S0nars and feelings

So we finished up a lab today; these are super easy for me. My labs in high school were a lot more complicated with more points so this is fine, and I usually get to leave early :) Mine was the first to work, and I was working by myself, and then the teacher asked that this other girl work with me because she couldn't find a partner. (I don't care if I have one or not; I'll figure things out).

So we basically set up a motor, an enc0der and a sensor and took a series of calculations and distances mapped onto a diagram by programming all the different elements. It was fun.

Also, I've been feeling like I'm a lot more challenged in the non-entertainment/ non art sectors. Things are a lot more organized, challenging and people are truly professionals. And the respect is there. It's a welcome change. Things are just so much more efficient. I'm learning a lot and the people with more experience are actually COOL. Their process is a lot more thought out. The people are smart. They take their job a lot more seriously and from what I"ve encountered you're less likely to find incompetence, which is SUCH a relief to me. I can't deal with incompetence, the older I get. I get so frustrated by it. I want to scream at people who are incompetent and who bluff their way through stuff. It's a lot more prevalent in Arts and Entertainment, sadly. So we shall see.
In any case, I think during summer (since we have a shortened summer term) I'd like to take a board class; as in s0ldering and repairing circuit b0ards. I'm familiar with some of this through troubleshooting at work, but I'd like to learn more about how to repair damaged boards and build my own and PCBs (that's printed c!rcuit b0ards for those going "huh"?) I just want to continue with things you can't half arse and pretend your way through. It does something to your way of thinking.

For example, engineers normally think in systems. I remember one guy I read literally said "there are no s0lutions, only trade-0ffs". I agree, and that's so much like how an engineer would think. Nothing is ever "done", but it's the best it can be and iterative and a work in progress, as materials get better, systems are more streamlined, technology improves, etc. And you're expected to be interdisciplinary.

I think that more and more I"m realizing that I really just want to be able to make my own stuff. I was looking at some of the an!matr0nic entertainment stuff and it sort of depressed me. It seemed so gimmicky to me. I don't know if I'd be happy doing that stuff; I'm sure there's a curve but I learn quickly..and then what? Working on m!ssiles or things that can really impact the world just seem so much cooler to me right now. Or r0bots that help people, perform actual tasks, etc. Maybe I'll give in and take that "M@th for Art!sts class". Just kidding; I told a coworker and he literally burst out laughing at the stupidity of such a class. Oh, and in the rest of the world it would be "Maths", as in "short for Mathematics"...thank you very much. So we shall see.

some labs

We had to do a lab today involving mapping a P0t vs an Enc0der. Here is the photo of my setup and the chart. I actually miss doing these kinds of labs from high school. They were a lot of fun. But for this one, we had to do a hardware set up, then some programming, and read some outputs from our inputs that were responsive to the hardware (and therefore the software). We then took the information/output and plotted it onto a graph. I can see where programmes like R would be quite useful for this kind of stuff, for a large sample of data (particularly if you set it up so it read, say, every second or something like that. This sample size is only five on the P0t and five on the Enc0der.

WE named him!

His name is "Bad@$$ Mofo...2". The polite version is "Charlie".
WE WON!!! Our design gave us the furthest distance of 74" using ONLY one motor and only three wheels.
Then we decided to race in the parking lot. I had SOOO MUCH FUN!!!! This is the BOMB!!!!!
Robots RULE!!!!!!

cars

So I probably won't be posting as much because these things take time to build, programme and trouble shoot. But I'm really really enjoying this class. I'm also taking some additional classes on my own time in Electr0nics (which I already have a knack for), keeping up with my math and programming. I also want to get back into Machining, but that is later down the road this year.

Today, we did a demo on Friction and then were told to build a vehicle of our choice using the materials we had. We had to make choices based on Torque, gear size, weight, balance and materials. Ours ended up being (so I"m told) the most elegant and simplest in terms of design, but they also have to race next week. We were allowed to use as many motors as we needed, given that as you add motors, of course, you're dealing with more weight, and issues relating to Force and torque, which could slow you down in terms of racing. 

For the programming, essentially we all had to make our robot turn on for three seconds and go in a straight direction autonomously. We will line them up later this week and run the code, and see which one (after three seconds) goes the furthest. That is how we can determine which one is most efficient based on design. 

Here are some pics of the finished robot car, as well as the initial sketch, which was designed by a guy named Atticus, in our group. I love that the sketch is so simple, yet we all understood what he was doing. It's also interesting how when you start thinking about weight and distance travelled, you start thinking about things like whether you should use the metal screws and washes versus the plastic fasteners, and things like that which affect your design.