mini culmination preperation labs

Today in class I found out what my group was and what lab I was going to work on. I am in Group 1 in Core B. My group and I have decided that I'm going to work on RobotixX. What I have to do is make a robot that has to pick up an object from the parachute, drive it to the basket and drop it in the basket. It was pretty hard because I, honestly, sort of forgot how to put a robot together but I eventually got it. Once I got the hand of making a robot it turned out to be fun AND challenging. I didn't get to finish it but I ALMOST got to. The hard part was the I had to make sure that it could pick something up and I had that figured out but I had to figure out how to make the grabber move up and down and to the left and right. I figured out how to make it move to the left and right but now I just have to figure out how to make it move up and down. Once I have that figured out, I'm all set! I'm really excited for the mini culmination. I think it will be really fun and interesting. I'm also happy that this is sort of the PRE - culmination because then if we make any mistakes we can learn from them so that they wont happen again in the REAL culmination. I'm excited!

F=ma Video

Lego Robots: Linear & Conditional Programming

Today in our lab I was working with Anja and Honore. We each had a robot and had to make it do something. My own challenge for my robot, was to go straight turn left and go straight and go through a gate. I had to guess how long to go striaght for and and how to turn. I figured out that the robot had to go straight for 6 seconds with the speed of 3, turn to the left .5 way, then go straight for 4 seconds with the speed of 3, then it would go through the gates. I tried it and it worked! I thought it was difficult at the beginning but once you got to watch it happen and see what your mistake was, it was easy to fix.

Remote Pairs

In this lab I worked with Kimmy and Maddy. We each had 2 bags, 1 bag had legos that were made into something, and the other bag had legos that were not built into anything. We each were somewhere around the room or out of the room with computers, using headphones, and using skype (a phone over a computer) and we each had to talk to each other and tell each other how to make something with the materials that we had. I thought it was pretty hard because in our bags some of our legos were missing and switched up so everyone didn't have the same legos. It was pretty hard. I learned that it was hard to give directions to people when you cant watch what they're doing to see if they're correct or not.

Recovery System

Today, my lab was Recovery Systems. My 2 partners were Taryn and Emma S. We each made our own parachute to see if it did drag but stay in the air. Unfortunately my parachute did not work. Right when I put the blow dryer to it, it fell to the ground. Taryn and Emma's did work. They did stay in the air when they dropped them off the stairs. I found out that parachutes have to do with Newtons 3rd Law: For every action theres and equal and oppisite reaction. The best parachute would have a lot of drag with the same amount of gravity.

Science Commercial - Newtons 3rd Law

My Africa Map Score

Lab 3. Thrust Structures Experiment.

Motion Detector Blog

Today in class we used a motion detector that recorded our motion but in many different ways. My partner was Louisa. We detected our motion by acceleration vs. time, velocity vs.time, and distance vs. time. In acceleration vs. time we learned that the detector lines move very quickly because its hard to stay still. We also learned that the faster you move and walk, the higher the lines went. Our second motion detector that we did was velocity vs. time. Well first of all, velocity means how much distance you are covering and the amount of speed there is. So, we noticed that when the motion detector was detecting us while we were moving, the slower we went the line stayed the same, but the faster we went the line went all over the place. The last one that experiment that we did was detecting the distance. We learned that if you walk slow for 3 seconds the line will go up a little, and you pause (stop) for 3 seconds the line just moves straight and doesn't go up or down for 3 seconds, and if you start walking again the line will go up. I've learned a lot about velocity, distance, and acceleration, and I think this project was a fun and educational. I thought the motion detectors were pretty cool. I don't have any questions.

Madeira Scores in Africa

Madeira Moving to Moon

If I were moving to the moon and I were playing soccer when I kick the the ball I would move really slowly and when my foot touches the ball, it would just sort of float in the air. The ball would float slowly in the air because there is way less gravity than there is on the Earth. The acceleration on the moon is only 1.6 and on the earth the acceleration is 9.8. When I kick the ball the ball would go forward but slowly in the air because of inertia, and it would never stop; it would just keep on going farther out and farther. When I run I would run faster on the moon because they're is less gravity and less air thats pushing you, and if I had jumped I would probably jump pretty high up but if I were to come down I would be coming down pretty slow because there isn't much gravity on the moon.

Lab 2: Launching From The Moon

Today for my 2nd lab I did Launching From The Moon with Rose and Sam. Rose had to Leave early so it was Sam and I. We couldn't get the balloon up with more than only a balloon but we could get it up with just one balloon. Launching From The Moon used Newtons 3rd Law, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. So the balloon went up on the string because air was pushing off on the opposite side, so the balloon went forward. I think this has to do with the Mission To Mars because when we take up we use Newtons 3rd Law.

Lab 1

Today for my first Lab Louisa, Lilly and I, worked on Robotix X. We had to make a Robotix Car, and it had to beable to pick up 2 moon rocks. At the beginning, it was a little bit tricky because we didn't exactly know how to make it, but then we found all the different pieces and the motors and all we had to do was put them together. That had to do with the Complex Robotix Systems. I thought this experiment was very fun but challenging. I;m wondering how this is going to be apart fo the Mission to Mars Culmination.