Restaurant Technology Implementation
For a long time the standards of fine dining have been held at a constant. Go to a restaurant, sit down at a nice table and talk face to face with some friends, get yours orders, and then eat. Recently though, as technology becomes an even bigger part of everyday life, you find more and more people willing to sacrifice the traditional dining experience for a more modern one that integrates technology into the dining experience. Many restaurants around the world are implementing technology into their serving techniques. One example of this can be found in some Applebees around the world in the form of a tablet that functions as a menu and an entertainment device. This lets diners see what they want to order with an interactive interface but it also provides a way for diners to entertain themselves. Now diners can share YouTube videos with eachother or browse social networking sites. Some restaurants are integrating technology into their dining experience to an even greater degree. This can be found in a restaurant in Japan where the user can hook up to a server and order their food from a mobile device that is found on the table. The food is then sent on a conveyor belt to the diner's table. After the diners are done with their meal they put their plates in a slot where the system calculates the total cost of the dinner. The restaurant also implements a system that makes diners want to eat more. They do this by providing games and special awards to diners after every fifth plate that they buy. Personally, I think that the integration of technology to dining could be a great thing if done well. Hopefully the face to face experience that today's dining gives is still preserved, but I think that being able to share some of the things that you find on the internet while talking to your friends at the dinner table would greatly enhance the quality of dining. The benefits of a social food network could also lead to some really tasty dishes for anyone's tastes. One thing that I do not want to see in fine dining is the elimination of the chefs that cook the food. I think that the fact that actual humans cook the food is an important part of our culture that should stay. The human cooked food also adds a bit of variance that helps keep eating at fine restaurants with friends an enjoyable experience. If a robot were to cook the food at fine restaurants I don' t think that the food would be nearly as interesting nor do I think that the experience would be nearly as exciting.
Word Count: 451
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Inventor of World Wide Web warns of threat to the internet
The world wide web is a crucial part of modern day life. Ever since the invention of the world wide web governments all around the world have had the opportunity to tap into much of your personal information. This was not an intended side effect of the internet, and one of the creators of the world wide web, computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee, gave a warning to the world that governments and corporations are becoming a bigger threat to the freedom that everyone should have while browsing the web. Recently the thought of controlling the internet has become even more tempting to big corporations and governments. By controlling which websites a person visits one can control many aspects of their life. An example of this power can be found in the political world. If a government blocks a certain political page, mainly the opposing party's page, they can skew the views of the public and control the way they see things. This kind of control over the internet can be found in countries around the world, especially in underdeveloped ones such as North Korea. The inventor of the internet called for something similar to the Magna Carta to help guarantee certain rights and freedoms for those who use the internet. The increased awareness of internet privacy in recent times is largely due to the information which was leaked by former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden. Also, the European Union recently had a vote on an act called the "right to be forgotten". This act allows users of the internet to ask search engines such as Yahoo or Google to remove links that had them in them. This helps keep the privacy of users on the internet. Personally, I think that the internet should be a place where you don't have to worry about being spied on by the government. Many people spend most of their time on computers, and therefore are under the eyes of the government for most of the day. For me that makes a weird feeling in my stomach. I'm sure that there can be a happy and secure medium that helps to ensure the freedom of the internet but also helps keep people safe all around the world. The internet should be a place where people can spread around their ideas and have fun.
Word Count: 386
The world wide web is a crucial part of modern day life. Ever since the invention of the world wide web governments all around the world have had the opportunity to tap into much of your personal information. This was not an intended side effect of the internet, and one of the creators of the world wide web, computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee, gave a warning to the world that governments and corporations are becoming a bigger threat to the freedom that everyone should have while browsing the web. Recently the thought of controlling the internet has become even more tempting to big corporations and governments. By controlling which websites a person visits one can control many aspects of their life. An example of this power can be found in the political world. If a government blocks a certain political page, mainly the opposing party's page, they can skew the views of the public and control the way they see things. This kind of control over the internet can be found in countries around the world, especially in underdeveloped ones such as North Korea. The inventor of the internet called for something similar to the Magna Carta to help guarantee certain rights and freedoms for those who use the internet. The increased awareness of internet privacy in recent times is largely due to the information which was leaked by former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden. Also, the European Union recently had a vote on an act called the "right to be forgotten". This act allows users of the internet to ask search engines such as Yahoo or Google to remove links that had them in them. This helps keep the privacy of users on the internet. Personally, I think that the internet should be a place where you don't have to worry about being spied on by the government. Many people spend most of their time on computers, and therefore are under the eyes of the government for most of the day. For me that makes a weird feeling in my stomach. I'm sure that there can be a happy and secure medium that helps to ensure the freedom of the internet but also helps keep people safe all around the world. The internet should be a place where people can spread around their ideas and have fun.
