Today you didn't actually work on the project. You woke up and made a card for mother's day, and helped to make crepes. Breakfast was very good and mom seemed to enjoy it.
Then you mowed the lawn. This took a long time as it was the first use of the tractor this year. So the battery was dead, the bagger didn't all fit together correctly on the first try, and a few other things went wrong. All in all, the lawn got mowed and looks pretty good.
You then went driving with your sister and father as she is taking her driver's test this week and wanted some tips on what they look for and where in Brunswick they take you.
While driving you got a little bit of project work done by talking to your father. You talked about how best to make brushes for energy transfer on the float. It turns out that it is better to use a brush with a metal strip as the "spring" instead of using one of the actual spring based brushes.
Finally you had diner from Thai Garden and looked at a little physics in preparation for tomorrow's test.
Sunday, May 11, 2014
Weekend 1 - Mother's Day
Today you did not do too much for the project.
You woke up early and made your mom breakfast. Later you went on a walk and had a nice dinner.
For the project you finished setting up the Python Server/Socket Module on the BeagleBone. You also decided on different ways to run the communication/data/motor system due to some deficiencies in the software. Overall though the software is looking good. Your very excited to get RoboGoby 1.0 into the water and working!
As promised, below is a video of the rocket fuel you made yesterday:
You woke up early and made your mom breakfast. Later you went on a walk and had a nice dinner.
For the project you finished setting up the Python Server/Socket Module on the BeagleBone. You also decided on different ways to run the communication/data/motor system due to some deficiencies in the software. Overall though the software is looking good. Your very excited to get RoboGoby 1.0 into the water and working!
As promised, below is a video of the rocket fuel you made yesterday:
Saturday, May 10, 2014
Weekend 1 - Some Free Time
You had a good Saturday, although you did not get that much done for the project. In the morning you used the 5 pounds of Potassium Nitrate you bought to make an awesome sugar-rocket surprise. The stuff you made was explosive! and awesome.
At 13:15 Nick, Liam, and Josef came over. Josef work on streaming video, while Nick and Liam worked on the list of materials we need to purchase for the project. You helped Josef with the video streaming and finally finished the TCP Python Server (which took a while for some reason). You also helped create the list which included a few things. You ended up purchasing timing belts for the float, materials for the thrusters, and double o-ring seals for both the submersible and the float. You and Nick decided on the best way to seal the sub and the float and walked away feeling good about both designs. You also read the post Nick wrote about the first half Float V2, edited it, and added some pictures. You also planned on meeting Monday morning at Nick's to choose the brushes need for the power transfer on the float (from the batteries through the spool and into the wire).
You had a productive day because the materials you purchased today will allow you to finish the entire float next weekend (including the tether). It will also allow you to start work on the actual submersible (by hopefully finishing the LEDs and heat-sinks).
After spending around 3 hours on the project, you made some more rocket fuel and ignited it in some water (it burned surprising well half submerged). Tomorrow you will have a video demonstration...sadly you did not take a video today.
Your also excited to read the new volume of Make!
At 13:15 Nick, Liam, and Josef came over. Josef work on streaming video, while Nick and Liam worked on the list of materials we need to purchase for the project. You helped Josef with the video streaming and finally finished the TCP Python Server (which took a while for some reason). You also helped create the list which included a few things. You ended up purchasing timing belts for the float, materials for the thrusters, and double o-ring seals for both the submersible and the float. You and Nick decided on the best way to seal the sub and the float and walked away feeling good about both designs. You also read the post Nick wrote about the first half Float V2, edited it, and added some pictures. You also planned on meeting Monday morning at Nick's to choose the brushes need for the power transfer on the float (from the batteries through the spool and into the wire).
You had a productive day because the materials you purchased today will allow you to finish the entire float next weekend (including the tether). It will also allow you to start work on the actual submersible (by hopefully finishing the LEDs and heat-sinks).
After spending around 3 hours on the project, you made some more rocket fuel and ignited it in some water (it burned surprising well half submerged). Tomorrow you will have a video demonstration...sadly you did not take a video today.
Your also excited to read the new volume of Make!
A laid back Saturday
Nick, your Saturday was pretty easy. You slept quite late by your standards (1030), this was a very good thing as you had felt pretty sick the night before. Upon waking you felt much more rested and not as sick.
You sat down to write a blog post around 1130, and you took about 45 minutes to write up the first draft of the Float V2 - Spool half. Later on Josef and Travis edited, added pictures to, and posted that blog post.
