Ben S.

Journal entries imported from the previous iteration of wisrd.org

BEN S.

Benjamin Stern: Engineering Team Incorporating AR in Crafts

April 16th

I worked on updating our instagram page and also started to work on a new body for the spider robot in order to make more space for the servos and also make the robot look more aesthetically pleasing.

April 2nd

This week we again worked on the coding of the servos and also fixed some of the circuitry. I also worked on updating our pages content.

March 26th

This week we continued to work on the spider robots code and its connection to the computer. We are having some trouble with input codes on the computer.

March 19th

This week i worked on the spider robot and gluing the servos together. We had some problems because some of the servos wouldn’t hold together with the glue. I also worked on helping with put the circuitry together.

March 12th

Again this week i worked on the instagram page and tried to find more pages and people to follow. I also added to the content of the page.

March 5th

This week I worked on the spider robot. We worked on putting the frame and the build together. I also worked on adding things to the instagram page and finding people to follow and have follow back.

February 26th

This week i mainly focussed on helping my spider robot team. We finished up the core coding for the Arduinos and started testing out the code on the actual motors that will control the legs of the spider robot. By the end of the week, it was successful! All the coding worked, and all that was left was to improve the coding and make it that we can control the motors with less inputs. For example being able to control all the legs with one input button on a computer.

February 19th

This week i continued to work on the instagram page and searching for people who our page should follow. i also helped my spider robot team with finishing up sanding down our 3d printed pieces.

February 12th

This week I worked on adding some new pictures to the instagram page and also worked on the spider robot. For the spider robot, we printed more legs and also printed frames for the electronics that is going to be incorporated in the robot. At first, some of the prints failed because parts of the smaller areas of the prints warped and drooped. We eventually corrected the print and made new parts that worked perfectly.

February 5th

This week I worked on updating the instagram page and following science pages and popular Stem pages. Wisrd’s goal is to use several social media platforms to spread the word about the great work we do. We use platforms like instagram, facebook, and twitter to do so.

January 29th

This week I worked on the Wisrd’s instagram page. We were initially locked out of the page because it was registered under an old Wisrd email. Joe and I contacted our schools email team and retrieved the username and password. I added a new photo of our what our VR department is doing and there is more to come!

January 23rd

This week we finished up the wooden support prototypes. and we also started to sand down the edges and grooves in order for the pieces to fit snuggly with each other and with the base of the spider.

January 16th

This week Blake and i started to work on constructing prototypes for the supports that we discussed last week. We used a dremel to put grooves in the wooden supports in order for them to overlap.

January 9th

This week our group worked on coding our servos and Arduinos. We also worked on constructing addons on the base of the spider. for example talked about adding additional supports to the bottom for additions support to the frame and to the electrical equipment going under the robot.

January 2nd

No school for the first half of the week and then i was sick for the last class of the week when we came back.

December 26th

NO SCHOOL

December 19th

NO SCHOOL

December 12th

This week we started our prints on the legs and continued making fine improvements on the other parts of the robot. We also started to work on the technical aspects of this project. We started work on our Arduino and other tech parts of the body.

December 5th

Our group worked on designs for the spider robot. Blake and Abe redesigned the legs and the body. The new design of the legs were based off of the legs that i made with wood although they are longer and rounder. The body of the robot, however, was completely redesigned. Although, the design that we had before was very rough and wasn’t agreed upon.

November 28th

The whole group worked on revising the group page on the spider robot

November 21st

NO SCHOOL

November 14th

This week our whole group took a break from working on the robot and worked on our group page. (needed a lot of work)

November 7th

This week I continued to work on the pieces of wood and tried to improve the pieces yet again. This time I used a piece of sandpaper to refine the pieces of wood and make them smoother. The main goal of this week is to smooth down the pieces and prepare them to be joined together to make the joint system.

October 31st

This week I worked on a second type of prototype for the spider robot. Blake started to work with Abe on coding the Arduino. I used the power tools given to us by the institute and cut the pieces of wood in order to have a more clean and smooth model of a leg.

October 24th

This week we decided to start making prototypes for the legs of the spider. Blake and I started to make the prototypes out of wood. We started with a design that had a joint between two pieces of wood. I spent the whole week with Blake trying to improve the piece of wood and see if there was a better design.

October 17th

With the most important part of the plane failing to print, we decided to change the project again. We decided to change our project to a spider robot. We started to think about designs and ways to make the parts. At first we thought about using 3d printed material, but because of the problems that we have had in the past, we decided to make our own parts.

October 10th

This week we changed the design of the fuselage and started to print in the 3d printer again. The print failed again! Because it seemed like every print was failing, we started to talk about changing our project once again. After more failed attempts to print the fuselage, we decided to change our project.

October 3rd

This week we completed our design for the fuselage and started to print the design in the 3d printer. Towards the end of the week we had already gone through 2 failed prints. We decided that in the following week we would improve the design on tinkercat.

September 26th

This week we started to work on designs for our new project, the AR plane. We took my idea of the military plane and blended it with the Concorde plane that was used by the nazis. We all liked how the Concorde was fast but agreed it would be too hard to build so we blended the two ideas. We took the wing design and tried to put them with the cargo plane. After Abe and Blake did the math and scaled the proper pieces, we started to print the fuselage with the 3d printer.

September 19th

This week my group decided to change our project to a plane design. We all thought that it would be more doable and easier to make the parts using the 3d printer. We immediately got to work and started to investigate! We all looked up different types of planes and proposed them one by one. I proposed two planes, a Boeing 747 and a military cargo plane. I thought the 747 would be a good idea because how big it was and how it would be easier to keep it from being destroyed in the air. But we came to the decision that it would be too hard to build and would need a bigger and stronger battery to power the plane (which would not fit in the plane). We then talked about the military cargo plane design. We all decided that it was doable and would be easier to build than my other idea. Eventually we came to the conclusion to blend the best planes and make our own!

September 12th

We started to work on creating a part for the helicopter using Tinkercad. Immediately after, we started to print. We tried to print multiple times and each time it failed. With each failed print we tried to tweak the Tinkercad render in order to see if that would solve the problem of it failing constantly. After deciding to use a kit and after looking thoroughly online, Blake and I told the group there were no kits that would fit our specific calculations and build.After that project failed, we started to brainstorm on another craft we could work on that would still utilize AR.

september 5th

This week Abe, Blake, Felix, and I continued to work on our helicopter designs and continued to further our project. We all discussed how we should go about making the actual body and pieces of the helicopter. Blake and I proposed to the group that we should use an RC helicopter kit that we would buy online. After talking about this, we came to the conclusion that we should try to make the parts ourself and if that failed, we would write a white paper and buy a kit online.

August 29th

This week the engineering team worked on planning the building of the helicopter. We are coming up with ideas on how to make it unique from regular remote controlled helicopters. I proposed the idea to build a remote controlled car with a 270˚ camera. I proposed using the old golf cart not being used in the garage. We talked about using the golf cart, but inevitably came to the decision that the golf cart could be a huge liability and could easily lose connection between the controller and cause damage or get someone seriously hurt. After scrapping that idea, we headed back up to the institute and came to the conclusion that we would work on an RC helicopter with AR.