Word Count: 386
The iPhone 6
The long awaited iPhone 6 was released to the public on September 19. The phone took a big step up from previous versions of the iPhone to something that is more comparable to android phones such as the galaxy. The iPhone 6 features a larger screen with the same pixel density as the iPhone 5s, so the image looks just as crisp as it did before. The phone also features a camera which takes higher quality pictures and can also capture videos in up to sixty frames per second. The back of the phone is covered with metal to help keep it from cracking when it falls down to the ground. This is a characteristic that many of the android phones share in common. Before the iPhone 6 iPhones had plastic or glass cases that made it easy for the screen to shatter if it was dropped on the ground. The new case does a great job of helping to prevent this problem, but the metal that the case is made out of is very bendable. There has been a big discussion over the build quality of the phone because of its tendency to bend to extreme angles, a quality which you don't want a phone to have. Previous versions of the iPhone have not had this problem, but due to the change in material of the case the iphone 6 exhibits this problem. A video was made that showed how far the screen could bent. After the release of the video that value of apple stocks went down three percent. The news of the bendy screen went around the world. I think that the iPhone 6 is a great phone that can compete with any android phone out there. Personally, I like the apple os more than android because it is a lot more simple and straight forward. I have also been able to use an iPhone 6 myself, because one of my friends got one, and I can say that it was one of the best designed phones that I have ever held. Hopefully apple continues to produce quality products for our generation that will help us make our chaotic lives easier. They helped open up the age of the personal computer and also helped develop the concept of the smart phone and portable music players. I hope that apple continues to stay at the top of the mobile industry and produce quality products.
Word Count: 406
The long awaited iPhone 6 was released to the public on September 19. The phone took a big step up from previous versions of the iPhone to something that is more comparable to android phones such as the galaxy. The iPhone 6 features a larger screen with the same pixel density as the iPhone 5s, so the image looks just as crisp as it did before. The phone also features a camera which takes higher quality pictures and can also capture videos in up to sixty frames per second. The back of the phone is covered with metal to help keep it from cracking when it falls down to the ground. This is a characteristic that many of the android phones share in common. Before the iPhone 6 iPhones had plastic or glass cases that made it easy for the screen to shatter if it was dropped on the ground. The new case does a great job of helping to prevent this problem, but the metal that the case is made out of is very bendable. There has been a big discussion over the build quality of the phone because of its tendency to bend to extreme angles, a quality which you don't want a phone to have. Previous versions of the iPhone have not had this problem, but due to the change in material of the case the iphone 6 exhibits this problem. A video was made that showed how far the screen could bent. After the release of the video that value of apple stocks went down three percent. The news of the bendy screen went around the world. I think that the iPhone 6 is a great phone that can compete with any android phone out there. Personally, I like the apple os more than android because it is a lot more simple and straight forward. I have also been able to use an iPhone 6 myself, because one of my friends got one, and I can say that it was one of the best designed phones that I have ever held. Hopefully apple continues to produce quality products for our generation that will help us make our chaotic lives easier. They helped open up the age of the personal computer and also helped develop the concept of the smart phone and portable music players. I hope that apple continues to stay at the top of the mobile industry and produce quality products.
Word Count: 406
Sunday, September 21, 2014
FTC Leagues
This week FTC Iowa announced the League Play leagues for all the registered teams in Iowa. League Play is a new system implemented by FTC that divides states into regions and leagues for robot competition. In order to advance to further levels of competition such as state competitions and Super Regionals teams must battle their robots in leagues. Our team is pretty happy with our league, as we have a pretty even division of teams that have good robots. Our league has both of the Metro teams and some other teams such as Jefferson. During league play little tournaments will be held on the weekends, and the only thing that will be judged will be robot performance. So, teams will have to put a much larger emphasis on the actual robot this year if they want to have a chance of advancing to state and super regionals. Hopefully our league will have great and exciting competitions and will also help unite local teams in the area!
Word Count: 168
This week FTC Iowa announced the League Play leagues for all the registered teams in Iowa. League Play is a new system implemented by FTC that divides states into regions and leagues for robot competition. In order to advance to further levels of competition such as state competitions and Super Regionals teams must battle their robots in leagues. Our team is pretty happy with our league, as we have a pretty even division of teams that have good robots. Our league has both of the Metro teams and some other teams such as Jefferson. During league play little tournaments will be held on the weekends, and the only thing that will be judged will be robot performance. So, teams will have to put a much larger emphasis on the actual robot this year if they want to have a chance of advancing to state and super regionals. Hopefully our league will have great and exciting competitions and will also help unite local teams in the area!
