In week 9, we had a two-hour meeting, then a fun pool party. We got a lot done, and here is a brief summary.
We started off with designing our logo, and we all had two similar icons: ducks and gears.
The gear represents '"Tech" as the duck represents "Duckies". This forms our team name.
When we finished reviewing our logo, we moved on to some programming.
The girls learned about the robot and the boys learned and explored programming.
After this, we ran out of time and called it to an end. We finished off with a fun pool party!
Week 8!
We are already at week 8, and we are getting deep into the topic.
We spent most of our time working on how we would design our city. Here are some key points.
Energy:
If we decide to build our city near the ocean, then we can gather power from:
Solar Panels
Windmills - Seabreeze
Tides
The heat of the ocean
And, we can establish a rule in our government so that all buildings and houses must operate with solar power and renewable fuel.
Water:
We must replenish water bodies and ecosystems
We can reduce the amount of water and energy used
And there are three r's for water, just like for keeping our earth clean:
Reuse, Recover and Recycle
We also need to have a water-sensitive urban design
We need to have water regeneration, like how in space, astronauts drink purified pee
There are also different types of water:
Black Water: the water from the toilet, can't be recycled
Gray Water: everything else which can be regenerated
We also want to keep our city clean and safe, so we thought of these ideas:
Every product could have a computer chip or tag with the buyer's name on it, so if the product got littered, the police could scan the chip and find the litterer.
That's what we brainstormed for week 8!
We spent most of our time working on how we would design our city. Here are some key points.
Energy:
If we decide to build our city near the ocean, then we can gather power from:
Solar Panels
Windmills - Seabreeze
Tides
The heat of the ocean
And, we can establish a rule in our government so that all buildings and houses must operate with solar power and renewable fuel.
Water:
We must replenish water bodies and ecosystems
We can reduce the amount of water and energy used
And there are three r's for water, just like for keeping our earth clean:
Reuse, Recover and Recycle
We also need to have a water-sensitive urban design
We need to have water regeneration, like how in space, astronauts drink purified pee
There are also different types of water:
Black Water: the water from the toilet, can't be recycled
Gray Water: everything else which can be regenerated
We also want to keep our city clean and safe, so we thought of these ideas:
Every product could have a computer chip or tag with the buyer's name on it, so if the product got littered, the police could scan the chip and find the litterer.
We can get everyone to sign in when they go to the beach, so when nighttime comes, they can call everyone who signed in to help clean up the beach.
That's what we brainstormed for week 8!
How I Do My Role As A Finance Manager
The finance manager calculates and keeps track of all the total income and expenses. In other words, I keep track of all the money coming in and going out of the team. Finance is important because we need to know how much money we have to pay for what we need. The order manager and the coaches place orders and I give them the money to pay for the orders. We keep track of the money this way so everybody is happy, and does not think it’s unfair.
I also post income and expenses (as seen in the pictures above). If we need money, we send emails to our team so everyone can pitch in. That is how I do my job as the finance manager.
My Alaska Trip
My family and I went to Alaska in the first week of June. In Alaska, we visited a few cities: Seward, Whittier, Anchorage, and Fairbanks. We also camped with an RV in the heart of Denali National Park.
We flew from Austin to Fairbanks via SFO and Seattle on Alaska Airlines. When we reached Fairbanks, we didn't get our suitcase in the baggage claim! My parents had to file a claim with the Airlines personnel. Luckily they called us back before we left for Anchorage with the rental car, saying they will deliver our suitcase to Anchorage. In Anchorage, we rested one night in an Airbnb. Anchorage is the biggest city in Alaska, it's a major business center and the biggest seaplane base in the world.
The next morning we drove to Whittier. In Whittier, we went on a 26 Glacier cruise in Prince William Sound in Chugach National Forest. A tunnel in Whittier is the longest shared-rail, vehicle tunnel in North America. It takes 7 minutes to drive through that tunnel! Fewer than 300 people live in Whittier and they all live in one 14 story building called The Begich Tower. lunch was served on the cruise and I also earned my Junior Ranger Badge for Chugach National Forest. I was super excited when I saw humpback whales, sea otters, sea lions, mountain sheep, black bears, and glaciers calving ( breaking apart and falling into the ocean) on the cruise.
