Send your encouragement or comments via our SUTD Facebook page
WEN XIA:
9 to 5 working on robots. This competition made me learn more about engineering and
electronics. I knew nothing about engineering before this but luckily, my team
consists of people who are from engineering and computer science. After the
ideas presentation in the morning, my team continued to refine and enhance the
designs of our robots. We were assigned to work on different parts of the
robots. As for me, I’ve done the wheels!
The robots’ wheels!
OLIVIA:
It's presentation day! Time for us to present
our initial concept and get a little bit of feedback.
Some
of the feedback that my setup got is that this motor might not be well suited
for our design. Mm..... time to rehash!
Pictorial communication between my group members
Besides the physical robot building part, we have to write Japanese haikus as
well.
My first motor! Awww look at that cutie!
Some cardboard prototyping in the works.
Waiting for dinner before continuing with work
Our dinner of beef bowls. Note the glamorous faces :)
Fierce looking cat on the road... (I miss my cat, his name is Andy and he is
the best cat in the world)
There are random stamps at the side of the roads and it has become my mission
to catch 'em all!
Okay,
got to study for my final exam now.... may tomorrow be an amazing adventure!
AMOS:
Today was idea presentation day, when we presented our ideas to the organisers and got feedback and suggestions to improve our robots. After that, teams developed their ideas in greater detail, and started to prototype their ideas.
Lunch at a tempura specialty shop
Defining the dimensions of our robot
MERI:
Oh,
I haven't talked about the objective of the competition yet:
Basically,
we're trying to transport balls (with velcro) from the ground to a cloth
wall.
There
are red/blue balls (one for each team, putting a ball up on the different parts
of the cloth wall scores you different number of points - I shall not elaborate
here as it is way too complicated), a Basho ball (which doubles your points)
and three golden balls (putting all three in the top two rows of the wall
(there are three rows) wins you the game).
We
had a presentation today; (we already designed most of the
two robots yesterday) so presenting the designs was not too bad - Zhu
from China was a total computer whiz, he managed to design the whole thing
on Solidworks within one day!
There
was only a slight problem where we could be compromised by our opponents, and
that led to a discussion about how to make a superbly complicated and
sophisticated robot. In the end, we decided (because Rafael was talking about
how the winning robots are always the simplest) that our original design was
sufficient to give us a good chance at winning. So, we commenced building it!
:) We've completed all the wheels, and cut some of the rods that we'll need. We
should be able to complete the robot with enough time to practise controlling
them, hopefully! Today was the first time I used a band saw,
am really happy that it's quite user-friendly haha!!
Measuring a robot that gave us inspiration for the arm that can pick up the
ball
Close-up of the mechanism
Kita-senju is the train station where we get off to get to Tokyo Denki Uni
After we ended, we went to the 100 yen shop to purchase sponge to put on the
robot clamp so that the ball would not slip out of the grasp of the robot.
Me having dinner with orange group (only Rafael wasn't there)
Our Japanese group mate, Sho, showed us his apartment (but we didn't go up
- he didn't want us to haha). Apparently, even though it's just a one-room
apartment, it costs 6 million yen per month!!
After
that, we were on the way back to the hotel and bypassed a really posh-looking
hotel (which is what normal hotels elsewhere look like) and found out that a
normal room costs 1 million yen a night!!! 0.o Guess what a suite costs per
night!
WEN JIE:
Day 3. Presentation day of the two different robots concept in the morning.
Got some feedback and comments and we continue to work on it till its finalised.
After lunch, our group started to discuss about the dimensions. As we have limited resources, we need to use our materials wisely without any error.
Basically the whole afternoon is used to confirm the shape and dimensions and we will start the fun part of cutting on Day 4.
After that went around the university to explore some of the shops for a while before going back to the hotel.
Manage to board in an empty train though it was like still in the peak hour and the feeling of that is great haha.
KEN:
The world far
and wide
Bonds us
together right here
To make a
great change
WHY SO
RANDOM?! I shall fill you in.
Team info:
There is a
healthy mix of nationalities in this year's IDC Robocon from places like
France, USA, Japan, Korea, Thailand, China, etc. (Such a shame the Moroccans
were denied their visas at the last minute. Red tape... Sigh)
My team has a
real interesting mix. So there is Wang from Zhejiang Uni, Anthony from Epitech
Paris, Park from Korea, Miyaki from TDU and myself.
Okay now
listen to my story.
Many would
think language barriers would be a big issue, but to you I say "IN YOUR
FACEEE".
This is
because:
1) Anthony who is French, speaks English, French and Chinese.
2) Wang
speaks Chinese and a little English as well as Japanese.
3) I speak English,
Chinese and moderate Japanese (enough to communicate, do not doubt!).
4)
Miyaki and Park speak fluent Mathematics and ideas.
As such, we have yet to
face any communication breakdown in terms of general conversation and
discussion of ideas and strategies. Cool right? Thanks!
Anyway not
too much from me as of yet, would not want to spoil the fun and blurt
everything awesome out at once. Plus, we have to prepare for our HASS final
term paper tomorrow morning at 9:35 A.M. in TDU.
Till then!
>> Day 4 - Materials buying, Robots building & 100 yen sushi