10.23.12-The Art of Interviews

Attendance


  • Mark
  • Erik
  • Hunter
  • Evan
  • Dante
  • Chis
  • Fletcher

Journal


Tasks

  • Learn about interviewing from Mrs. Johnson

Reflections

Mrs. Gigi Johnson came in today and she spent the day teaching us how to interview properly.  She noted that many of the awards that allow for qualification to higher level tournaments involve interviewing well.  She said that a plan is very necessary; each person should know what it is specifically they are talking about.  Everyone should tell stories to support their arguments  instead of saying, “We’ve got good teamwork,” say “We’ve got good teamwork because we know each other’s strengths and weaknesses” (or something).  She also mentioned that we ought to know how to indicate to out other teammates when we’re struggling with a question.  We ought to give that person eye contact and do some sort of ball-throwing thing, like, “But the real expert on this is Bob.”  To make throwing the ball easier, she said that eye contact on the person currently speaking is essential.  It also prevents people from looking into space when they aren’t talking. Mrs. Johnson also made a list of things that we ought to be able to talk about.

Finally, she said that we ought to go into our interviews with a couple stories loaded, and if the interviewers don’t give us an opportunity to tell them, then we should tell them at the end of the interview when they ask if we have anything more to say.

Earlier in the day, Fletcher wrote a working autonomous (working meaning it’s a work in process) that will get in the way of the other team.

10.21.12-The Scissor Lift is Born

Attendance


  • Hunter
  • Mark
  • Evan

Journal


Tasks

  • Build Scissor
  • Wait for computer to be fixed

Reflections

Today was a build day for the machining of our scissor lift.  Mr. Brian Johnson helped us, accomplish that.  He had to do all of the metal cutting because it is dangerous, but we helped sand some of the pieces and actually began to piece together the scissor lift.Each side of scissor lift consists of 3 Xs reaching a considerable height when extended. We had to go out to get some bits and pieces we needed and we had to hand sand many of the parts on the inside of holes and at weird corners and edges.  We all wore safety glasses to protect our lungs.  The scissor should be completed by 10.25.12 …Still waiting for our poor computer to get fixed.

10.18.12-Color?

Attendance


  • Fletcher
  • Chris
  • Dante
  • Erik
  • Hunter
  • Mark
  • Evan
  • Justin

Journal


Tasks

  • Mount color sensor
  • Work on color sensor

Reflections

Erik and Fletcher mounted the new color sensor on the robot (loaned to us by Hunter’s friend Emory).

Evan removed Erik’s NXT mount because it was in an inconvenient place on the robot.
Fletcher worked on coding the TeleOp program, and Hunter did experiments with the color sensor which we may want to use on the field to follow the lines on the ground.

We talked with Justin about robotics because he is considering joining our team so we talked about what we do in general.

10.16.12-A Logo from Treads

Attendance


  • Erik
  • Mark
  • Fletcher
  • Chris
  • Dante
  • Hunter
  • Evan
  • Justin

Journal


Tasks

  • Attach power switch
  • Make electronics work
  • work on the hardware of the robot

Erik and Fletcher and Erik attached the power switch and battery in a prototype sort of fashion which was useful because previously we had neither of those on the robot.

Fletcher showed an idea for a new hand to mark which would not only be cool but also pretty efficient as well.

Hunter designed a really cool logo for our team which consists of four chain links but together in a square shape.

Evan organized the wires and motor boxes, and wired everything together (It turns on!).

Mark got the robot parts ready to design a new arm, and came up with an idea of mounting the arm and hand on the scissor lift which will mount on the base of the robot.