This is the second year of Fork Union Military Academy Robotics team. We learned a lot from our failure last year in the FTC competition, and I believe that we will win this year. Sometimes, I feel so lonely working in a room for 2 or 3 hours just by 2 person, sometimes, I feel the time is so short that I can't get done the amount of work that I want to get done during the time period. If you ask who is on the robotics team, I will list every single one of their name, but if you ask who are the cadets who present to the practice every time, I can only answer Li, me , myself and I. The answer is pretty disappointing, isn't it. As this point I announce to every single cadet that might be interested in robotics, it does not matter about how much you know, It is all matter about how much you want you learn and how much you want to help. As the captain of blue devil robotics team, I guarantee you that if you decide that you would like to make the commitment to the team and fulfill the commitment, you will become a intermediate level robotics builder/programmer by the end of the year. So, come and join us, go blue devil robotics, go FUMA!
Programming plays a huge role in the world that surrounds us, and though its uses are often purely functional, there is a growing community of artists who use the language of code as their medium. Their work includes everything from computer generated art to elaborate interactive installations, all with the goal of expanding our sense of what is possible with digital tools. To simplify the coding process, several platforms and libraries have been assembled to allow coders to cut through the nitty-gritty of programming and focus on the creative aspects of the project. These platforms all share a strong open source philosophy that encourages growth and experimentation, creating a rich community of artists that share their strategies and work with unprecedented openness.
This video gave me a great impression in the creative side of programming. Programming not only gives not only supernatural powers to people for solving all kinds of problems but is also a great tool for artists. The video also inspire me that programming is not only a new language for talking to the computer, but also great usage on art, it is something that combine realistic technology and imaginary art. It feels great to get in touch with coding!!! Happy coding to myself and my classmate Mr. De Neef. The start button for the new term has been pressed, it is time to refresh myself and put myself back into the hardworking mode again. This is the first time I am doing a independent study, and this is also the first computer science class I have ever took. If you have looked up my website, you will know that I had a lot experience dealing with the robots, which contains a lot of programming. But the different between robotics programming and computer programming is that the computer programming is more complex and require lot more vocabulary than robotics programming. Therefore, I still have a lot to learn. My instructor this term is Mrs. Simmons again, I really enjoyed the last class that I had with her, it was hard and require a lot of work, but it was also so interesting that everyone are willing to put their effort into the class. I really hope that we will have a even better class this time and I am looking forward to it. The following is the notes that wrote in the process of researching about this class.
I have been doing research Advanced placement computer science A(AP class, 5.0 GPA) since October, And I found several college or website who actually offer this class online, but most of them are not offering them at this time period. I have also looked up the website the COL. Grant recommend me, but unfortunately, they are not offering the class. There are also a website called edX who actually offer the AP computer science course from Cooper Union and UC Berkeley, but both of them will be offer in June 2015. I have looked up the online course from John Hopkins University as well, but they require a whole process of application and I am afraid that they might not accepting any student any more at this point of time. However, I also found out this unique website called Amplify MOOC which is a website that offer and only offer AP computer science course. They divided the class into two term, the first term was from September through December, so they already have all of the first term material and all of the exams and quizzes which will be automatically graded after submitting online. This website has a teacher system as well, as long as the supervisor create a account on their website, the teacher will be able to inspect the student on the process of the class daily. After discuss with Mrs. Simmons, we came up with the plan that we will use the online text book and material to learn the class. The grading system will be divided. Mrs. Simmons will be grading my academic blog, notes and Assignment, the Assignments was supposed to be graded online instructor but due to the reason that I am not on the same schedule, the assignment can only be graded by Mrs. Simmons. However, my quizzes and exams will still be graded online by the website. I do understand that this class is going to be hard because it is an AP course and I and doing independent study. The website only have half of the whole course came out for now, but in order be prepare for the AP exam in May, I will try my best to finish the first term as soon as possible and take the new courses that will be coming out for the next few weeks. I promise that I will try as hard as I can in this class and learn as much as I can, I also promise that I will not let anyone regret for giving me the opportunity to take this class. FIND YOUR DREAM. FOLLOW IT. AND FINISH IT! Feel like everything just went so fast. I close my eye, I can still feel the images from last september. This is my last blog for the year during the last CQ. Now is 21:38, I can already hear the celebration noise from second floor. Right now, it is the end of the year, the end of the trip, but never the end of the journey.
By the moment I started this paragraph, the last CQ this year was over. But the imagination of the first CQ this year still can appear in my brain. Have a good ending and remember. END OF THE TRIP BUT START OF THE JOURNEY. The best business level aviation quadcopter has been made by company from COMMUNIST China. The best about this copter is that it has all the function that we need bu a business level aviation picturing.
It is my goal to make a quadcopter better than this in this summer, which means I have to work hard to beat Communist. In order to reach this great goal, I selected the best parts in this world to make my own design quadcopter. First, I will use a Flyduino wich is not a programmed flight control. I have to program it by myself. The idea in here is not meas that I am trying to show off by doing something extra, but to program some new programmed actions in to the quadcopter, for example flip around, flip half and push forward then flip back. FOUR days left. At this point, I am greatly thank everybody around me that help me or instructed me during this year. All my work has been done except the reflection paper and Digital citizenship activity. But I already have a very good plan for both of them. I will do Digital citizenship activity tonight and I will do reflection paper on Thursday.