Around 1315 all four of you met up at Travis's house. You worked on video streaming again, getting quite close to a solution. You and Liam also looked for waterproof lock boxes that could store the electronics in the submersible. This proved impossible as there were none with the right sizes that were also rated to any depth greater than 100ft.
With that in mind you started thinking about other possible ways to water proof the electronics. You decided to get some o-rings from McMaster as well as latches. You plan to use these to test a couple possible answers, and if one works to make the final version sometime in the next week and a half.
Along with that you got some things from McMaster for the float, the LED heat sinks, and Mr. Amory's kids down at Baxter Academy.
Lastly you went to the Middle School's production of the musical Annie at the Mast Landing School.
All in all it was a laid back day and you feel very recovered after being tired, sore, and sick due to yesterday's frisbee game against Cumberland.
You sat down to write a blog post around 1130, and you took about 45 minutes to write up the first draft of the Float V2 - Spool half. Later on Josef and Travis edited, added pictures to, and posted that blog post.
Around 1315 all four of you met up at Travis's house. You worked on video streaming again, getting quite close to a solution. You and Liam also looked for waterproof lock boxes that could store the electronics in the submersible. This proved impossible as there were none with the right sizes that were also rated to any depth greater than 100ft.
With that in mind you started thinking about other possible ways to water proof the electronics. You decided to get some o-rings from McMaster as well as latches. You plan to use these to test a couple possible answers, and if one works to make the final version sometime in the next week and a half.
Along with that you got some things from McMaster for the float, the LED heat sinks, and Mr. Amory's kids down at Baxter Academy.
Lastly you went to the Middle School's production of the musical Annie at the Mast Landing School.
All in all it was a laid back day and you feel very recovered after being tired, sore, and sick due to yesterday's frisbee game against Cumberland.
Friday, May 9, 2014
An Evening's Work
Sadly today was not as productive as you hoped for. In the morning you took the AP Language and Composition test. After the test, you quickly grabbed something to eat, and then headed back to school. At school you handed in your physics final and dropped a slinky off of a balcony. After physics you handed in your WHAP assignments and said your goodbyes to Mr. Mellon. After that you waited to check in with Mrs. Donovan about this Senior Project.
After school ended you drove Freeport B (frisbee) to Twin Brooks and then headed over to Cumberland Fair Grounds. At 3:30 you played Cumberland A. You had a good, intense game, and was glad for the challenge.
After Frisbee you drove home and took a quick shower in order to make it to Cabaret on time. You watched the Cabaret and were especially drawn to the free food (cookies and crackers + cheese).
After the concert you met back at your house with Josef and Nick. You found an easy way to stream data between the float in the sub and tested the power draw of the smaller stepper motor on the float. You also did some more research on measuring the life of our onboard batteries using an embedded linux system (either BeagleBone or Raspberry Pi).
Most of the day you would have rather been working on the project, but many things made this impossible.
And here is a video of a slinky drop similar to the one you did today:
After school ended you drove Freeport B (frisbee) to Twin Brooks and then headed over to Cumberland Fair Grounds. At 3:30 you played Cumberland A. You had a good, intense game, and was glad for the challenge.
After Frisbee you drove home and took a quick shower in order to make it to Cabaret on time. You watched the Cabaret and were especially drawn to the free food (cookies and crackers + cheese).
After the concert you met back at your house with Josef and Nick. You found an easy way to stream data between the float in the sub and tested the power draw of the smaller stepper motor on the float. You also did some more research on measuring the life of our onboard batteries using an embedded linux system (either BeagleBone or Raspberry Pi).
Most of the day you would have rather been working on the project, but many things made this impossible.
And here is a video of a slinky drop similar to the one you did today:
A narrow victory
Today you managed to get a lot of work done despite being at the school all day. This morning you attended World History class, where you turned in your final and reviewed for the test. After that you went and worked on the heat sinks for the LEDs in the library. This took up all of period 3/4 and Falcon as well as some of lunch. The final solution involved gaining five degrees in two separate ways, so that in combination they make an angle of ten degrees with the front of the submersible. This was a very confusing way to solve the problem and took a lot of trial and error.
After lunch came physics, in which we reviewed for the AP exam and turned in our finals. We also discussed various physics phenomena, and decided to test one by dropping a slink off the FPAC balcony. It is really cool to watch because the bottom of the slinky stay suspended in the air, mere inches above the ground, while the top of the slinky fall all the way down. Only when the top reaches and hits the bottom does it fall the few inches to the ground.
After physics you, Travis, and Josef met up with Ms. Donovan for the advisor meeting. Liam wasn't in attendance as he had chorus. The meeting went well and you now know that we are presenting to about 800 people for the MLTI conference.