Then we drove to Seward where we stayed in a WWII Quonset hut for 2 nights. It still looked pretty nice even though it was built in WWII. In Seward, most of the buildings are built around the mountain ranges because it is famous for its scenery. In Seward, we went to a place where people train Iditarod dogs and we actually got to ride them. We also visited Exit Glacier where I earned my Kenai Fjords National Park Badge.
Later we drove to Anchorage where we rented an RV from Great Alaskan Holidays and drove to Matanuska Glacier where we wore crampons and helmets and hiked up the glacier ice falls.
Next, we drove to Denali National Park and camped there for 3 nights in Teklanika campground. We hiked a lot in Denali. We saw grizzly bears, black bears, Dall Sheep, Red fox, moose, caribou, we also saw the beautiful Denali mountain. The park has 6.6 million acres where they preserve wildlife. The Eilson visitor center is built on the mountain so there is more view of the tundra than building. It's built smaller so it uses less material. It uses less fossil fuel and more sustainable energy because it uses solar panels. I also earned a Junior Ranger badge here.
Finally, we drove to Fairbanks and went to this 800-mile long pipeline all the way through Alaska, called the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) and gives petroleum to all of North America. Then we went to the airport and flew back home.
We flew from Austin to Fairbanks via SFO and Seattle on Alaska Airlines. When we reached Fairbanks, we didn't get our suitcase in the baggage claim! My parents had to file a claim with the Airlines personnel. Luckily they called us back before we left for Anchorage with the rental car, saying they will deliver our suitcase to Anchorage. In Anchorage, we rested one night in an Airbnb. Anchorage is the biggest city in Alaska, it's a major business center and the biggest seaplane base in the world.
The next morning we drove to Whittier. In Whittier, we went on a 26 Glacier cruise in Prince William Sound in Chugach National Forest. A tunnel in Whittier is the longest shared-rail, vehicle tunnel in North America. It takes 7 minutes to drive through that tunnel! Fewer than 300 people live in Whittier and they all live in one 14 story building called The Begich Tower. lunch was served on the cruise and I also earned my Junior Ranger Badge for Chugach National Forest. I was super excited when I saw humpback whales, sea otters, sea lions, mountain sheep, black bears, and glaciers calving ( breaking apart and falling into the ocean) on the cruise.
Then we drove to Seward where we stayed in a WWII Quonset hut for 2 nights. It still looked pretty nice even though it was built in WWII. In Seward, most of the buildings are built around the mountain ranges because it is famous for its scenery. In Seward, we went to a place where people train Iditarod dogs and we actually got to ride them. We also visited Exit Glacier where I earned my Kenai Fjords National Park Badge.
Later we drove to Anchorage where we rented an RV from Great Alaskan Holidays and drove to Matanuska Glacier where we wore crampons and helmets and hiked up the glacier ice falls.
Next, we drove to Denali National Park and camped there for 3 nights in Teklanika campground. We hiked a lot in Denali. We saw grizzly bears, black bears, Dall Sheep, Red fox, moose, caribou, we also saw the beautiful Denali mountain. The park has 6.6 million acres where they preserve wildlife. The Eilson visitor center is built on the mountain so there is more view of the tundra than building. It's built smaller so it uses less material. It uses less fossil fuel and more sustainable energy because it uses solar panels. I also earned a Junior Ranger badge here.
Finally, we drove to Fairbanks and went to this 800-mile long pipeline all the way through Alaska, called the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) and gives petroleum to all of North America. Then we went to the airport and flew back home.
Week 7
This week, for our core values, we did a robotics crossword, but, with a twist.
We were each given an identical crossword puzzle, and our goal was to find as many of the 24 words in the puzzle. We could communicate and work on our own, but the point of the activity was teamwork.
We found every word as a team except one word. Our coach gave us obvious feedback: double check your work! However, we did really well and got it done nicely.
Afterward, another coach presented us with the same two robot designs we agreed to build in our previous meetings: the Box Robot 3 and the SUV robot.
With the robots in front of us, we looked and each of the components and features of each robot. We saw some ways we could improve and how each robot was better and both worse than the other robot. We will build a final robot and try them out, make some changes, and make other improvements later.
We also established some guidelines for dealing with the pieces, like when building, we have to be careful to keep the pieces organized.
