GUAN XUN:
Day 6! Today we made much progress with our robots! I feel that Team Pebble is doing pretty well, and we definitely can do well in the final competition once we sort out all the adjustments we want to make to our robots. My teammates are all great and I enjoy hanging out with them, there's been a special sort of camaraderie.
I especially enjoy speaking to the Shanghai Transportation University group of students, they're really funny! Their culture (of humour) is really the same as ours, as long as you speak good enough Chinese to communicate to them what you're trying to convey. Yeah it's just really fun talking and chatting with them, and I really enjoy that!
Right now, I would also like to comment that the Pappalardo Lab in MIT is simple magnificent. It is extremely conducive for a task such as building a robot, which is what we are doing right now. I am confident that SUTD will possess similar qualities, and that SUTD will be as great a place as MIT for such events and classes in the future. Frankly, I can't wait to begin school!
Tomorrow is Saturday and we've got a break in the sense that we can wake up later. I'm going to make use of the time to catch up on sleep!
YONG CHENG:
It is finally the end of the week, nope. I mean the end of Friday... The mornings are all the same now with everyone going back to work after the daily briefing. I felt that we accomplished a lot today, and we are almost finished with the main features of our robots. All that is left are the additions of a few remaining features to the robots and some tweaking to make sure that they are functional within the rules of the competition.
Our very own SUTD’s Prof Shao Hui giving the daily briefing!
And I cut myself thrice today during machining work. I can foresee that this will happen during my course of study in SUTD – the carving of an engineer’s arm haha. The aluminum pieces that we cut are quite sharp and while trying to move things around, we can accidentally scrape our limbs against the sharp edges, and that was what happened to me. Just a few small cuts, nothing to worry about (:
Both Studio 7 and Pappalardo Lab was closed by 5pm today. The reason was to make us take a break and roam around Boston for some fun together with the people from other countries. Our group from Singapore went out with the undergraduates from MIT, the participants from China, Japan, Brazil and France to Quincy Market to have dinner and dessert. Quincy Market really had a variety of food ranging from Lobster Rolls to Japanese Food! I got myself some Mac n Cheese and shared it amongst Edward, Jin Kai and Ian.
Quincy Market with the whole corridor full of different kinds of foods.
We then walked down to have some dessert at Mike’s Pastry where it is famous for its cannoli. It was already very packed when we reached there and they had a whole range of different flavors for their cannoli. Besides that, they served ice cream and fruit smoothies too. I got an Amaretto cannoli to try. Oh my god, it had so much cream in it, and I couldn’t really finish it because it was too sweet for me. I guess I don’t really have a sweet tooth after all. After that we took an hour’s long walk back to MIT… Yes, a walk back and it was drizzling a bit. Nevertheless, there was fun with some song singing while walking back.
Boston at Night.
At Mike’s Pastry. Look at all the different flavours, and there’s still more to the right...
And see how crowded it was!
Time has really passed by quickly and we are all starting to worry about the competition because most of us have not completed our robots yet. There are only 4 more work days left to the seeding competition. However, within all that busy work and time, there must be a balance of fun and rest. What I am happy about is that we are able to gel together with the people from different nations with ease. For me, I didn’t have any trouble communicating with them. Sometimes it can be challenging speaking to those who don’t speak languages that we don’t understand, but then with a bit of patience we can actually understand them.
I find that I get along very well my team mates who are from Korea, China and France. I guess we are of all the same kind of mould and can relate to each other quite well. Other than that, I am glad that we have the time to go out together. It was quite funny when we ask each other about their country and culture and it can be quite different! There was laughter and joy amongst us during the outing.
My group during the group picture taking session
We would like to thank the MIT students for taking their time out to bring us around even though it’s Friday night. And of course the MIT staff for forcing us to take a well-deserved break for the weekend.
HEI KERN:
I would like to first comment on my love hate relationship to Lobsters. I like eating Lobsters and in Boston, you can’t miss eating Lobsters. I had two Lobsters since I have been here in Boston. But the Thing about Lobsters is; whenever I take lobsters, the back part of the right side of my gum swells to a huge lump which prevents me from eating much else. I don’t call it an allergic reaction cause there is no other effect other than that irritating lump which goes away in an hour. Well, it’s not every day in Singapore one gets to eat lobster. So, oh well.
I think the people in this competition have been and will continue to be very hardworking in building our robots and generally, studio 7 will still be teeming with people even after dinner break where it is an optional session.
So in a bet to induce pleasure to a bunch of workaholical perfectionist, (I am sure workaholical is not a word but MIT is all about invention so, oh well) Prof Dan Frey had Studio 7 closed for the night, therefore effectively giving people the chance to explore Boston.
The Singapore group decided to follow one of the MIT tours to Quincy Market. I have been there before during winter but it feels totally different during summer. On the way there and back, I noticed a lot of interesting architecture and found them mesmerizing. I have a fetish for old English style buildings (maybe it is just the bricks. I love brick walls!) and there were plenty around Quincy. I love this place!
KELLY:
It’s finally the end of a long week. Today we tested out our police-car robot and it worked well with the modifications we made to the arm yesterday. We also came up with new plans for the claw of the cannon puller robot and started making the pump.
Since today is Friday night, the guys at MIT wanted us to have some fun exploring Boston. We were lucky to have some of the MIT undergrads organize a tour to Quincy market for us. At Quincy market I over-ordered again: it’s really hard to find suitable sized portions! We walked over to a famous pastry shop for dessert but I didn’t get any because I was too full.
After dessert we began the loooong walk back to baker house. We walked for about 1 whole hour (or more) before we finally reached the dorm. I was so tired from the walking I had a quick shower and just went to bed.
PENGHUI:
Friday, Friday, Friday whoooooo!
