Use a semester to dedicate all of your class time to one large project. In my case, Robotics

I chose to spend all of my time working on our robot as the leader of the robotics team here.We built by far the best robot we have ever built and laid some groundwork for a team to grow in the future. Our robot, “Robotomy” was a hefty 120lb 12 gauge steel intake shooter based on the Cranberry Alarm Ri3D. While it was the best robot in my opinion, it did have its own problems. There were significant wiring and programming issues as we experimented with mecanum drive for the first time ever.

The team we built also was a huge accomplishment. While there are not a lot of returning members next year, there are outside connections with new sponsors and mentors that will help to regrow the team next year under Orren Wolchok’s leadership. We organized and fully thought out our robot room and designed a pit that can be conducive to a productive team at competitions.

 What did you like most about this project?
     - This was a favorite project for me, I love our robotics team and really enjoyed being able to support it through class time and my assignments. 

 What did you like least about this project?
     - I really think this project was one of the best I have gotten to work on. It did not really have a huge con because it was doing what I wanted to do all day anyway. One issue was the lack of a larger group. It was really just me and Orren set working on this project daily and I think a bigger group during the day would have helped or more knowledgeable people working with tools. 

 How successful do you think this project was? 
     - I think this project was supper successful and was able to achieve even more than we set out to do. We may not have made it to state but we set a new baseline for what an Steel Talons robot should look like. We also grew relationships with the community and brought in enough funding and framework that next year should have an easier time that us to build even better. I cannot wait to see what the future teams build. 

 What are you most proud of in terms of the project, as a whole?
     - I was most proud of the mechanism and the sponsors that we grew relationships with. They were able to help us not only afford but design the intake and shooter. 

 What were the biggest challenges you faced?
     - We faced a lot of challenges with electrical problems on our robot. At competition our driver, who already did not have a lot of experience on this years robot had to deal with drive train failures and random communication problems. Back home we had problems with tools breaking and the actual cost of such a big project, we solved those through relationships with local manufacturing firms who sponsored us and helped with harder to build parts. 

 If you could have done something differently, what would it be?
     - I think one thing not as connected to the project but still robotics related would have been getting our driver some more time to practice. If our driver had a better knowledge of the random quirks or our programmers had more time to fix them we could have gone to state or won a blue banner. 

Build a glider using 3 or more materials. It needs to involve using the laser engraver on cardboard or wood.

We learned about some basic aerospace engineering concepts. Airfoils were the main focus, we had to learn about them and model them in onShape but were not required to build the glider using that info. We learned to use Adobe Illustrator for the laser to draw vectors and cut using them.

My build was terrible, it wasn’t very functional and fell apart every time I threw it. It did not travel very far and kind of just fell. I did learn that it is harder to make a glider than just making a few light wings and slapping a handle to throw it. I needed in the end to actually spend some time on it and design a good glider.

How can we protect and preserve our land, water, and space environments for a sustainable future?

This was more of a theoretical project than others. We learned more about what is wrong and thought through what could be done with our planet more than we really actually built a solution. The Engineering project was competing against each other as a part of a game of our choice. I chose to play the “space” game where we had the task of knocking everything “out of the atmosphere” (off a table).

My actual build was a large spinning arm that spread over the table and knocked everything off then when reversed folded back up into a smaller area. This is similar to how a satellite might deploy solar sails for power or its sensors. I was able to successfully clear the table even if I burnt through 4 or 5 vex motors to test it. I built a large gearbox to get the arms spinning up to a high rpm quickly because it really did not need an insane amount of torque to get going.

Design a building based on a public plan to improve a local community and follow the living building challenge.

In this project we explored the Georgia Tech Kendena Building and were inspired by other Living Buildings as part of the Living Building Challenge. The challenge is a set of standards that describes how a building that has negative waste could be designed and give back to the environment.

We designed an amphitheater for Auburn Georgia that can serve as an economic and population growth center in the middle of the downtown area.

Create a BC Era device, weapon (in cad), or marvel as a model or in CAD as a measure of your performance through the year and design skill. 

I designed a trebuchet because it is cool. I used Fusion 360, my choice of CAD software to build it and render it. While it looks a little cartoony on the background, in my honest opinion it still looks awesome and was built to a decent scale.

The trebuchet was a weapon used by large civilizations around the time period the book we are reading (Medea) in Language Arts is placed. While it is not mentioned in the book or really as a part of Greek culture it was in use by other cultures around Asia and the Middle East. Today we dont use trebuchets in active combat but the concept of throwing something really heavy a distance is still used in weapons like the Mortar and just about everyone knows about a trebuchet as an example of an engineering marvel of the period.

Create something using your knowledge and research into prosthetics, special education, and the tools available in the Lab to solve a real world problem.

In this project we built a device to better help a local student with spina bifida to mount their iPad for communication to their wheelchair. The current mount bumps into him, gets in the way of pushing himself, and is in the way when trying to get into the chair. Thats hardly independent. We built a mount to balance across the back of the chair, eliminating drift to the side, then the mount came down from the side to a better place that is still accessible, but not in the way. 

Create a carnival game that EVERYONE can understand and play. Something accessible to people of all walks of life.

In this project we designed and built a version of MonsterDrop using the cnc machine in our classroom to assist in milling the spinning circle then simplified the actual layout. We made the game more predictable for the students in our schools Special Education program to play in our special ed carnival.

Design literally anything that uses an Arduino and a motor. Then market it!

Design a system with simple materials to move as many beads at possible to the bottom via water. 

In this venture we we designed and built a system using household junk to move water and beads. We were given one liter of water, small and large plastic cups, scotch tape, popsicle sticks, and a class period to build. Our structure was not very successful. It fell apart when water hit a certain level and beads fell out voiding the points. 

Without impacting the environment can we create an eye catching drink brand?

In this project we designed a bottle that could be sold in one pack, but splits apart into 4 quarters to share. It was made out of biodegradable plastics and had a few small “gimmicks” like colors changing with temperature and a hand shape on the bottle to make it stand out among the rest. we designed 4 flavors that were more interesting sodas than we would normally see. Flavors like Arnold Palmer, Raspberry Lemonade, Blue-Orange Coconut, and Cherry Limeade.