812 Kyle Norquist

Thursday, January 18, 2007

2007-01-18T17:31:00.000-08:00

We were thin on hands today in drivetrain, and Scott couldn't show up, so we weren't able to work on the mock-up today. We were told that we needed to cut some three foot pieces of aluminum tubing, but after marking them, we didn't have the blades to cut the metal. We'll just have to leave it to tomorrow.

- Kyle Norquist

Saturday, January 13, 2007

2007-01-13T17:25:00.000-08:00

Woke up early and got picked up by Mr. Rupert and headed over to Home Depot to get some materials. After we loaded everything up, we went to the teen center and set up our work area. We spent about two hours getting the first shelf completed, and the next one took maybe thirty minutes. We thought we were done, but then it turned out we also needed to make a drying rack for their art program. We finished that around five, and it took another hour to get it up the stairs and in the room that they needed it in. After that we cleaned up, and every headed home.
Although I was very tired, I felt really good afterwards. After I realized that teens without homes had to stay in this place, it made me feel happy to be able to help somehow. I think I'll be volunteering like this more often.

- Kyle Norquist

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

2006-11-15T22:17:00.001-08:00

The kids worked today. Right now, they should be working out programming bugs and working on who's going to be setting up the robot. However, I found a lot of kids just playing with legos. The legos really shouldn't even be out at this point any more. I want the kids to be totally done tomorrow, but I don't see this happening. Already a few kids are realizing that they're running out of time, and so they're thinking about coming in early on Saturday so that they can tune up their robots.
A lot of the kids keep running their programs and then after maybe twenty runs find that it doesn't do the task anymore, so they go and adjust the program. And then they run that program for awhile, and then the same thing keeps happening. I don't know yet if they realize that they're draining the batteries. Come competition, when we change out the batteries for fresh ones, I think they'll be in for a bad surprise. We'll ahve to talk about that tomorrow.

- Kyle Norquist

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

2006-11-14T19:45:00.000-08:00

I supervised the kids for awhile. They were good today. A few were off task, but James and I took care of it. After lego was over, we went over to help facilities by doing a couple posters to tell the teams where their tables are.
Well, the competition is this weekend. So far, every group can do at least one mission. I think the most one group can do is four. So we're in a pretty good shape for this weekend. I just don't want the other kids to feel bad if they don't do good. Maybe I'll remind them that there is always next year.

- Kyle Norquist

Monday, November 13, 2006

2006-11-13T21:35:00.000-08:00

We dedicated today to presentations. I have to admit, I'm a little disappointed. I know that it's our job as mentors to get these kids through the whole process, but after seeing the quality of the work done after a whole month of research and work, I'm not just a little pessimistic as to our chances. Tomorrow maybe we'll try to talk to the teams at the beginning of the meeting. Have ourselves a serious talk. I really think they don't realize that the competition is less than a week away. Some teams barely have one mission done, and even then, the robot is unreliable because they're using dead reckoning.
Also, we don't even have team shirts. Thien says that we'll just have to have them wear their school uniforms, as it's obviously too late to get the shirts.
I know I'm supposed to be nice and calm, but some of the kids are driving me crazy. Don't they understand the concept of deadlines? The competition is this weekend. Well, I really don't know...I guess us mentors will just try to do our jobs answering questions and whatnot. I just think it's a little difficult when they don't even bother to ask for help.
I just don't want the kids to think that they have plenty of time when they don't, and then go to competition and be completely humiliated and feel bad. Because I know that that is what's going to happen.
Maybe I'm thinking too hard. I'll just try to do my job the best I can.

- Kyle Norquist

Thursday, November 9, 2006

2006-11-09T08:46:00.000-08:00

We took a team photo to send to the sponsors first. Then in lego the kids worked on their robots again. They're making progress, but I think that they really need to get on top of things if they want to be finished in time.
Actually, we should already be done building and be touching up the programming now. We are way behind on schedule. The NXT group looks good, and the other groups are getting there, even if slowly. Perhaps last minute rushing(which is inevitable going to happen) could have been avoided if we had started earlier in the year. I know that the icebreakers are important, but I really think we should have been working two weeks before we started. But that's an idea for next year.
I think I'm getting burnt out now. It's the final stretch for lego, so I'll try to do my best and help the kids as much as possible. I am getting a little sick of a couple kids, though. As we don't usually have any adults constantly supervising, discipline becomes an issue. We don't want to be mean or anything, but at the same time, some of these kids need to be kept under control. Oh well. It's almost over anyways.

