Getting it done!

Engineering Projects is approaching the "holy grail" of personal/group development. They are becoming a cohesive/highly developed self directed group that is able to apply our "agile development" process to manage their own self designed projects. 

I think I said about 10 words in class today. Everything was organized/run by our student team. Great job!

"Coming in Hot!!!"

Marco, Hunter, Rafe and Andrew nearly took themselves out!

Scratch Built

Third Period is soon finishing up the RC Prop Car Challenge (aka "The Hunger Games"). Here's a look at what the next step will be in the RC series:

Watch Out Now!

A few of our Engineers from the projects class nearly took out Mrs. Edingfield!:

Monski Pong!

Niki has integrated some flex sensors (resistors) with an Arduino to control a straightforward "Pong" style game. Nice!:

Kinect-a-thon

Nice job Jackson:

Kinect Projects

I'd like to see our Kinect team make some progress on something awesome. Maybe this would be a good first effort?:
You can find more out about this (including the processing code) here.

"Don't Hate The Player,..."

"...Hate The Game..."

We've been playing Diplomacy in our Engineering Projects class. The game can be cut throat but it's a great tool for practicing our negotiation skills.





Negotiation is at the heart of business and business is at the heart of developing innovative technical projects. Our engineers will be better armed to drive future change!

"Make A Game In 8 Minutes"

A bit of a misnomer... We've taken a few periods in our Projects class to get through these! That said, it's still awefully quick to put something together.

I usually prefer to have students work at their own pace but I've had a lot of fun stepping us through as a group. It's been good interaction and fun to see everyone make breakthroughs on the effort at the same time:





A great question came up in class. "Is this really a game?"

What do you think? What makes a game a "game"?

We'll talk more about this issue, it's an important one!

Jackson, time to bring your Kinect in!

I recieved our copy of "Making Things See" yesterday. This book is about hacking the Xbox Kinect to work with your own hardware and software:


Wow, look who's brother is in the book?!

Finals - Engineering Projects

The Engineering Projects course presented their work during our finals week.

Here we have our Minecraft crew describing what they worked on. I think they just said something funny!:


Marco and Hunter made a "bubble wrap" style mobile game called Tiki Smasher. Awesome!:


Cody and Gustavo designed and implemented some neat Portal 2 levels using Valve's Hammer Editor:


Kacie treated us to some awesome Pancakes... yum!:

Lego Man in Space

Two 17 year olds put this together. What other awesome Lego Man project can you dream up?
Story here: The Science and Engineering Behind Lego Man in Space

Arduino

We're going to get going with some Arduino Projects in our Principles of Engineering Courses (2nd and 4th Period) and in our Engineering Projects Class (3rd Period). I had ordered a batch for the students that had chipped in on the Engineering Fund. If you didn't contribute, and would like to get some hardware for yourself, here are some links to the products on Amazon:

The Arduino Uno on Amazon. When I posted this, the board was listed at $20, a very competitive price (The best price I could find when I ordered them for the class was closer to $30 :( )

The Uno Starter Pack on Amazon. This kit provides some basic goodies to get going with Arduino projects.

A USB A to B Cable is needed to interface the Arduino with a computer (Mac or PC). Programing is done in the Arduino Integrated Development Environment (free to download at Arduino.cc). An A to B USB cable is the type of cable that is typically used to connect a printer to a computer. You may be able to use an existing/left over one so only order if you do not have something on hand that is usable.


Optional Texts:
There is a plethora of information on Arduino on the web. If you prefer having a physical reference, here are a few to consider.

We have one or two copies of this in class. You may like to have your own:
Getting Started with Arduino

This book appears similar to Getting Started with Arduino but focusses on the programming aspect of the process:
Programming Arduino

Making Things Talk (as in electronic communications between objects) is an incredible text that a person could make a full college course out of. We will attempt a few of the projects in this book. At $20, this is an incredible value (even more so compared to the $100+ that you'll be paying for texts in college).

"Asking the Right Questions": The Cornerstone of Problem Solving

The goal of the Engineering Projects class (3rd Period) is to give our students the experience and tools for a great start on the path of technical leadership.

For the 2nd Semester, students will team up and select a topic to present on that will help us all gain insight on how to attack problems worth solving.

Here are the slides from our discussion this morning. If you're looking for a good read over break, consider one of the books listed below. The core concepts of these books will help improve your understanding of how to choose problems worth tackling and techniques you can use to enhance direction, alignment and commitment from those you collaborate with:

Tiki Smasher!!!

Marco and Hunter have been putting together a little game in our Engineering Projects class.

"Tiki Smasher"! Coming soon to a smart phone near you...

Where's This?

Does this look familiar to anyone?

A team in the Engineering Projects class has been working on modelling a familiar location.

