Thanksgiving Break is Over...

Tomorrow will be the start of my 13th class week. I am surprised that it is already approaching the end of my first semester in college. I am looking forward to next semester, and I hope that it goes as well as my first.

My vacation was nice. It is always nice to have a vacation, but the problem lies in how easy it is to forget stuff over the break and having to 'remind' yourself when you get back. I ordered a soldering iron the Thursday before break. It is the same exact kind of soldering iron as what is used at Vermont Tech. I am used to using this soldering iron and I really like it, so I decided I would buy the same thing.

I will post the grades from my exams when I get them back tomorrow...

Robot Car 100% Complete!!!

This is the first video that I have posted on my blog. I recorded this using my PlayStation Eye camera. The camera has awesome quality, and hopefully the quality isn't reduced too bad when it is uploaded. I do a 360 degree view twice and then I show you the very first test run! This video was made before I finished two sets of wires, but I still managed to make it work since the copper wires fit into their spots without having to be soldered to their pins.

I hope you like this video. I have two dials (known as potentiometers) that control each wheel and how long they will back up for each sensor that detects a collision. I need to fine tune the settings so that the car won't do what is almost a complete turn-around. I want it to be angled after it turns around so it won't ever go back and forth between two objects (like two walls in a hallway).

I have this blog open for comments also, so if you want to comment on any post on the blog then feel free to do so. I only ask that there are no negative/offensive comments left on the blog.

Well, Thanksgiving Break officially starts today. I think that I am going to start getting my stuff together to go home. I can't say whether or not I will post over break. If I find something to post about then I will do so...

Robot Car 99% Complete!

I confirmed with my professor yesterday that the electronics labs are open to people just coming in and coming out anytime they want. This was great news because now I know that I can have an electronics lab whenever time allows. I decided to take advantage of this new found knowledge and I spent about 3 hours in one of the lab rooms working on my robot car. The time flew right by because I enjoy working on it. I would have stayed to finish the car, but I had to head off to the dining hall before it closed for the night.

Anyway, I only have 2 more sets of wires to complete. Each wire has 4 connections on either end meaning that I have 16 more connections to make. I plan on finishing the robot car tomorrow during my free time, so I can show everyone over Thanksgiving break.

I will try to post any changes I make before leaving for vacation...

Week 12 Almost Over...

Yup. It is hard to believe, but week 12 is just about over. I usually end up being in this state of mind after my Technical Math class on Wednesdays because Thursdays and Fridays are easy days. My 2-hour Expository Writing lab is canceled for Friday which means that I only have 2 hours of classes both Thursday and Friday. It also means that I will be able to go home for week sooner than I normally would.

I was originally planning on posting some updates for my robot car, with pictures, but I didn't make any real progress with it today. I was only able to get 2 wires setup so that they can be connected to my computer chips. I didn't see any reason to post a picture when the changes that were made were minimal. Soldering the wires can be extremely annoying sometimes because the wires have to be soldered to this tiny metal pins. It is hard to solder the wires to these pins because you have to find a way to press the wire against the pin while you are soldering it without melting the plastic piece that the pins are inside of and without melting the insulation around the wires.

It is okay that I didn't manage to finish my robot car today. My professor told me that the lab room is always open for students to use. I am planning on making it down to the lab room during my free time tomorrow and possibly on Friday. I would really like to get this robot car complete before vacation since my solder iron at home has a screw missing. I will be sure to post about any updates like usual...

One last thing, the picture above is of a flashlight I got from the Vermont Tech Open House last summer. I am thinking about rewiring it so it is part of my robot car. It should look pretty damn cool. :-)

UPDATE: Forgot to mention that I received a 98 on my last essay! The assignment was to write a compare & contrast essay start-to-finish in a 2-hour Friday lab. I finished my essay after about 45 minutes to an hour and I received a 98 on it! The last essay that I received a 98 on was my response to the New Orleans documentary, "When The Levees Broke." These two essays are my highest graded essays this semester! I turned in my Example essay on Wednesday. I am hoping that it is graded in the 90's like all the other ones. :-)

Robot Car Almost Complete...

I was able to make some major progress on my robot car today. I managed to build the Analog Controller Board, and the Sensor Board. The Analog Controller Board is the board with the white knobs on it. I can use the knobs on this board to adjust how quickly each tire will back up when the car detects a wall/obstacle. The Sensor Board is self explanatory as it is simply the board that has the sensors on it.

The next and final step is to test all of my chips to confirm that everything has been built right. After I test the chip I will have to make some wires to connect the chips to one another. It won't be long before the car is complete. I can't wait to show it off to everyone. :-)

Start of Week 11

It is now the start of week 11. It is hard to believe that there are only a few more weeks left until this semester ends. I have a week-long Thanksgiving break coming up soon. I am really looking forward to having some time off, and I am hoping that it doesn't cause me to forget anything from the week before. Sometimes it requires some extra studying to freshen up on topics that I have started to forget. It is a good practice to re-study old material because it will make new concepts easier to learn.

Over the weekend I went with my parents to visit my Aunt Helen and Uncle Jim. My cousin Daniel came back from Alaska so a great portion of my mom's side of the family was there. My parents decided to take everyone out to a fancy restaurant called "The Cow Palace." This was the second time that I had been to this restaurant, and the last time we had over 20 people. This time we had about 15 people and my parents tipped the waitress $100. Needless to say she was pretty excited about that.

Academically I don't have anything new going on. I know that I will definitely be working on my robot car on Wednesday. As usual, I am looking forward to Wednesday. Hopefully I will have some more stuff to post on the blog this week. With me working on my robot car on Wednesday I can guarantee that I will post on that day. :-)

Next Chip For My Robot Car

I wasn't able to work on my robot car this week because we did a lab about capacitors. We found out that capacitors are basically just strips of foil separated by a strip of plastic, usually rolled into a tube shape. When finished the chip pictured above will have 4 different knobs to adjust how quickly the car will back up when it detects walls.

To understand how these knobs will adjust the speed at which the car would back up, we basically did an experiment to see how a change in voltage over time could affect the speed of the car. I believe that next week I will be able to work on my robot car again. I might even do some work on it over the weekend when I go home. I am hoping that the construction of this chip goes just as well as the charger board did.

I realized that I had only posted once this week, so I decided I would take a picture of the next chip I will be building. I will be sure to take a picture of the finished product and post it on the blog also.

It is almost the end of week 10, and I am looking forward to going home this weekend... :-)

Expository Writing - Exam Graded

It is the start of week 10, and winter is on the way. It is going to suck having to walk to my classes in blizzards etc, but I do think that it will be much better than waiting for a school bus only to have it not show up after 20 minutes of waiting. I got my Expository Writing exam back today, and I also got my Fundamentals of Circuits I quiz back today from last week. My Expository Writing exam consisted of two 1-hour parts spread out over two days. This is the only exam that we have had for this class. I almost want to say that it is the only one that we will be having this year. It is week 10 and there are only 4 more to go after this (not including Thanksgiving break). After Thanksgiving break I will only have 2 weeks until the end of the semester. I think that next semester I will have a class in C programming.

Anyway, on to the results of my tests. On my Fundamentals of Circuits quiz I received an 11 out of 10! This is technically 110%. I answered a bonus question on the quiz correctly, and my quiz was perfect. :-) For my Expository Writing 2-hour exam (longest exam yet) I receive a 98! Yup. I am still rolling out the good grades... with the exception of Intro. to Technical Math... I will pass the class, but I would like to improve my grade as much as I can to be 100% sure. I shouldn't allow a poor grade in a math class ruin what would be an awesome GPA with the rest of my classes... :-)