I cannot wait till the last day to go home. I miss my family, my mom, dad and my grandparents. My dad's birthday is coming up and I want to give him a surprise. I am about to cry now.(T_T) I still have 24+24+24+10+18=100 hours! 100 hours later, I would sit on my OWN couch, drinking my OWN soda, playing my OWN play station. But I still have 100 hours. I have to hold on and finish strong. 4 days left, I think it is necessary for me to write a blog about the finish line. It been a year, this year is not easy at all for me. I still remember those time that I have been disappointed or I did disappointed someone in this year. I made it through, and now it is the time for me to prove to myself that I can keep clam and finish it strong.
3 more night. I still can remember those days during this cold winter. The coldest winter. Every night, I can't even get off my bed to go to the bathroom, it was too cold. Snow was around us everyday, wind was blowing around our ears. I made it through in that time. Have been through so much this year. 2013-2014, it is a school year that I will never forget. There are no reason for me to not keep calm and finish strong. Robotics, one of the newest technologies in the world, now is replacing the human worker's job. In education, robotics is important for students who are planning to enter the robotics’ field in the future to do high-school level robotics. For high-school level robotics, there are two important parts, which are construction and programming. In construction part, I did explain why it is important to understand the usage of every part. In addition, I indicated another point which is that making a digital version design of a robot before actually constructing it. In programming part, I made a comparison between traditional language programming and graphic programming. By research and comparison, I got the conclusion which is traditional programming is better for advanced programmer; I suggest all advanced programmer use traditional programming software to program their robot. By doing this research paper, I learned a lot about robotics. From the first day, that I start writing it to now I am finishing it, I went through three books, four journal articles, many websites and an interview. The process of this project taught me many things that not only academically but also scientifically. I hope this paper will benefit more people who are in the same situation with me.
DC Motor is the engine of a Lego robot. The LEGO store describes the DC motor like this Powerful rotation for your Power Functions! Add an extra XL-Motor to your LEGO creations! This super-strong motor will give plenty of power to your models, whether it is spinning a wheel or turning a system of gears. We usually use it to run the main wheel and due to the property that a DC motor should have, there is no gearbox on the DC motor, but is still power enough to run any Lego wheel. A DC motor relies on the fact that like magnet poles repel and unlike magnetic poles attract each other. A coil of wire with a current running through it generates anelectromagnetic field aligned with the center of the coil. By switching the current on or off in a coil its magnet field can be switched on or off or by switching the direction of the current in the coil the direction of the generated magnetic field can be switched 180°. A simple DC motor typically has a stationary set of magnets in the stator and an armature with a series of two or more windings of wire wrapped in insulated stack slots around iron pole pieces (called stack teeth) with the ends of the wires terminating on a commutator. The armature includes the mounting bearings that keep it in the center of the motor and the power shaft of the motor and the commutator connections. The winding in the armature continues to loop all the way around the armature and uses either single or parallel conductors (wires), and can circle several times around the stack teeth. The total amount of current sent to the coil, the coil's size and what it's wrapped around dictate the strength of the electromagnetic field created. The sequence of turning a particular coil on or off dictates what direction the effective electromagnetic fields are pointed. By turning on and off coils in sequence a rotating magnetic field can be created. These rotating magnetic fields interact with the magnetic fields of the magnets (permanent or electromagnets) in the stationary part of the motor (stator) to create a force on the armature which causes it to rotate. In some DC motor designs the stator fields use electromagnets to create their magnetic fields which allow greater control over the motor. At high power levels, DC motors are almost always cooled using forced air.
The commutator allows each armature coil to be activated in turn. The current in the coil is typically supplied via two brushes that make moving contact with the commutator. Now, some brushless DC motors have electronics that switch the DC current to each coil on and off and have no brushes to wear out or create sparks. Different number of stator and armature fields as well as how they are connected provide different inherent speed/torque regulation characteristics. The speed of a DC motor can be controlled by changing the voltage applied to the armature. The introduction of variable resistance in the armature circuit or field circuit allowed speed control. Modern DC motors are often controlled by power electronics systems which adjust the voltage by "chopping" the DC current into on and off cycles which have an effective lower voltage. Since the series-wound DC motor develops its highest torque at low speed, it is often used in traction applications such as electric locomotives, and trams. The DC motor was the mainstay of electric traction drives on both electric and diesel-electric locomotives, street-cars/trams and diesel electric drilling rigs for many years. The introduction of DC motors and an electrical grid system to run machinery starting in the 1870s started a new second Industrial Revolution. DC motors can operate directly from rechargeable batteries, providing the motive power for the first electric vehicles and today's hybrid cars and electric cars as well as driving a host ofcordless tools. Today DC motors are still found in applications as small as toys and disk drives, or in large sizes to operate steel rolling mills and paper machines. If external power is applied to a DC motor it acts as a DC generator, a dynamo. This feature is used to slow down and recharge batteries on hybrid car and electric cars or to return electricity back to the electric grid used on a street car or electric powered train line when they slow down. This process is called regenerative braking on hybrid and electric cars. In diesel electric locomotives they also use their DC motors as generators to slow down but dissipate the energy in resistor stacks. Newer designs are adding large battery packs to recapture some of this energy. Mars, one of the terrestrial planets, is valuable for humans to explore. As we know, there are tons of robots operated by NASA are driving on Mars right now. Robotics is the one of the most important part of space exploration. |
AuthorMy name is Zimu Li.I am a 10th grade high school student, I am attending in Fork Union Military Academy right now, I am also the captain of blue devil robotics team. Archives
February 2015
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