Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Since everyone was done with their chassis, today was mainly programming. Groups began trying to get their first task. I saw a group get pretty close to completing the nano-wire challenge, but I think they need to rethink their approach.
Since the NXT group only had one mechanical person there, I decided to work with them. We wrote out a basic logarithm for the nanotip challenge, and then went to the computer to program. We did a little tutorial for the program. After we were a little familiar with it, we began progamming the robot for the challenge. A beautiful thing about the NXT is that it has built in encoders inside the motors, so we just had to find out how many revolutions the robot would take to get to the nanotip, and then how much to turn. We were able to pop up the tip in one try, and then we simply reversed everything to get the robot back. The built in encoders make it so much easier to program. We were able to write out the program in one try.
I'm a little disappointed that there was a lot of kids missing today. I know it's Halloween, but I don't like the lack of commitment. I'm irritated that there was only one builder for the NXT group, and I only counted thirteen kids that signed in today. Hopefully tomorrow there'll be more kids. I'm going to work more with the NXT kids, because (and I know this may sound unfair) I think that they have a lot of potential to do really good with their robot. We were able to program a fifty point challenge in four minutes, so I think that it should be pretty easy to do everything else. I also think that they have a pretty good researcher.
I also think that the kids aren't in the right mindframe. They aren't thinking in steps, like go forward five seconds, turn right one second, etc. Maybe tomorrow we'll take about programming and how logarithms for robots works.

- Kyle Norquist

Monday, October 30, 2006

Today we had a couple mentors missing, but that didn't stop the kids from working hard. Drivetrain got right on task, and I'm proud to say that all teams are finished with their drivetrains. Now we're teaching them programming and we're going to have drivetrain begin collaborating with arm to get those robots completed. The NXT kids are at a little disadvantage because there's a new programming language for the NXT that the mentors will have to learn, so I'm planning on taking some time to learn the new program so that I'll be able to answer their questions. Oh, and another thing. I'm planning on showing how an encoder works to some of the kids. I really hate dead reckoning and I really really want one team to for once use some sensors.
Today was mostly stress free, I'm glad to say. The kids worked well, which made my job easy. They also didn't seem to realize that we were missing a couple mentors. I'm happy that this year's kids aren't as roudy as last year's. I'm getting a little anxious now though, because some of my assignments are building up and lego is taking time out of my schedule when I could be taking AP Euro notes or English homework. But I guess we all have to deal with these kinds of things.

- Kyle Norquist

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Today was another day for preparing for the lego competition. We want to get all the planning and preparation done as quickly as possible because the competition is going to be in two weeks. Which also means that us lego mentors need to get the lego kids in gear. I'm pretty sure that most of them are done with a chassis, so Thien, James, Rose, and I are going to get them on programming. But back to today. I researched the small businesses in San Diego, and ended up getting about 400 hits. I don't think we'll be able to contact that many, so Esteban and I were going through and picking businesses that we thought would be easier to approach and whatnot. Of course the officers will have the final say.
Overall, today was pretty productive. It looked like lego planning was really busy. But I wonder what it'll be like after lego is over. It probably won't calm down any, because the big robotics competition will becoming up too. Maybe I'll help the new people get more acquainted with the tools so they'll be ready come build season.

- Kyle Norquist

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Pretty much the same in lego. The kids got right on task. However, we're starting to have some problems with attendance and commitment. Some kids were excused because they talked to either Thien, Paul, or me, but a majority of them haven't told us anything. In fact, almost one entire team was missing today. They only had one representative there. We're considering just disbanding this team and letting the last guy go into another team. But before we did that, we called the kids who haven't showed up. We got mostly machines, but one of the kids' moms said that her son didn't know when we were meeting. I guess that means that we'll have to put something in the bulletin clearly stating when we meet, where, and maybe a little warning saying that missing meetings can be grounds for dismissal. Sure, its tough, but we need the kids there. We can't just have them showing up the last day without doing any work.
I really hate it when we have to do these kinds of things. It puts us in a bad position, where we have to be mean. But we need kids that will commit. Otherwise, they can't come. But I think that this will be an important life lesson for them. They need to realize that they can't just make commitments and not follow through, and that other people will be depending on them.

