Lego Mindstorms Tug Of War

In the LEGO Mindstorms Tug Of War Challenge, teams had to create vehicles that would be able to win a game of tug of war against other teams' vehicles. Most teams built wheeled vehicles, but I constructed a vehicle with treads. Initially I built a two-tread vehicle with two motors, and this succeeded against a number of teams.

After losing to a team, however, I resorted to adding a third motor and four more sets of treads to my design. I also utilized a gear mechanism in order to derive more power from the motors. This did not prove to be much of an aid, however, due to the lack of friction on the classroom floor.

In a final effort to derive more success from my robot, I strengthened the back bracket securing my rear drive block. This ensured connection between gears, and helped it do a bit better. I also competed with other robots outside on different terrain to much better results. Outside, I won one race and tied most others.

Ping-Pong Gap Design Build Challenge

For the Ping-Pong Gap design Build Challenge, my group and I constructed a ramp that we used to propel our ping pong ball over the predetermined gap. Some constraints we faced in our build was a limit on materials due too predetermined selection and monetary limitations. Contrary to the bridges that other groups built, we constructed a ramp with which we propelled our ball across the gap. While we were able to successfully clear the gap, it was only once every few tries, leading to a low, but present, success percentage.

Superadvertising 2014: Jamie Casino Personal Injury Attorney

 - The commercial that caught my attention the most this year was a two-minute advertisement for Jamie Casino Injury Attorneys that ran during halftime. It tells a story about lawyer Jamie Casino, and his turn from criminal defense to personal injury attorney.
 - What made the commercial memorable was its sheer length and ability to tell a story. This ad ran for a full two minutes, much shorter than other ads which might only run for 15 or 30 seconds. This length of advertisement allowed for the telling of an in-depth story, which was much deeper than the commercials from major corporations.
- Commercials in the Super Bowl this year cost roughly 4 million per 30-second slot. This advertisement for Jamie Casino was aired on a local broadcaster however, substantially reducing the cost, although the network did not disclose the cost.
- Aside for paying for airtime, many other expenses ar included in the production of a commercial, including:
     - Actors (a couple hundred to low thousands)
     - Equipment (low thousands if purchased, high hundreds if rented)
     - Crew (high hundreds per person)
     - Catering (low hundreds)
     - Location Use (low hundreds)
     - Prop Use (very low hundreds)
- As the advertisement was for a personal injury lawyer, where service fees can fluctuate by thousands of dollars per case, the amount of "widgets" or services that must be sold to compensate for the ad is effectively impossible to calculate; however if we use the general cost of 5,000$ for a single service, and place the cost of the advertisement around 100,000$, The law firm will have to provide roughly 20 services in order to make up costs.
- Shortly after the superbowl, the Jamie Casino advertisement went viral online, reaching many more people for no extra cost, and sending the law firm very high very quickly in public status. This should provide an influx of requests for services, and it seems very likely that this ad will cover its costs directly, and will also have the added value of creating a popular image for Jamie Casino.

LEGO Mindstorms Robotics

Intro:
     In the days that we spent on LEGO Mindstorms robotics, members of the class were able to construct a LEGO Mindstorms Robot and program it to operate autonomously. Groups were tasked with having their robots complete courses by building an effective chassis and programming it with precision.

*NOTE: Due to my absence for the ending portion of the challenge, I was unable to capture photos of certain parts of the challenge, but was able to retain screenshots of my programming, and was able to capture certain photos after I returned.

Challenge Review:

     Challenge One - straight course

          - In this challenge, the teams' robots had to move forward in a straight line, covering a predetermined distance. Most people were able to utilize the NXT Brick's built-in programming suite, but a full-suite program was also possible, as shown in the photo included.

           - The robot I constructed featured a two-wheel system where the robot moved with two drive wheels and a back caster to provide balance. This allowed for an operation similar to "tank drive" where each side can be operated independently, allowing the vehicle to make sharp, in place turns. This, in tandem with a simple program (above) was able to complete the challenge with ease

           - Overall, the challenge was quite simple and i thought that it was a good start for the LEGO Mindstorms segment. My robot performed well and no changes to it or the programming seemed necessary.

     Challenge Two - "Bent" Course

           - The course provided would require a robot to turn at a sharp angle, but due to my two-wheeled system, my robot did not need any build changes to successfully complete the course

           - Using my robot's ability to turn at a fixed point, I constructed a program that would capitalize on that ability. I was able to send my robot into the bend, and have it turn in place to face the end of the course, and then simply move forwards. this simple program allowed me to complete the challenge very quickly.

           - The challenge seemed to be a good step up from the simple straight course from before, requiring builders to modify their vehicles for turning. My robot worked well on the course, and due to the lack of issues, I would not make any immediate changes to its construction.

For the manila bridge challenge, my partner Tommy and I used interlocking sections of folder, combined with the structural integrity of triangles, to create a very strong structure that spanned the gap presented to us. We cut the manila folders from the edges and had them interlock together, and then reinforced the connections with tape. This made the structure roughly 2.5 folders long. We then folded the structure into a triangle, and held the triangle together from the bottom with tape. the ends of the bridge spread out to provide a greater surface area to disperse the weight into. The resulting structure was able to hold eleven magazines of various sizes.

Centroids Pt. 2

For centroids pt. 2, my group and I used the effects of gravity to help locate the position of our shape's centroid. We attached a piece a weighted string to a point on the shape's perimeter, and then attached that to a wall. When both the shape and the string were allowed to hang freely, the string overlapped the centroid somewhere along its length. By repeating this process three times, we were able to determine the location of the centroid by seeing where the strings intersected.

Mousetrap Race Cars

The ten achievements I am claiming for mousetrap race cars are:

"Visualize It"

"Build It"

"The Price of Glory"
My car utilized 59 pieces, including the string and mousetrap, which according to the pricing guide, totals to roughly $59 .

"Competitor"

"Feedback"
+) There was a very good amount of time allotted for the actual build process, and the ability to work with teams or alone helped people work in a way that most agreeable to them.
-) There did not seem to be a large amount of traction tires for the fischertecnik wheels, and there were sometimes many pieces misplaced in the parts boxes by the end of the class.
?) There was some confusion over the competition rules, pertaining to discrepancy between trial and competition runs.

"Re-Work"
Added support beams to keep the front axle from sliding backwards, and stopping due to friction with the mousetrap.

"Game Changer"
New Rule: Aside from one test run, vehicles may only compete three times during competition. This rule would be helpful because, during the competition, some teams went multiple times, and there was little discrepancy as to whether their runs were "tests" or actual competition runs.

"Name It"
 Rename "Going the Mile" to "Long Distance Runner-Up" to provide discrepancy to the respective first and second place awards.

"Leave It Cleaner Than You Found It"
When first coming to the workspace, it was common to find pieces from earlier periods remaining. When cleaning up, I would take note to clean up those pieces, as well as my own.

"Design Build"
A design/build process is, from my point of view, a two-step process. First, one must design a machine to complete a given task, and second, they must build the design in to actually overcome the challenge. Whenever presented with a task, this will become present as a person will need to design something to complete the task, and then actually construct it.