Bergen STEM Robotics

We continued to learn about C and Python.

As usual, we continued to learn about C and Python.

Today, we continued to learn about C and Python as usual. Little by little, we're understanding the languages.

The Robodyssey founder, David Piens, held a robotic's workshop in the stem lab on Tuesday afternoon. He's worked extensively as an educator, teaching younger students about robotics and working with teams competing in a multitude of competitions. Just heading into this ourselves, it was great to get an introduction to many of the interesting paths to pursue and resources available. Its given us a lot to think about going forward, from the various platforms to the variety of challenging competitions, especially as we get more advanced builds under our belt.  David Peins is on the left.

Today, we continued to learn about Python. We practiced with lists, functions, loops, if/elif/else statements, and so on. At the moment, our knowledge of what we've learned so far is put to the test by re-creating a game called Battleship within Python in code academy .

Today, we continued learning C and Python. For C, we learned about arrays, pointers and structures. For Python, we learned about dictionaries, lists, functions, and so on.

Today, we continued the learning process from yesterday on how to code in C and Python. Afterwards, we downloaded a text editor called Kate on the linux computer named Bob.

Today, we installed Visual Studio on the laptop. Then, we learned how to program in C and Python. We will need to know how to code in C for when we program our future robot with RobotC software. And learning Python now will benefit us in the long run.

We worked with Proccessing again. This time, we wrote a couple of programs so that Proccessing and the Arduino can simultaneously send and receive data. After that, we proceeded down to the machine to learn about Mastercam from Mark and ProEngineer Creo from our project leader.

We connected an accelerometer to the Arduino mega. With the help of a high-altitude balloon member, we then calibrated the accelerometer so that we can retrieve proper acceleration data in the x-axis and y-axis. Following this  tutorial , we recorded that data onto the computer through Processing. Programs written ListenToSerial ArduinoToProcessing

We messed around with a program called Processing; making shapes, adding color, and so on. Then, we begun our observations on the high-altitude balloon team; the items that we ordered from Mouser did not arrive yet and the parts that did arrive were already tested on. Since we do not have anything to experiment on at the moment, we'll observe and learn from the high-altitude balloon team for now.

Today, we worked with the Arduino shield wireless SD. Since we're missing a piece for the shield, we have decided to work with an SD card that we borrowed. We had to format the micro SD as it needed to be in fat32 format to work with the Arduino. Thankfully gparted on linux makes that an easy process. After getting that working and figuring out we had a loose usb cable we got the a basic program working. We're getting the correct wireless adapter to work with our shield, an xbee model made by Digikey which should get us going without cables. We also got a little demo of what the balloon project folks are working on in preparation for their upcoming launch. Particularly their tracking system composed of two SPOT GPS devices and a GPS transmitter working on the APRS frequency 144.39 MHz. The SPOT's can be tracked via web while the APRS transmitter can be located by ground stations located around the country as well as a receiver in a chase car. A lot of neat things happenin

We looked through the datasheets of our new equipment to understand how each component functions. We also used the  MaxSonar  ultrasonic distance detector. With it, we were able to measure the distance between the sensor and an object.

We just discovered that some of the parts that we ordered from Mouser  a while ago had already arrived last Friday. Today, we received a USB Flash Drive, an Arduino Wireless SD Shield, Arduino Mega 2560, and so on. With our Manjaro-installed computer, we installed gcc - a C, C++, Java, Fortran, etc. compiler for GNU systems. While gcc was in the process of installing, we worked with an acelerometer ; the pdf provided a code that we could use to test out the sensor. With it, we had success in gathering the acceleration data of the accelerator in the x-axis and y-axis.