Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Tuesday, May 24: Frachwoche day two and the start of the robotics challenge!

Today was the first day of preliminary design for our robotics challenge. We began the day by following the product design process. We created a "project requirements" document, a "functional block diagram," a "morphological box," an "evaluation matrix," and an initial sketch. The goal by the end of the day was to create a prototype design for the robots for all the groups so we could all begin 3D printing overnight. By the end of the day, it was expected that many of the prints would take around 12 hours to complete. Hopefully, they will all be ready for us to start assembling tomorrow!

Today was the first day of preliminary design for our robotics challenge. We began the day by following the product design process. We created a "project requirements" document, a "functional block diagram," a "morphological box," an "evaluation matrix," and an initial sketch. The goal by the end of the day was to create a prototype design for the robots for all the groups so we could all begin 3D printing overnight. By the end of the day, we expected that many of the prints would take around 12 hours to complete. Hopefully, they will all be ready for us to start assembling tomorrow!


 
The challenge was introduced last week before we began our instruction. This year’s challenge is to design a small line-following robot that can complete three different courses faster than the rest of the groups. The first course, called “Pedal to the Metal,” will be a simple path where the robot will aim to go as fast as possible while staying on the given line. The second course, called “Brain Washer,” will be a course with different twists and turns. The final course, “Over and Around,” will have a variety of obstacles such as 1cm bumps, ping pong balls to collect, walls, and see-saws. The winner of the challenge will be the team that has the fastest combined time on all three courses.



This challenge will be done in groups of three or four. A challenge we were given earlier was creating a relevant group name. The winner of the name challenge won free ice cream from our instructor Micheal. The names of the five groups were, "Whose Line is it Anyway," ‘"4 dudes and a Car," "T.U.R.I. ( The Ultimate Robotics Innovators ), " and the last group used a large quote from Friedrich Nietzsche. The winner was group T.U.R.I because "turi" is Swiss slang for tourists.

For lunch, we ate at the Mensa and had a type of pizza where the crust was a giant tater tot, and the tater tot was covered with cheese and toppings such as bacon. Dinner was at Frachwoche. People ate Schnitzels, bratwurst, or veggie burgers, and there was beer for those who wanted it. After dinner, most people spent time hanging out together at the hostel and many went to bed early after an exciting and exhausting few days.



--
Kaustav S.