Word Count: 168
FTC Season Brainstorming
Last week our team, team 6121, had several brainstorming sessions that helped us decide what we wanted to do for our robot that we are going to take to competitions this year. During these brainstorming session s our team bounced several ideas back and forth, some good and some bad, and we ended up coming up with some great ideas that we will probably use during the season. First, we discussed what type of drive train we wanted to have. We narrowed it down to either a four wheel drive or a west coast drive system (where there are six wheels and the middle wheel on each side is moved slightly towards the floor). After we narrowed down the types of drive systems that we wanted we went to build prototypes of each system. we currently have one side of the west coast drive system completely built and another side in the making. We have also gotten the four wheel drive robot completely done. During the brainstorming session we also discussed possible ways for our robot to score points. We ended up deciding to use vacuum tubing to scoop the balls in from the front and into a dumper which would be raised to the appropriate height using a lift. We thought that this idea would be the best for scoring. We also thought of having hooks on the back of the robot that would grab onto the tubes that held the balls so we could pull them along with us so we could score faster.
Word Count: 259
Last week our team, team 6121, had several brainstorming sessions that helped us decide what we wanted to do for our robot that we are going to take to competitions this year. During these brainstorming session s our team bounced several ideas back and forth, some good and some bad, and we ended up coming up with some great ideas that we will probably use during the season. First, we discussed what type of drive train we wanted to have. We narrowed it down to either a four wheel drive or a west coast drive system (where there are six wheels and the middle wheel on each side is moved slightly towards the floor). After we narrowed down the types of drive systems that we wanted we went to build prototypes of each system. we currently have one side of the west coast drive system completely built and another side in the making. We have also gotten the four wheel drive robot completely done. During the brainstorming session we also discussed possible ways for our robot to score points. We ended up deciding to use vacuum tubing to scoop the balls in from the front and into a dumper which would be raised to the appropriate height using a lift. We thought that this idea would be the best for scoring. We also thought of having hooks on the back of the robot that would grab onto the tubes that held the balls so we could pull them along with us so we could score faster.
Word Count: 259
FTC Wiring
There are a lot of things that can go wrong when a FTC team is in competition. There can be many mechanical problems and electrical problems. One of the many problems that FTC teams face is wiring all of the motors and sensors on their robot. Wiring the components of the robot is often a phase of the development process of FTC robots that is forgotten, even though it is very important. Bad wiring can lead to many different problems, and can be very hard to troubleshoot. You often find teams with very well designed robots that fail at the competition because their robots wiring is bad. One of the problems that can be caused by bad wiring is disconnection of the samantha module, which is the relay between the NXT (the "brains" of the robot) and the field control system (the wifi network that keeps all the robots in sync and that coordinates controller movements). If the samantha module disconnects the team who controls the robot loses all control. Often times disconnection of the samantha module leads to broken parts on the robot because when it disconnects motors will often times continue to run in the same direction. This causes the motors to burn out and it also causes some parts of the robot to just snap. Another problem that can sprout from poor wiring on the robots is disconnecting of some of the motors on the robot. A lot of times teams use daisy chains to circulate the power throughout the components of the robot. The problem with daisy chains is that if any of the wires in the chain disconnect the power to the rest of the robot goes out. So, often times you find teams that have loose wires in their robots that utilize daisy chain connections. This leads to their demise, and you often times see their robots just sitting on the field or just driving around because they are not able to move certain parts of their robot because they are disconnected. In our teams experience we have had problems with wiring. So far, we have used daisy chaining to wire our robots, and we usually run into at least one wiring problem at every competition. This year we plan on putting wiring high up on our list for things to carefully consider about and we will make sure that we use wiring methods that have worked for other successful teams. We looked online and found a manual that goes over different types of tips for wiring in FTC, and we plan on following this guide intensely. We hope that it will help our robot perform to its best, as it has helped other perform to their best as well. One of the problems that the guide covers is new ways to wire the robot other than daisy chaining to help prevent problems that come up when the teams use daisy chaining. The way that the guide proposes to fix the daisy chaining problem is to use a new power scheme, being the anderson power pole. This scheme makes it so that each motor controller on the robot has a direct connection back to the main power supply. This makes it so that single components of the robot can't disconnect, and helps with robot performance. Another problem that the manual addresses is the problem of the connectors of the batteries. Often times the battery connections will loosen over time because they are not designed for the rigorous usage that is characteristic of a FTC season. The guide says that you can solve this problem very easily by splitting the wire and then replacing the connectors. We actually did this last year before the state competition. We realized that we needed to make the improvement after we had a problem at one of our qualifiers with our power connection shorting out. It was pretty annoying for that competition, but we were able to fix the problem by the state competition, where we were able to enjoy having a robot that didn't randomly cut out on us because of power connection problems. The wiring guide also goes over ways to help keep the wiring tied down on your robot. They suggest heavy use of zip ties and wire hooks to keeps the wiring nice and clean. Last season we took advantage of this and it helped us a lot. During our first year of competition we had issues with messy wiring at one of our competitions, and it led to our robot not even moving for half of some matches. hopefully our team is able to keep on improving our wiring from year to year!