- Kyle Norquist

Tuesday, November 7, 2006

2006-11-07T18:45:00.000-08:00

Kids seemed on task today. I talked with the researchers a little and it looks like the presentations will be pretty good. They just needt to cut down on the amount of text they have on their slide shows and focus on talking more. The RCX teams looked like they did a lot today. One group was trying to get their robot to do three missions in one program. They can get pretty far, but I don't think its very safe. What if the get stuck all the way on the other side of the field? We get penalties every time we have to pick up the robot.
The NXT group had a lot of progress today. James had them doing programming, and they have the fabric tester mission programed, but haven't tested it all the way through, because the NXT ran out of batteries.
Overall, a very productive day. Hopefully tomorrow is the same.
Lego robotics is great, but I'm getting tired of it. I think sometimes that I'd rather go home and do my other homework, but then I remember when I was in lego, and the fun I had when I went to lego Land. I want these kids to have the same opportunity and have as much fun as when I did. I'll try to do everything I can to not only get these kids to win, but enjoy it as much as when I was in their position.

- Kyle Norquist

Monday, November 6, 2006

2006-11-06T19:32:00.000-08:00

I guess we've lost around over half of the original amount of kids. The kids that are staying are starting to get off track. I think its because they're not used to working constantly. They need something fun to do so that they don't feel like its work. Maybe some incentive on finishing early or something. Maybe I'll bring something for the team that has the most missions completed by the end of the week, or something like that. Or maybe we could make a point system or something, to create some healthy competition between the teams. Or maybe that's an idea for next year. I don't know.
I think that these kids certainly have a lot of potential, but they don't have that drive to finish. We need to give them that. Tomorrow I guess we mentors will have to talk about that.

- Kyle Norquist

Thursday, November 2, 2006

2006-11-02T20:40:00.000-08:00

Once again, very little attendance. Next Monday we need to lay out all of the dates that we're going to be meeting and be clear. One team only had one kid there. I don't think the kids realize that the competition is so close.
Well, we mentors tried to do the best with the kids that we had. One team was pretty successful with the nanowire mission. The NXT team (rather, the one girl who came) moved on from the nanotip mission to the buckeyball mission. I had her work on the buckeyball dispenser artifice. The rest of the kids were tweaking their programs for their current missions and moving on to another one. I really hope that next Monday is a lot more productive than today was.
Also, I think that some of the kids aren't getting along. Some personalities are clashing, and I think that its a disciplinary issue on our part. Maybe we've been too relaxed, and the kids are getting too comfortable with us. Some of them are forgetting that we're the mentors, and we're supervising them. I really don't like being mean, but I will if I have to.

- Kyle Norquist

Wednesday, November 1, 2006

2006-11-01T21:08:00.000-08:00

Well, we didn't get very good attendance today. I guess most of the kids didn't know we were meeting. Perhaps we weren't clear enough yesterday when we told everyone that there was going to be meetings on Wednesdays and Thursdays too. Today I just saw a lot of the RCX kids going for the nanowire mission, and I really wanted to the NXT kids on that too, but when I tried to get the girl to strengthen the the arm that they had made, we couldn't do the nanotip mission anymore for some reason. Also, the robot kept running into the the nanotip base for some reason. We could edit the program again I guess, but I think it was a positioning issue, and the fact that we had changed around the arm. Unfortunately, I won't be able to help her any tomorrow because I'm going to have to go talk to some judges. I also think we're going to get even less attendance tomorrow.
I had to leave twenty minutes early because of some family things, so I didn't get to see if the NXT group made any progress. I feel a little bad because they only have one kid showing up, and so I'm trying to work with her a lot, and I think that she's feeling a lot of pressure. I'm sure it would help if any of her fellow teammates would at least show up, but no one else except their presenter came. I thought that she did really good yesterday, especially because we were so successful with programming the NXT, but today she might have felt like it was all up to her. She might have also felt a little bit alienated because she isn't really working that much with the other kids. But its our jobs as mentors to make them feel good and important while they learn, so I'll really try to make her feel comfortable.
On another note, the competition is coming up really soon, so next week I'm going to try to push the kids to have at least two tasks accomplished, and their robots to be reliable. Some groups were able to do a mission usually, and I just don't think that's good enough. They need to be able to do a mission ten out of ten tries, or else they won't stand a chance against the other lego veteran teams.

