surely coming together.
Today was the homecoming assembly that robotics was apart of. It was a lot of fun and really cool that we were able to be a part of it. The only thing i didnt like was that my ears hurt afterward just because of how load it was and how long we were exposed to it. In class I helped sam to get the proper diminsions for our custom wheels.
Today sam brought in the custom wheel that he designed and printed yesterday. It looks great and we plan to go forward with the wheels.
Today we did another class presentation. We showed off our wheel and the progress of the frame.
Today we started moving things around on the cart to prepare it for wheels. we had to move our support bars further out so that the wheels would slide nicly in the groove.
Today I just continued the work of yesterday. The big news is that sam is going after school to get the bearings from Apex.
Today we started mounting wheels to bearings and about half the wheels to the machine. Sam has decided to print new wheels because the last set came out kinda junky.
Today We finished mounting all the wheels and they are the new ones which look way strnger than the last set. now the slider looks really cool and it cant fall off the track.
Today we showed off our working device. Mr. Wilton was very happy but didnt want us to slow down now that we have a somewhat working device. There are still alot of improvements that need to be made. These include a mech to trap the cart at the top so the water continues to pour out, T-Nuts to keep the cup lifter from coming out, weighting the bottom of the cup lifter so it dosnt swing forward when we stop, possibly aint the wheels with resin so they dont disintigrate, and putting spacers between the bearings. Over all Mr. Wilton seemed very pleased with our progress.
Today sam ad I started working on Mr. Wiltons ideas. We started with a bungee break to keep the cart from being so violent.
Today I was absent because I have a cold
Today I got back and now sam and I are working on making a rope that pulls the cup over because we think this will be far less violent.
Today is the last day of school this week. Sam and I continued our work on the rope that pulls the cup over and now it is far less violent and we consitantly score much higher than before.