Word Count: 781
There are a lot of things that can go wrong when a FTC team is in competition. There can be many mechanical problems and electrical problems. One of the many problems that FTC teams face is wiring all of the motors and sensors on their robot. Wiring the components of the robot is often a phase of the development process of FTC robots that is forgotten, even though it is very important. Bad wiring can lead to many different problems, and can be very hard to troubleshoot. You often find teams with very well designed robots that fail at the competition because their robots wiring is bad. One of the problems that can be caused by bad wiring is disconnection of the samantha module, which is the relay between the NXT (the "brains" of the robot) and the field control system (the wifi network that keeps all the robots in sync and that coordinates controller movements). If the samantha module disconnects the team who controls the robot loses all control. Often times disconnection of the samantha module leads to broken parts on the robot because when it disconnects motors will often times continue to run in the same direction. This causes the motors to burn out and it also causes some parts of the robot to just snap. Another problem that can sprout from poor wiring on the robots is disconnecting of some of the motors on the robot. A lot of times teams use daisy chains to circulate the power throughout the components of the robot. The problem with daisy chains is that if any of the wires in the chain disconnect the power to the rest of the robot goes out. So, often times you find teams that have loose wires in their robots that utilize daisy chain connections. This leads to their demise, and you often times see their robots just sitting on the field or just driving around because they are not able to move certain parts of their robot because they are disconnected. In our teams experience we have had problems with wiring. So far, we have used daisy chaining to wire our robots, and we usually run into at least one wiring problem at every competition. This year we plan on putting wiring high up on our list for things to carefully consider about and we will make sure that we use wiring methods that have worked for other successful teams. We looked online and found a manual that goes over different types of tips for wiring in FTC, and we plan on following this guide intensely. We hope that it will help our robot perform to its best, as it has helped other perform to their best as well. One of the problems that the guide covers is new ways to wire the robot other than daisy chaining to help prevent problems that come up when the teams use daisy chaining. The way that the guide proposes to fix the daisy chaining problem is to use a new power scheme, being the anderson power pole. This scheme makes it so that each motor controller on the robot has a direct connection back to the main power supply. This makes it so that single components of the robot can't disconnect, and helps with robot performance. Another problem that the manual addresses is the problem of the connectors of the batteries. Often times the battery connections will loosen over time because they are not designed for the rigorous usage that is characteristic of a FTC season. The guide says that you can solve this problem very easily by splitting the wire and then replacing the connectors. We actually did this last year before the state competition. We realized that we needed to make the improvement after we had a problem at one of our qualifiers with our power connection shorting out. It was pretty annoying for that competition, but we were able to fix the problem by the state competition, where we were able to enjoy having a robot that didn't randomly cut out on us because of power connection problems. The wiring guide also goes over ways to help keep the wiring tied down on your robot. They suggest heavy use of zip ties and wire hooks to keeps the wiring nice and clean. Last season we took advantage of this and it helped us a lot. During our first year of competition we had issues with messy wiring at one of our competitions, and it led to our robot not even moving for half of some matches. hopefully our team is able to keep on improving our wiring from year to year!
Word Count: 781
Sunday, September 14, 2014
How Could 3D Printing Pens be Used in the Design Process?
There is always an awkward moment in FTC when someone comes up with an idea to solve a problem and nobody can really picture the solution that they proposed in their head. In order to solve this problem and eliminate these awkward moments teams use sketches to convey their ideas so everybody can understand what they are thinking about. Sketching is a very important part of the design process and the more realistic you can make things look while sketching them the better the sketch. One element that sketches lack is a third dimension. Sketches are done on flat pieces of paper, and one has to imagine what the object or mechanism would look like in three dimensions. One company has developed a pen that can sketch in three dimensions. The pen is called LIX, and it is based off of the same principle that makes 3D printers work. The pen heats up a plastic filament that is fed through its base. The filament is then fed out the end of the pen and onto the surface that you are drawing on. The plastic is pretty sticky and will hold onto just about anything. You can use the pen to draw 3D objects such as a box. Here is a video that highlights the features of the pen.
