Journal
Wednesday, October 23, 2007
Today, I shared the research I did on solar and geo-thermal energy. Before I did my research, I had no idea they were so widely used. We did not realize geo-thermal energy was also very easy to find in many parts of the world. Geo-thermal energy is created when the steam from under the Earth turns turbines, which creates energy, while solar energy is created when solar light hit a solar panel, and converts them to electricity.
— Raymond
Wednesday, October 30, 2007
This week we worked on several different missions. We worked on using an attachment to gather the corn fuel and bring it in to base. We also made a program called "multi mission" that triggers the solar satellite, plants trees and puts the wind turbines in place in one run and put the power grid and fuel trees in place in another. We also programmed two other pushing programs - one for the hydro dam and one for the wave turbine. We looked over the designs for our logo so we can make a final design. We also discussed "gracious professionalism," one of the Lego League values. It means being a good sport and being nice to the other teams.
— Olivier
Friday – Sunday, November 2 – 4, 2007
This week we worked on several different missions. We worked on using an attachment to gather the corn fuel and bring it in to base. We also made a program called "multi mission" that triggers the solar satellite, plants trees and puts the wind turbines in place in one run and put the power grid and fuel trees in place in another. We also programmed two other pushing programs - one for the hydro dam and one for the wave turbine.
We looked over the designs for our logo and told Tyler what we liked so he can make a final design. We also discussed "gracious professionalism," one of the Lego League values. It means being a good sport and being nice to the other teams.
— Jack
Saturday, November 3, 2007
On Saturday we participated in a scrimmage hosted by the Gear Geeks. We got the top score (200), and learned a lot. And it was really fun! We used robot A in the first round, but the hydro dam program didn't work right. So we tried using multi mission on a different part of the river and it worked great in the last round. We also practiced doing a technical presentation and the judge told us to make sure we all talk and to write on our programs to say what they do. We went to a question and answer session about doing research presentations. This week we are going to have a field trip to learn about energy and then do our energy audit.
— Jack
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
At the meeting tonight we talked about the web site and the logos. We worked on making the final robot we will use in the tournament and continued to work on programming.
— Thomas
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Took apart Robot B completely started working on the new robot, ALec and I tried one approach with 4 wheel drive and good base. Put the design on LDraw but found out we put the wrong wheels , used the racing wheels which were flatter, the standard wheels we decided on did not fit. We had to take it apart again and used the same gears but change the base that it was sitting on... Made new LDRAW diagrams and posted these to the web for the team to look at and to build the other robots.
— Ty
Friday, November 9, 2007
[Southface field trip- To come]
— ?
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Today we did our energy audit at the Autrey Mill Visitor Center. We measured the rooms and counted all the windows. We talked to the caretaker, Jason, about where it’s hot and cold in the building. There sure are a lot of problems! There are a lot of holes where air leaks out. There is no insulation anywhere. They don’t even have a heating/air conditioning system – they just use space heaters and window air conditioners. They do have big south-facing windows, though, and a stone fireplace and floor that acts as thermal mass. That makes it passive solar – the thermal mass absorbs heat during the day in the winter and releases it at night.
— Jack
Monday, November 19, 2007
Today, at home I made a chart of the most common types of insulation. I put the form of insulation, the insulation materials, where applicable, installation methods, and advantages.
— Raymond
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Today I worked on the clone robot. We need two identical robots for programming, testing, and as a back-up robot. I think this one is more stable because it is more symmetrical and better reinforced with supports that I came up with.
— Raymond
Friday, November 30, 2007
Today, we basically perfected some existing programs (Big Joe's Oil, Multi Mission used on the hydro dam, solar satellite, wind turbines and trees), and sorted the field parts and programs so we knew what we are going to use in the competition. (A lot of the old programs were for fun and things that were used before the Lego League season started.) We plan on accomplishing the tasks listed above. If we do well, we may try to go for tasks that we have not perfected yet.
My favorite program is Multi Mission, because it is so simple and straight-forward.
— Raymond
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Today was the competition! We all had lots of fun doing our presentation, pit stop, and technical judging. But the thing we liked the most was the actual competition with the robot, on the board. Something happened to the robot in between rounds and Olivier and my round was messed up. Still, we got at least 200 out of 400 points that round. During almost the whole competition, we stayed in first place in the robot rounds. At the end, they gave out awards and said who was going to the state competition. Our team name was the last to be called, but we found out we not only got first place in robot rounds, but also in technical judging. So since we got first in two areas, we get to go to state competition. We are taking a break for the Christmas season, but we will start again on January first. The state competition is is in February.
— Raymond