Assembly Line Data Visualization

The front half of our Assembly Line in action:



Our collective data for our test runs on Thursday the 13th:



Here's my current best effort at visualizing the data. What did you come up with for your visualization?:

(Click graph to display a larger image)


? - What is effective about this presentation in regards to visualizing the data?
? - If our goal is to improve the process, how is this visualization helpful?
? - What's missing/how would you improve the utility of this visualization?
? - What visualization have you come up with?

Character: Grit

Perseverance and continued passion for goals seem to be as important to the achievement of long term success as talent (as measured by grades/test scores). This is an important realization for us as aspiring technical leaders.

So how can we tell where we stand with these qualities of perserverance and long term passion for goals (or in other words, "Grit")?

Angela Duckworth from the University of Pennsylvania has developed a "Grit Scale" to help gain insight on these qualities.

Please complete the following:
• 1) Use a sheet of paper to record your answers to the questions on the Grit Scale (find below).
• 2) Obtain a copy of the evaluation key and evaluate your responses. Annotate your paper with a value for each of your answers. Calculate the average scores as specified for each of the five areas: Grit, Consistency of Interest, Perseverance of Effort, Brief Grit Scale and Ambition.
• 3) Self generate feedback (+, change, ? and !) regarding the test. Specifically: Identify an area where you're strong (+), identify an area where you could improve (change), identify ideas on how you might improve in that area (!) and list a question that you have for yourself (?).
• 4) Turn in your self evaluation when complete. Your score is based on your ability to complete step 2 (average scores) and step 3 (self generate feedback).


Grit Scale
Directions for taking the Grit Scale: Please respond to the following 17 items. Be honest – there are no right or wrong answers!

1. I aim to be the best in the world at what I do.
Very much like me
Mostly like me
Somewhat like me
Not much like me
Not like me at all

2. I have overcome setbacks to conquer an important challenge.
Very much like me
Mostly like me
Somewhat like me
Not much like me
Not like me at all

3. New ideas and projects sometimes distract me from previous ones.
Very much like me
Mostly like me
Somewhat like me
Not much like me
Not like me at all

4. I am ambitious.
Very much like me
Mostly like me
Somewhat like me
Not much like me
Not like me at all

5. My interests change from year to year.
Very much like me
Mostly like me
Somewhat like me
Not much like me
Not like me at all

6. Setbacks don’t discourage me.
Very much like me
Mostly like me
Somewhat like me
Not much like me
Not like me at all

7. I have been obsessed with a certain idea or project for a short time but later lost interest.
Very much like me
Mostly like me
Somewhat like me
Not much like me
Not like me at all

8. I am a hard worker.
Very much like me
Mostly like me
Somewhat like me
Not much like me
Not like me at all

9. I often set a goal but later choose to pursue a different one.
Very much like me
Mostly like me
Somewhat like me
Not much like me
Not like me at all

10. I have difficulty maintaining my focus on projects that take more than a few months to complete.
Very much like me
Mostly like me
Somewhat like me
Not much like me
Not like me at all

11. I finish whatever I begin.
Very much like me
Mostly like me
Somewhat like me
Not much like me
Not like me at all

12. Achieving something of lasting importance is the highest goal in life.
Very much like me
Mostly like me
Somewhat like me
Not much like me
Not like me at all

13. I think achievement is overrated.
Very much like me
Mostly like me
Somewhat like me
Not much like me
Not like me at all

14. I have achieved a goal that took years of work.
Very much like me
Mostly like me
Somewhat like me
Not much like me
Not like me at all

15. I am driven to succeed.
Very much like me
Mostly like me
Somewhat like me
Not much like me
Not like me at all

16. I become interested in new pursuits every few months.
Very much like me
Mostly like me
Somewhat like me
Not much like me
Not like me at all

17. I am diligent.
Very much like me
Mostly like me
Somewhat like me
Not much like me
Not like me at all

Scrum Task Card v1.0

We're going to use an agile development methodology called Scrum for our Engineering Projects course.

The process involves tracking progress on tasks on a team board. We'll try the following format for our Task/User Story Cards. This format may change based on our experience in the process:

"I'm Sorry Dave, I'm Afraid I Can't Do That..."

This is a follow on for when we get back to programming next. We can continue from where we were with our "Hello World!" C++ program and modify it to replicate the best artificial intelligence that our space program can buy.

Challenge:
Craft a program that functions like the frustratingly perfect HAL 9000 from Stanly Kubric's seminal movie 2001.

Specifically:
(1pt) - Prompt the user to enter their name (see tips below)
(1pt) - Ask the user what they'd like to have HAL 9000 do and always reply with "I'm sorry (name entered), I'm afraid I can't do that"






A few thoughts that might help out:

Google C++ cin to understand how you can use the cin command to input text.

Before the main () function with the other #include place the following:
#include <string>

Inside the main () function you could use the following:
string user_input; //creates a string (text) variable named "user_input"
getline(cin, user_input); //the getline function can be used to enter a string (text) for the user_input variable