If I Could Do It All Again...

If i had the opportunity to start this project back from the beginning I would be more thorough in every step of the process. Our first real competition is this sunday and we are all in a frantic race to the finnish. We have a number of lose ends to tie up, the greatest one being our engineering notebook. Had we started the notebook from day one it wouldn't be such an issue, but we didn't really get started until halfway through leaving a number of gaps for us to fill in last minute. All fingers are crossed, hopping all goes well this sunday.

Hypothesis

The two main components of a solid hypothesis are A: that it applies to a problem statement, and B: that it is testable. For example, if I am contemplating ways to enhance my test performance I may i may say that if i use black pen as appose to pencil i will wright faster. That statement pertains to my problem and is testable, making it a solid hypothesis. Feel free to submit any hypothesis you may have, I'd love to read them!

Progress Update

• Now that all of the gearing parts we needed have arrived the assembly of our robot is coming along smoothly, however, I can't say the same is true for the programing side of things. Our test of the robot's coding this past Wednesday ended in frustration as the robot did not respond to any of our controller commands. We are currently reviewing and revising the code and hopefully we will have enough success for me to post the third test drive video. For anyone who may have a similar issue within their project i would recommend staying calm, reviewing all possible causes of error and fixing them one at a time in order to determine the root of the problem to both fix and prevent future complications.

Asking Questions

To put it plainly my best questions are driven by my genuine interest in the topic. Though I'm not a curious person i find myself generally curious about food and fitness related topics. When I am truly curious about something i become obsessive about it, I have been known to research random things like how much peanut butter is ideal for a pb and j for hours on end until i am satisfied. Although it may seem useless to some i can now say that i make perfect pb and j's every time.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism can at times be difficult to identify, but can be just as easy to avoid if you are mindful. To avoid plagiarizing be sure the ideas you express are truly your own. We all know that quoting another idea word for word requires quotation marks, but it is key to note that paraphrasing another idea also requires a citation, even if you mix your own words into the it. In short, when in doubt you should at least cite your source to avoid being accused of plagiarism. Lots of professional scientists and researchers also find themselves conducting unethical research, not always because they are attempting to wrongfully take credit, but sometimes they simply fail to cite the source of the research that led them to their theories. I find that the best in people comes out when they have to form their own ideas, rather than mooching off of someone else's and that is also the #1, sure fire way to avoid plagiarizing.   

Progress Update

We have made great headway in the crafting of the scoop and dump mechanism of our robot and coding is coming along smoothly. Sadly we are not quite in a place yet for me to post another test drive video, but here are a few pictures to keep you up to date.

Feedly

Recently myself along with my entire STEM class have made Feedly accounts to subscribe to blogs that may help us in completing our projects. Along with a slew of robotics blogs, I also subscribed to Wired Top Stories, and to any of my readers who enjoy anything tech related I recommend you do too. One of my recent favorite articles from them wasn't much of an article at all it was a posting of the top 9 GTA V game-plays, an although I do not have the game i have played with friends and found the videos amusing. So if your bored and just browsing the web go make a Feedly and subscribe to Wired Top Stories.

Link: http://cloud.feedly.com/#subscription%2Ffeed%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.wired.com%2Fwired%2Findex