Today we worked with some mini industrial-grade robot arms in class. They were connected to a tablet that had a joystick we could use to freely move the arm around. We were also able to program them with some simple commands through the table or a computer that was at each station. By the time lunch came around Vincent and I had a program that would pick up three small wooden blocks from a slide and place them in a 3D printed grid right next to the robot.
Our instructor Robin tasked the group with a challenge to pass the wooden blocks between the arms down the line of tables. It was one side of the room versus the other, and we had a bit of fun collaborating to make the fastest way to the other side. Unfortunately one of the robot arms was malfunctioning and we could not do the challenge, but eventually both sides eventually got at least two arms to pass a block to each other.
We had a little time to experiment with the arms as well—Cole, Charlie, Bailey, and Ryan were able to get one arm to drop a block and have another one catch it midair!
Towards the end of the day, we were invited to watch a robotics presentation by local university students. At the beginning of the semester, they were assigned a project to build a robot that would ascend and optionally descend an undisclosed number of stairs. There were a variety of solutions built by groups of six students including one that had duck shaped arms to lift itself up and down. A few groups had some bugs and only a few were able to successfully descend, but everyone had fun seeing their robot in action.
Afterwards we were invited to participate in a celebratory brat and beer dinner. There were options for a classic sausage, veggie kabob, and fried cheese alongside a Chopfab beer or various refreshments. The group then split up and went out for a chill night in the town.
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Riley N.