- Kyle Norquist

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

2006-10-31T18:37:00.000-08:00

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

2006-10-30T22:31:00.000-08:00

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

2006-10-26T18:12:00.000-07:00

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

2006-10-24T19:30:00.000-07:00

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

2006-10-23T20:13:00.000-07:00

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

2006-10-17T21:20:00.000-07:00

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

2006-10-16T21:16:00.000-07:00

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

2006-10-14T21:37:00.000-07:00

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

2006-10-12T19:41:00.000-07:00

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

2006-10-05T20:02:00.000-07:00

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

Thursday, September 28, 2006

2006-09-28T20:36:00.000-07:00

Today I went to the Principle's Forum at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa. Showed up and then helped Thien and James put up posters and directions for awhile. Then we took the robot out by the big fountain and waited until the people got out of the presentation. Then we started our demonstration. Some people walking around saw us and came over to watch. Pretty soon it was time to pack up and get things put away.
I think that it was pretty successful. The people looked pretty interested and liked our presentation. Hopefully we'll get a couple new teams in San Diego!

- Kyle Norquist

Thursday, September 21, 2006

2006-09-21T23:25:00.000-07:00

Mainly a constructive day.There was some important dates mentioned today.
Thursday, September 28, 2006 - Principal's Forum @ The Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa
It'll be from 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm. Principals from schools all over San Diego will be there, and there will be a presentation on FIRST. Other than that, I'm not really sure what goes on. But everyone should go, because it's good publicity and it would be nice if they could see some actual students. Plus the science center is super snazy.
Thursday, October 5, 2006 - RoboExpo @ The Museum of Natural History
It'll be from 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm. We're setting up a booth and we'll be talking to the public.
Not much else.

- Kyle Norquist

Thursday, September 14, 2006

2006-09-14T19:33:00.000-07:00

Today the point system was revealed. I won't get into all the numbers because there was a lot of them. But based off of what they were giving points for, you should:
* not miss any meetings
* raise lots of money
* get sponsors
* do your hours

Upcoming dates:Saturday, October 14 - Ice Skating Robotics Fundraiser @ UTC
It'll be from 12:30 - 4:00. Tickets will cost $10 if you buy them ahead of time, and $12 that day. Even if you don't really know how to skate, you should still come and support robotics.

There was an overview of basic things, house-cleaning, etc.

This year looks a little more organized. Hopefully it'll stay that way.

- Kyle Norquist

Thursday, September 7, 2006

2006-09-07T20:15:00.000-07:00

Some important things were mentioned today. Some dates:
Nov. 4 - FIRST Workshop @ Calstate Northridge
At the workshop, there will be workshops on all aspects of FIRST, such as chairman's, programming, and building. Anyone who wants to learn more should go.
Jan. 6 - Robotics Kickoff @ Hightech HighAs the name implies, it's the robotics kickoff for the new season. The new challenge will be revealed. Also, it's a good chance to go meet people from other teams.
Mar. 8 to Mar. 12 - Los Angeles Regional Competition @ LA
Here we'll compete in the LA regional. Teams from all over the country come to this regional, so expect stiff competition.
Mar. 22 to Mar. 26 - San Diego Regional Competition @ I-Pay-One Center
his will be the first year that there will be a San Diego regional. We're definitely going to this competition. And since this is our home turf, we'll definitely need to do good. And since this regional is after the LA regional, we'll have had an opportunity to see how our robot does and also to see chairman competition.

This year looks pretty good. I just hope we'll have enough money.

-Kyle Norquist