After school ended you headed to the ultimate game with the rest of the team. After a back and forth game that was very physical FU came out victorious (11-10) at hard cap. After a quick diner and shower you watched the Cabaret (which was quite good).
After that you and Josef headed over to Travis's house and made a breakthrough on the motors and possibly video streaming. It turns out you can easily control the amperage draw of the servo motors by adjusting the trim pot on the controller board. Josef and Travis found that you would be able to send videos via a socket server, the only questions that remain is how fast is it and can you write over a file so it doesn't get really big.
After lunch came physics, in which we reviewed for the AP exam and turned in our finals. We also discussed various physics phenomena, and decided to test one by dropping a slink off the FPAC balcony. It is really cool to watch because the bottom of the slinky stay suspended in the air, mere inches above the ground, while the top of the slinky fall all the way down. Only when the top reaches and hits the bottom does it fall the few inches to the ground.
After physics you, Travis, and Josef met up with Ms. Donovan for the advisor meeting. Liam wasn't in attendance as he had chorus. The meeting went well and you now know that we are presenting to about 800 people for the MLTI conference.
After school ended you headed to the ultimate game with the rest of the team. After a back and forth game that was very physical FU came out victorious (11-10) at hard cap. After a quick diner and shower you watched the Cabaret (which was quite good).
After that you and Josef headed over to Travis's house and made a breakthrough on the motors and possibly video streaming. It turns out you can easily control the amperage draw of the servo motors by adjusting the trim pot on the controller board. Josef and Travis found that you would be able to send videos via a socket server, the only questions that remain is how fast is it and can you write over a file so it doesn't get really big.
Finally a full day's work (5/8)
Nick, you had a very busy day this thursday. You woke up early so that you and the rest of Limbeck could get signatures and turn in your senior project paper work. After meeting up at school you, Liam, and Travis headed to your house. Josef didn't come as he had AP Lit testing until noon.
At your house you got and amp clamp and a big battery to test stepper motor. You then all headed to Travis's where you worked on various things. Unfortunately one of them was not the motor because while you remembered all the auxiliary parts, you forgot the motor. Instead you worked a bit with camera streaming. The majority of the time at Travis's (from about 0900 to 1220) you made SolidWorks designs of the LED lights, their heat sinks, and the camera. As you have chosen the four inch PVC for the sub it turns out that putting the lights inside creates many logistical problems.
This difficulty led you back to the original design with the lights on the outside of the submersible. Unfortunately the submarine is now a much smaller diameter and so the designs had to be changed. You had almost no problems with the lights that will be pointed straight out, however the lights that will be angled down proved more challenging. You found it nearly impossible to get the ten of even fifteen degrees of slant desired.
You left Travis's at 1220 to for to Liam's for lunch, which his mother had kindly offered to make. We had great sandwiches, ate some chips, and played with the dog for a bit. You then stopped by your house on the way to Travis's to get the motor you had originally forgotten. Upon returning to Travis's you spent about 45 minutes trying to test the amperage on the motor to no avail.
Frisbee was then from 1430 to 1630 as usual; unusually there were very few people there and you played nine on nine with two subs each.
After practice you went home and, while watching the Bruins overtime win against the Montreal Canadians, you finished both the AP World History and AP Physics finals which were due on Friday.
At your house you got and amp clamp and a big battery to test stepper motor. You then all headed to Travis's where you worked on various things. Unfortunately one of them was not the motor because while you remembered all the auxiliary parts, you forgot the motor. Instead you worked a bit with camera streaming. The majority of the time at Travis's (from about 0900 to 1220) you made SolidWorks designs of the LED lights, their heat sinks, and the camera. As you have chosen the four inch PVC for the sub it turns out that putting the lights inside creates many logistical problems.
This difficulty led you back to the original design with the lights on the outside of the submersible. Unfortunately the submarine is now a much smaller diameter and so the designs had to be changed. You had almost no problems with the lights that will be pointed straight out, however the lights that will be angled down proved more challenging. You found it nearly impossible to get the ten of even fifteen degrees of slant desired.
You left Travis's at 1220 to for to Liam's for lunch, which his mother had kindly offered to make. We had great sandwiches, ate some chips, and played with the dog for a bit. You then stopped by your house on the way to Travis's to get the motor you had originally forgotten. Upon returning to Travis's you spent about 45 minutes trying to test the amperage on the motor to no avail.
Frisbee was then from 1430 to 1630 as usual; unusually there were very few people there and you played nine on nine with two subs each.
After practice you went home and, while watching the Bruins overtime win against the Montreal Canadians, you finished both the AP World History and AP Physics finals which were due on Friday.
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