Week 10

Thanks to the weather this past weekend, I made a lot of progress this week. Since I don’t have much time on the weekdays, I usually shoot my sequences on the weekends. And this week I shot seven in just two days. On Sunday especially, the clouds were white, clear, and in perfect shapes, floating in chunks. I originally planned to study for my AP exam on Sunday, but when I looked outside, I couldn’t think of anything better to do than to take photos.

President’s Marine One Helicopters

This past week was a week consistently of researching a current aspect of the helicopter’s role in the United States while also preparing for the biggest two weeks of my research.

Grazer – FRC Robotics Championship – Lukas

Team 118, The Robonauts

This week was a week filled, once again, with little work on Grazer. Instead, I was at the National First Robotics Championship in St. Louis, and returned with a lot of inspiration.

Evolution of the Helicopter

This past week was a week of little research using books or online sources for a very important reason. I was visiting one of my top college choices to attend accepted students revisit day and decide whether or not I wanted to attend Worcester Polytechnic Institute. However, my visit turned out to be useful relating to my topic of the evolution of the helicopter and its role in current society.

New Discovery

Although it had been cloudy and rainy during the weekdays, fortunately the sky cleared up on the weekend with some nice clouds, which gave me plenty opportunities to shoot. I shot three sequences over the weekend, in which I learned something new.

If you have read my previous blogs or seen my photos of Westtown, you might notice that all of them, except for the ones of people, were shot from a wider angle and from a distance. I have two lenses, but I usually use the wide-angle one so that more can fit into the frame and the photos look fuller and more dramatic. However, on Saturday, I discovered a different angle from which I can photograph the main building. Unlike what I usually do, which is to shoot from either boys end or girls end to include the whole building or most parts of it, I positioned a very small section of the building on the bottom of the frame and left the rest 2/3 for the sky. I thought it would be cool to try this new angle because the clouds were moving fast in different shapes and directions and the simple horizontal composition gave a sharp contrast between the red bricks and the blue sky.

Here is what it looks like:

The sequence turned out really well, so I might do a couple more close-ups like this one, especially with rooftops.

Here are the other two I shot on the South Lawn:

This week I’m planning to work on the boys end, lower school and middle school.

 

Until next week,

Liz

Grazer — Slow Week — Lukas

Amidst a torrent of schoolwork, waiting for supplies to arrive, and gearing up for a national robotics championship, it was a slow week in Grazer world.

A New Test Platform – Xan

In preparing for a meeting with the hand’s recipient to test  the EMG controls that I’ve developed, I’ll be spending the next day or two building a new test platform. The platform will contain all of the necessary electronics for the hand, a space for batteries, and five servos. Even though we’re not going to be using servos in the final version of the hand, they are still very easy to use and will suffice for tests. Keep an eye on GitHub over the next few weeks as I update and add multi-emg servo control code. My hope is to get a setup built with three EMGs and independently activated, servo controlled fingers by the end of this month.

This new test platform will be much more aesthetically pleasing than the old “HandStand v1.0”, seen here in a slightly disassembled state:

The new stand, “HandStand v2.0”, will be made from either laser-cut acrylic, or CNC-cut Aluminum. I look forward to posting pictures of it upon completion!

College… or Not? – Zach

I have always been one to question societal norms and the paths set before me, so I have been going back and forth about where I will be going next year. I was sure I wanted to take the next 12 months “off,” or more accurately dedicate them to business, but then I visited Babson…

GitHub, Hand “hacking”, and Mechanics – Xan

There are four things that I have to do in the next few months:

1. Order motors and potentiometers and modify (“hack”) the hand to use them.

2. Set up a meeting with the recipient of the hand (to test EMGs).

3. Begin printing a new hand on the FormLabs printer.

4. Commit the code to GitHub

Oh, hey, that last one’s done!

Helicopter’s Role in Afghanistan War

This past week I stayed in touch with American Helicopter Museum and I cannot wait to visit next weekend. This coming Sunday I am also going up to visit Worcester Polytechnic Institute for accepted students revisit day.