Monthly Archives: September 2013

Lab Exercise 1

Josh Dion

9/20/2013

Our task was to get to learn the program and make the robot spin and also move forward.  Jean and I were able to complete this task.  We first used the motor command forward then attached a power to it.  Then we assigned a motor port.  Port A alone made one motor work so the robot turned in a circle.  Port C made the second motor move making it move forward.  We were also able to make the robot move backwards using the program.  We also were able to make the robot play a sound through its internal speaker.  We played with the power which made the motors spin faster or slower which was really fun. This task was very simple and gave us a quick look at what a program looks like and how to implement it. We did not have much time like other groups in our class. Due to limited time to build and then also make a basic program I learned basic functions of the nxt robot.

Sustainability, energy, technology

Josh Dion

On Thursday our class went to the Sawyer library for a tour. I took notes about the great resources available at the library.  One of the most interesting things I found out was how much information is available on the online databases Suffolk has purchases. These databases include online text books, eBooks, articles, videos and much more. The lady that showed us around told us the most reliable sources to find information including the Gale virtual reference library.  She showed us how much information is available from just one resource.  I found it amazing how much information is out there and that I had no idea about before this tour.  She gave us tips on how to use keywords to find reliable information online.  Example (+, AND, advance search). I know this information we learned will be very useful in future research topics and studying. She also told use how important it is to cite sources correctly or you could be expelled or prosecuted.   I found out that I can export some of these links and send them to my email which is very useful. I also learned that the 4^th floor has books that can be taken out of the library.  This can come in handy if I have a research project that I want to work on at home.  I found this information overwhelming. I had no idea about the amount of information that Suffolk students have access to and I am glad to find out now instead of when I get my first project.

Sustainability energy technology

Josh Dion

We covered lot of basic things in the first robot lab.  The first thing I did was measure that diameter of the wheel to find the circumference.  The diameter was 5.5cm and to find the circumference in meters I multiplied but 3.14(pi) and divided by 1/100cm to get 0.1727m.

The table below shoes the data I got.

1. The rotation of the wheel compared to how many turns is accurate.  As you can see in the second run at power 50 the wheel rotated once (.98 of a turn) and almost exactly 360 degrees which is one full circle.
2. 1 second= 1000 milliseconds I made the program run for 1 second each trial.
3. I found that 1 turn is around .18m or 18cm which is around 360 degrees each full turn should move the car around .18m

Percent Difference table

To find the percent error I used this equation

(Distance of robot – distance measured/ average of both) x 100= percent error

To find average I used (Drobot+Dmeasured/2)

Table

What I learned

From this lab I learned that the robot does not have the most exact measurements.  According to this program 360 degrees is not exactly one turn.  The percent error is fairly low for this but must be taken notice. I also found that each motor is not the same.  I read that the rotation of each wheel is a little different meaning the robot may not move in strait line.  Last year I used nxt robot software at my high school so this is not very new to me. Overall, this was a fun lab to get to know the program a little and how these robots measure.

One of the worst hurricanes of the century happened last year.  It effected several states on the east coast including Massachusetts, my new home.  People became homeless for months because of the devastating effects of the storm.  One of the biggest arguments about this weather occurrence is if global warming had an effect on how this hurricane was created.

I’m not sure what the exact science of global warming is yet as such a young learner.   From what I know, global warming could be a reason for this horrible disaster.  According to an article I found online, global warming did have an effect on hurricane sandy (Leader).  Because of global warming and melting of ice caps and glaciers, sea level rising did have an effect on Hurricane Sandy (Leader). In effect of sea levels being one foot higher than they were one hundred years ago, the storm became worse because it produced more rain (Leader). Many scientists say that Hurricane Sandy was a major role of why this storm was so extreme (Eaton).

This picture shows jet streams and how they are deeper into the latitudes, melting sea ice. (Eaton)

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/assets/img/climate-change-sandy/image-03-small.jpg

An article I found on Forbes counters everything. Scientists have found the amount of hurricanes are actually decreasing. (Taylor) This says that extremists are making false connections to global warming and weather effects.  They say that most scientists don’t know what caused hurricane sandy, including me.

Overall, from the research I found I conclude that the impact of global warming on hurricane sandy had little effect on the storm. Bad storms will happen randomly and will be effected by the earth heating, but extremists that take advantage of the people trying to tell everyone that this is the effect of global warming is a little extreme. We need to act together to solve global warming and be truthful.

Eaton, Sam. “Climate Change and Sandy.” PBS. PBS, 13 Nov. 2012. Web. 11 Sept. 2013.

Leader, Jessica. “Hurricane Sandy Damage Partly Caused By Climate Change, Scientists Say.”   The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 06 Nov. 2012. Web. 11 Sept. 2013.

Taylor, James. “Leave It To The Global Warming Alarmists To “Make Fake Lemonade” Out Of Hurricane Sandy.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 31 Oct. 2012. Web. 11 Sept. 2013.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/06/hurricane-damage-climate-change_n_2081960.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/earth/climate-change-sandy.html

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamestaylor/2012/10/31/leave-it-to-the-global-warming-alarmists-to-make-fake-lemonade-out-of-hurricane-sandy/

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