Save the Earth Challenge

My day one progress was not good. I did not manage to save the earth nor the moon; I needed a complete redesign of my device.

My day 2 progress was the success of saving the moon and planet. i did this by rocketing a sufficiently heavy piece of material to change the course of the moon's path. It took many test, but I successfully got the moon into a stable orbit. Since the computer doesn't support recording, I included a graph of the moon's path. The Earth sits at Roughly (100, 80). 

Algadoo Marble Drop Machine

On day 1, I created the first half of the Marble Machine. The largest challenge was building the elevator for the Marbles.

On day 2, I finished the marble machine and adjusted some of the earlier platforms.

The computers do not allow for video recording, so it can be shown to Mr. Probert at the next opportunity.

Algadoo Bridge Challenge

Day 1:

I went through a few different designs looking for a bridge that would work. I did not find a working bridge, but this is what I have for a template for Thursdays class.

Day 2:

After a few revisions and re-do's, I managed to successfully create a working bridge. The car makes it across with a 100% success rate, but as video recording does not work on this computer, I will have to show Mr. Probert in person.

Algoldo Day 2 - Lesson Tutorials

Float and Sink:

          For this lesson, I have created 6 objects; glass, ice, gold, stone, steel and rubber. Out of these, I predict that the rubber and ice will float on the surface of the water, the glass will float in the water, and the gold, stone and steel will sink to the bottom.

          Each ball has different properties. in the context of this lesson, the property that matter is the density, the kg/m2.

          Some objects float while others sink because of their density. the objects with density more dense then water will sink, while the objects that are less dense will float.

          When the objects are put in the water, they will transfer it their kinetic energy, thus moving it around, then float or sink to where their density allows.

          I expect the majority of the iceberg to be pushed underwater by its weight, but for the tip to float due  to its density.

          When the iceberg melts or pieces fall off, it will float closer to the surface. This is because its weight will lower, thus putting less pressure on the water and allowing the water to push it up higher. The pieces that break off will be (relatively) light, and will float the the top.

          If you turn the iceberg into water, the iceberg that was slightly above the water level will level out, and the water level will be slightly higher then before.

          The iceberg floats because its density is lower then the density of the water.

          When the icebergs shape is changed, the water pressure around it will keep the ice cut off trapped against the iceberg.

          When the iceberg melts, the water level raised slightly as the ice above the surface flattened out.

Friction and Surfaces:

          I think that there will be a difference on how the object picks up speed because of how much friction each box has.

          When the plane of each slop is increased, the object slides faster and farther; when it is decreased, it slides a shorter distance and slower.

          The speed and distance is different for each plane, because each plane has a different amount of friction.

Algado Day 1 - Tutorials

Tutorial 1:

Tutorial 2:

Tutorial 3:

Lego Mindstorms (plus Swift Playgrounds) Wrap-up

1.          During the unit, I accomplished many things, from innovations on basic designs to
problem solving on questions assigned. During the Swift Playgrounds unit, I problem solved and overcame problems quickly and efficiently. This is shown on the last day of the Swift Playgrounds unit, where I created an algorithm to successfully traverse the terrain.

            During the LEGOmindstorms unit, I built built the Scorpion Unit and successfully ran all of the programs. All of the tests ran as expected. 

            During the Animal Rescue unit, I innovated and tested different designs in order to complete the tests. I had to find a way to attach the legs, then later I innovated in order to improve the process of walking for the turtle.

2.          During the unit, I learned many things about coding and engineering. When we started coding in the Swift Playgrounds unit, I learned how to identify and create algorithms. This proved helpful during the LEGOmindstorms unit, where I had to implement my algorithms onto my machine, where I learned about the importance of hands on work. During the last unit, where we created a turtle, I learned how to implement the knowledge that I had previously learned, in order to create a working robot.

3.          My favorite part about working with LEGOmindstorms was innovating and improving the design of the turtle. This allowed my creative side to flourish, and was a great learning experience. 

4.          The most difficult part in building and coding the turtle was attempting to synchronize the legs. It took me lots of time and effort, but by looking through previous lessons, I was able to synchronize the legs.

5.            In the entire unit, my biggest challenge was working in the parameters that were given to me in each problem. I overcame them by looking at the functions they gave me, then creating a mental map of what I need to code in order the complete the level.

6.          If I could re-do the entire unit, I would create functions for each level. Not only does this make the coding faster, but it cleans the code up and makes it easier for others to read my code. Another thing I would do is put comments in my code. It is a relatively small thing, but it makes looking back at your code infinitely easier, as well as making your code accessible for others.

7.          Given the opportunity, I would love to code more. It has been my favorite unit in IT this year, as well as last year. I do not care much about on what coding program I would learn on, but I would love to learn more code.

8.          Swift Playground teaches you swift, the programming lanugage that Apple wrote. So, when you write code, you are writing in Swift.The function runFast would be written as such:

                    func runFast() {

                          moveForward()

                          moveForward()

                    }

Animal Rescue Final Turtle Design