- Kyle Norquist

Monday, October 23, 2006

Today was a good day for lego. The kids got to working right away. I had the drivetrain kids building the tankbot chassis, while James and I kept an eye on the NXT kids, who had to build a different chassis. James and I experimented with the NXT and got it to run the new motors, which were really cool. Most of the kids in drivetrain are nearly complete with their robots, so they should be done by tomorrow. Once each team has a working robot, we'll give them working RCXs and begin teaching programming. Of course, the NXT kids will once again have to be kept apart, as there is a new programming language for it.
It really makes me happy when everything is running smoothly and the kids are having fun. I think that this year's kids are a lot more calmer than last year's, but they're really hardworking. Even the trouble makers are relatively good. I've also gotten comfortable talking to the kids, so I'm a little more approachable for them. I hope this year goes really good for lego!

- Kyle Norquist

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Today I tried to have drivetrain get right to work. It was a little difficult for the kids to get on task; I think next time I'll have house cleaning, and not give them legos so that I can first talk to them fo a little while. I need to make sure that they're not just playing with legos and are actually building.
I got the tankbot instructions from Mr. Rupert and Rose was so kind as to lend her laptop, and I got the kids started on all building the tankbot chassis. This way, they'll have a foundation with which to build all their other designs off of.
And as it is a pretty easy design, maybe I'll just have them stick with it. Or, I'll have them put in back wheels and just skis in the front.
Today I was pretty tired because I didn't get much sleep, and the kids are really loud. But seeing them enjoy themselves made me remember when I was a little lego kid and I had fun. I guess this is how old man Vu and others felt. I'll try to remember that and try to make their experience as fun and educational as possible.

- Kyle Norquist

Monday, October 16, 2006

The lego kids are doing really well. I'm glad because they're enthusiastic. Because we're running out of time (only one more month before competition!) I tried to have the drivetrain kids start building as soon as possible. But I didn't want them touching the legos before they had an idea of what they were building, so I had them brainstorm a little before I gave them the kits.
On a more serious note, we collected the grades today. Overall, we were pretty pleased. However, there were a couple of kids that were in the red zone. Paul and Solomon wrote up a contract for the kids to get signed, and they had to agree to bringing their grades up to an acceptable level within two weeks. Hopefully this won't be a problem and we won't have to cut anyone.
With the competition so soon, I'll need to get the drivetrain kids working really hard. I'm planning on showing them a basic chassis so that they'll have something to base their designs off of, because I saw a few goofing off and just fiddling with the legos. Perhaps I'll go over the goals and what exactly they're supposed to be doing just to clarify things.

- Kyle Norquist

Saturday, October 14, 2006

I showed up around 11:30 and walked around a little while with James and Henok before coming back to go ice-skating. I didn't spend any time at the booth selling, because I was having too much fun on the ice. I ended up falling about seven times, but hey, I'm supporting robotics.
James and I were hoping that we'd be able to do ice-skating again as a fundraiser, but this conflicts with the junior fundraising, so we're not too sure we'll be able to get approval from ASB.

- Kyle Norquist

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Today we broke off into smaller groups. I went with financial and fundraising to talk about some possible ways to raise money. We're going with small businesses this year, as we don't want to approach national companies - too much work and problems with it I guess. Everyone in financial and fundraising is supposed to get a list of small businesses in their area. We're thinking of writing a generic letter that we can send to all businesses.
More immediately, we need to sell more ice-skating tickets. We going to try and sell some more at high school lunch. We need to get someone to sell tickets at middle school lunch too. Esteban and I are going to try to sell more tickets at SEA before heading over to UTC.
I hope this year to be more involved with finances and fundraising, instead of just sitting around waiting for build-season to do anything. From now on, at least for awhile, I'll be in working with finances and fundraising.

- Kyle Norquist

Thursday, October 5, 2006

Showed up to the Robo Expo a little late, so I only got to help out for a little while. Then it was clean up. From what others told me, it was pretty successful. Lots of people seemed to be interested in our team and robotics. New sponsors, hopefully?
I think that exposure like this is good for the team. We need to do more events like this.

- Kyle Norquist