We were each given an identical crossword puzzle, and our goal was to find as many of the 24 words in the puzzle. We could communicate and work on our own, but the point of the activity was teamwork.
We found every word as a team except one word. Our coach gave us obvious feedback: double check your work! However, we did really well and got it done nicely.
Afterward, another coach presented us with the same two robot designs we agreed to build in our previous meetings: the Box Robot 3 and the SUV robot.
With the robots in front of us, we looked and each of the components and features of each robot. We saw some ways we could improve and how each robot was better and both worse than the other robot. We will build a final robot and try them out, make some changes, and make other improvements later.
We also established some guidelines for dealing with the pieces, like when building, we have to be careful to keep the pieces organized.
Finally, we watched a TED talk about how cities are solving problems efficiently, and uniquely, and also discussed what we learned in the video.
You can find the link here.
That's all for week 7!
Week 6 - Our Meeting
We started off our sixth meeting with a fun jigsaw puzzle and we solved it in 21 minutes. Refer to the Core Values of Week 6 blog post to learn more.
Next, we had a teammate who came back from Alaska! We loved Alaska and learned so much more about this state. Again, refer to the Alaska post to learn more!
After this, we began to sort LEGO pieces into containers so it would we easy to find each piece when building. Our coaches taught us what each piece is called, how it works, and how can it be used in our robots and attachments.
There wasn't too much this meeting, but we learned a lot!
Core Values of Week 6
Today, we did a fun core values activity. It was solving a jigsaw puzzle our coach gave us, and we tried to solve it as fast as we could.
We worked hard, and we got it done in 21 minutes!
When we finished, we found out what we could've done better:
Be more organized: we had pieces all over the place, so it was hard to understand what pieces we need and what we have already figured out.
Stop Yelling: We yelled a lot! We were pretty loud, and it gave us no help. Each conversation was really important, and screaming never gets points across.
Some things we did do well were:
Split up: we naturally divided up into three groups, creating a separate part of the puzzle, and connecting at the end.
Motivation: We stayed motivated and didn't give up.
We needed to learn a lot from this because this is coming back in a few weeks!
We worked hard, and we got it done in 21 minutes!
When we finished, we found out what we could've done better:
Be more organized: we had pieces all over the place, so it was hard to understand what pieces we need and what we have already figured out.
Stop Yelling: We yelled a lot! We were pretty loud, and it gave us no help. Each conversation was really important, and screaming never gets points across.
Some things we did do well were:
Split up: we naturally divided up into three groups, creating a separate part of the puzzle, and connecting at the end.
Motivation: We stayed motivated and didn't give up.
We needed to learn a lot from this because this is coming back in a few weeks!
Active Listening
Here are eight core principles:
- Stop Talking: Don't talk
- Prepare Yourself to Listen: Relax
- Put the Speaker at Ease: Help the speaker be free to say anything
- Remove Distractions: Pay attention to what is being said
- Empathize: Try to understand the speaker's point of view
- Be Patient: Just because there is a long pause doesn't mean you talk
- Listen for Ideas; Not just Words: Figure out the whole picture, not just little pieces
Active listening is when you focus on what the speaker is saying and you show signs/keys of listening to the speaker for the speaker to understand that you are listening, such as:
- Smiling: A small smile can tell the speaker that you are listening and the speaker will become confident on what he/she may be saying
- Making eye-contact: Looking at the speaker will tell the speaker that you are listening and not getting distracted
- Posture: When you sit up straight you tell the speaker that you are listening and not fidgeting and getting distracted
Read more at: https://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/active-listening.html
Week 5 - Austin's Issues
Today, we discussed the issues of Austin, looked at some robot designs, and find out how to express our ideas with physical parts easily and accurately.
We talked about some issues about our home city, Austin, and what we can do to improve our city.
The SUV can't turn well because it's so big, and the attachments take a lot of time and parts to make, causing a very costly robot design.
On the other hand, box robots in general are stable and can hold a heavy load, and the robot can run along the side of the walls of the board, providing guidance.
We took some time to make a brief structure, but we realized that it's hard to discuss our thoughts when dealing with physical parts.
The solution was to break up the project into different parts, then assign each person to a part, so nobody has to communicate when building the robot.
We will post a table with all of our pros and cons about the robots we suggested. For now, we will build the box robot 3 and try out the SUV box robot.
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