Everybody loves Friday. So do I. :)
Today was a lot of hands on work.
We found out at about 1000hr that the mechanism that we’ve been building for the past 3 days won’t work.
We felt like hell.
Then we just started making another one. :) I’m pretty sure this one will be better than the previous.
Well, when these things happen, we’ve just gotta work around or over it. Or (in our case) eat it up and spit it out – we cannibalised the previous contraption and started attaching it to new stuff.
Oh and we made this robot (which unfortunately needs to remain secret!) that will annihilate the other team. Stay tuned. I might just post pics of it tomorrow or next week!
Anyway, we had a great dinner at Quincy Market (the Lau-Pa-Sat of Boston). I had this lobster roll which I only remembered to take a picture of when it was almost done. It was THAT good. Beautiful place.
That’s the biscuits for the clam chowder at the side, by the way
MIT students brought us around in Boston.
That’s B, an MIT Sophomore who doubled up as our guide to Boston.
Yeah, B was part of the gang leading a rag-tag group of about 30 people. Not an easy task, especially if they came from 6 countries and speak 5 different languages.
But nothing happened. No one got lost or abducted or robbed.
Because we have Rangers around the park.
And the police cars here have huge-ass sirens and lights.
Oh and we went to this place called Mike’s Pastry.
Mike’s Pastry which supposedly has the bestest-est dessert in the whole area.
Me, being a weird health freak chose not to get any. Regretted it for about the whole of 2 hours.
Anyway, ciao, tomorrow we’re probably brushing up on any final issues.
Yesterday was Thursday, Thursday, and Tomorrow is Saturday. Fun fun fun fun.
EDWARD:
This is Scott and this is his haven.
Scott cured my headache this morning.
For a whole night, I pondered for a solution on how to fabricate a very precise frame. Its heartening that I found it not in a special method, not in a tool or facility, not in experience, but in the values of one man.
I told Scott the frame had to be precise in its dimension, then explained to him the reasons. And he registered it earnestly. Scott painstakingly took the effort to measure and re-measure the dimensions every time before and after he cut or welded. He paid an immense amount of attention to my request and ensured it was finished right. At the end of it, he took one more measurement before handing me the measuring tape. "Here. You measure it. See if it’s what you wanted."
Scott was professional and it was a fine piece of work.
He is exemplary of how 'the people make the place'.
P.S. Kelsey told me about the Caltech Canon hack that was performed in 2006. Fascinating stuff. http://hacks.mit.edu/Hacks/by_year/2006/mitcannon
IAN:
Alright! First up, the group photo of all of my team members from Purple! Starting from the left, it's Takashi, me, Lucas and Ravi.
My team managed to complete and programme our first robot today! Also, after advice from members from other groups, I started designing my team's cannon pulling robot the previous night. When I completed the 3D model today, I felt a sense of exhilaration; I could, in a glance, see how all my components fit onto the surface of my robot. All I needed to do afterwards was to convert my 3D parts into scaled drawings and head down to the waterjet cutting machine in the Pappalardo Lab and get a helper to cut up the shapes on a material.
Tomorrow, I will simply need to assemble the pieces together. Just like Lego! The machine is really a true wonder! With it, I don't need to make imprecise holes and cuts using primitive tools and lots of physical effort. Of course, being given access to this wonder machine is in line with the philosophy of IDC Robocon being first and foremost, a design contest. Fabrication of parts and construction are secondary to the imagination we have in completing our tasks.
Wow! Solidworks gave us 2 extra goodies today. Earlier, on the first day of IDC Robocon, we also received a copy of Solidworks Student Edition to use in IDC Robocon. (A price check of the software reveals that it costs quite a substantial sum.)
As today is Friday, the organisers felt that they had no choice but to disallow anyone from entering the studio from 7pm onwards. Many participants (including me) had spent the past few nights in the studio doing up their robots, so we haven't really explored nearby Boston till today. So as one group, French, Japanese, Chinese, Singaporeans and guiding MIT students, we travelled on the T from Kendall/MIT to Government Center.
We had dinner at Quincy Market in Faneuil Hall Marketplace. Qunicy Marketplace Colonnade is a long corridor with 35 food stalls lined up on both sides. It is sort of an American-style food court, but the food here is really expensive. My New England Clam Chowder below costs 8 dollars while my smoothie costs a whopping 7 dollars.
Interestingly, there are oyster bars here where you can order 3 fresh oysters for approximately 6 dollars. Here, you can watch the chef prepare your oysters, clams and lobsters. Seafood is apparently a big thing in Boston.
Our mega-sized international group stopped by to watch a public performance of a man attempting to jump over an entire family of four. It wasn't particularly interesting. We watched it for a while before heading off Mike's Pastry in the North End.
Mike's Pastry is a very popular bakery in what is called Boston's Little Italy. You go through the entrance of the shop, 'queue' up aimlessly with the mass of people, and look for someone to attend to you after you reach the front. (I was told that there's a sign that says this in a funny way.) br>
Sadly, I didn't buy anything due to indecision. But Yong Cheng's "eclair" below sure looks delicious.
A walk around the North End reveals that it is filled with Italian eateries and the scenery appears as though you were transported into Italy, except that everyone is speaking and doing their merrymaking in American-accented English. The group then decided to walk back to Baker House, passing through Boston Common, Public Garden and expensive residential district of Back Bay.
It was a seriously long walk back, which I heard was at least 6km, in a light drizzle without an umbrella. At some point along the long row of Victorian brownstone houses that define Back Bay, the French started singing a common tune in French at the top of their voices. The Chinese joined in with the Chinese version of the song. And they all started singing together in the late of the gloomy night. It was a rather fun exchange between the two sides that livened up the arduous walk back.
After getting a glimpse of beautiful Boston, I am looking forward to exploring more of it in the coming days.