The pen is obviously still in the works and is being improved upon every day. At this moment it can only be used to sketch out pretty simple 3D models, but it is not developed enough to sketch out things such as gears. Hopefully this technology continues to improve so it can be used to help people develop solutions to simple and complex problems around the world!
Word Count: 292
FTC 2014-2015 Cascade Effect: A Robot in Three Days
Analyzing the Game
Prototyping
After the team had used prototyping to figure out how they would build the individual components of their robot they went on to build what would be there final robot. They documented their building days by live-streaming them and then posting them on YouTube. The videos really show the process that every team goes through when they build their robot. Often times things don't go the way teams think they will. Sometimes your measurements are off by a quarter of an inch or you have to completely redesign something. Nevertheless, teams make it through the process and come out with great, quality robots.
Live-Stream Video
After the team had finished the robot they made a demo video that displayed what their robot could do. Even after the team had made a successful robot they still admitted that there were problems with it. This is a crucial part of the process of building robots for FTC because the winning robots are the ones that have been tweaked so that they run efficiently and consistently. Overall, this robot is a great tool for many teams that are developing their own robots for this year's game, and it gives a great look into how the game will probably be played.
Demo Video
Robot Analysis Video
Word Count: 378
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
FTC 2014-2015 Reveal Animation: Cascade Effect
Each year FTC (FIRST Tech Challenge) implements a game for teams that dictates the design of their robots. The release of the game is very important, as it marks the beginning of the process that FTC teams go through to design, build, and compete with their robots. The game from last year was called Block Party, and the main scoring elements were the blocks that were placed on the floor at the beginning of each match. During the period of the match the main goal of the game was to pick the blocks up and score them in a pendulum located on the side of the center piece. During the period of the match teams could also hang themselves on a pole and raise a flag.
This weekend the animation for this year's FTC game was released to teams all around the country. Many reveal events were held in several states. These events gave teams early access to the game animation, which was released on the internet later during the day, and they also gave the teams a chance to see the field put together. This year's game is called Cascade Effect. The main scoring components of the game are the two sizes of wiffle balls that get scattered across the floor when a robot triggers the cascade effect. During the course of the game, the main goal is to take the wiffle balls and put them into one of your team's goals (the tubes that are thirty centimeters, sixty centimeters, and ninety centimeters tall). The points are totaled based off of how many centimeters high you stack the balls up in each goal. One centimeter worth of height is worth a different amount of points in each goal, with the amount of points that it is worth increasing with the height of the goals. In the thirty centimeter goal each centimeter is worth one point, in the sixty centimeter goal each centimeter is worth two points, and in the ninety centimeter goal each centimeter is worth three points.
Last year's game animation: Block Party
This weekend the animation for this year's FTC game was released to teams all around the country. Many reveal events were held in several states. These events gave teams early access to the game animation, which was released on the internet later during the day, and they also gave the teams a chance to see the field put together. This year's game is called Cascade Effect. The main scoring components of the game are the two sizes of wiffle balls that get scattered across the floor when a robot triggers the cascade effect. During the course of the game, the main goal is to take the wiffle balls and put them into one of your team's goals (the tubes that are thirty centimeters, sixty centimeters, and ninety centimeters tall). The points are totaled based off of how many centimeters high you stack the balls up in each goal. One centimeter worth of height is worth a different amount of points in each goal, with the amount of points that it is worth increasing with the height of the goals. In the thirty centimeter goal each centimeter is worth one point, in the sixty centimeter goal each centimeter is worth two points, and in the ninety centimeter goal each centimeter is worth three points.
This year's game animation: Cascade Effect
After the game animation is revealed, many teams start the design process by identifying problems and figuring out how they want to play the game. Since you have a very short amount of time during tele-op period (two minutes) you have to worry about which tasks you want to get done. This is because accomplishing all of the tasks is nearly impossible. For example, in last year's game there was a thirty second period during the end of the tele-op period that allowed the alliances to spin a flag and hang themselves on a bar. It would be very difficult for one robot to be able to spin the flag and hang itself in that period, so most teams chose to either do one or the other. After the teams figure out how they want to play the game, they start coming up with ideas for the design of the robot that cater to their style of play. For example, if a team wanted to be able to push other teams around they might come up with the idea of having four wheel drive to increase drive power. They might also think of increasing the weight of the robot, so other teams couldn't push them around.
Word Count: 546
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