Thursday, April 14, 2016
Tuesday, April 12, 2016
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
Equilibrium
Equilibrium in the World
Equilibrium is the state in which forces are in balance.Equilibrium can be in many things such as a see-saw. Equilibrium is also said to be present when in any situation and there is no outside force such as angular or linear acceleration acting against the situation, it will stay in equilibrium. This basically goes over Newton's 1st Law of motion where an object at rest will stay at rest unless acted upon by another force. Equilibrium also means that the forces in the same axis will be the same. For example in the picture with the balls on the see saw, the balls have forces on the side that are different and not equal. They instead fall when the greater force of the two sides pulls their side down.
Equilibrium in Physics
Another scenario is where there are different masses and different radii. But the masses and radii will work out and balance. The torques of both sides must be equal where there is no force greater then another. for example in the picture, one side is the radius 16 ft and is 40 Ibs. These two factors are also affected by gravity resulting with a force of 6272 N.m (16 x 40 x 9.8). On the other side, the radius is 4 feet but 160 Ibs. with gravity added. In the end the torque force is still 6272 N.m. (4 x 160 x 9.8). This shows that the masses do not have to be the same in order to have a balanced teeter totter. Types of Equilibrium in Physics
Static Equilibrium
Static equilibrium is the state in which there is no movement and the sum of the forces are zero. This is the most basic and most common.Example: a hanging picture has the support strings at static equilibrium when the forces sum affecting the picture is equal to 0 with no side greater then another
Motion Equilibrium
Motion Equilibrium is the state that there is no acceleration or change in the motion. When a ball is rolled in one direction, the ball will continue into a force acts upon it. But for then, it is in motion equilibrium.
Example: A rolling ball at a constant velocity and 0 acceleration will keep a ball in motion equilibrium until forces such as friction and gravity to slowly decelerate until it reaches static equilibrium.
Example: A rolling ball at a constant velocity and 0 acceleration will keep a ball in motion equilibrium until forces such as friction and gravity to slowly decelerate until it reaches static equilibrium.
Equilibrium in Chemistry
In a chemical reaction, there are things called chemical equilibrium. This is when "The rate of the forward reaction is equal to the rate of reverse reaction" or in other words reactant takes the same to form as the product to form. This is represented by a two facing arrow.Equilibrium in Economics
When in economics, there is always a supply and demand. A demand fluctuates depending on a supply for the product. In a case of an iPhone or iPad, there is a large supply and a huge demand for the product creating profit. Another case of a smaller, less profitable, unimportant item, the supply may be high, but the demand may be very little. But in some cases the point of demand and supply are the same or equal resulting in economic equilibrium.
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/economic-equilibrium.asp
Thursday, January 21, 2016
Programming
Programming
What is programming?
Programming is the set of directions to carry out a certain response that was told in the programming language. Programming can also be called coding. Around the world there is a an activity called the hour of code. This is very important to this generation because we are very tech savvy. Every where you will go, phones, games, TVs, computers and more are used daily and always. This is created by programming. Any thing that delivers a response created by humans in the world of technology was programmed to do that task. For example, when you press the remote of a TV to watch ESPN in the morning, that remote and TV were programmed to play ESPN with the click of a button. Each game anyone will play was programmed to work like that. Robots are all programmed to do certain tasks. In the 21st century, there is a need for technology better than the last. This requires people to create new pieces of technology and programming is the basis of the technology world.History of programming
 |
| Ada Lovelace |
Types of Programming
Coding
 |
| Binary code |
There are many different kinds of languages to preform different tasks and to complete/ create a different program. The code that created a program is called a source code. When a machine gets a task to accomplish, the source code first changes to assembly language. Then the assembly code changes to machine language. Then the machine language finally changes to binary code. The assembly code is a low level language to change numbers to represent binary code. Now there are two types of levels. High level and low level language. High level is where it is easier to write in this language due to being less detailed and uses easier to use words for us. While low level is closer to being binary code. The reason code is made is because you dont want to write billions of digits of binary code and make it simpler. That's why high level (which is a lot less like binary code) is used for most of things created today other than low level language. Now another step in the change from source code to binary is the machine language. This is basically a language the computer can understand in which it can be directly changed into binary. To conclude, coding is basically an easier way to make something do something without having to actually plug in binary.
Robotic Programming
Robots to preform a task or to carry out a task, they must be programmed to do so. We are not so far into the future where the robots know what to do if we told them. We need to specifically tell them what to do and how to do it based off a computer. Programming is basically the written out code to complete certain tasks without the need of humans. When programming a robot, humans specifically say and write the motions of these robots exactly the way shown to complete the task.
The
problem about robots is the robot is always guessing about the real
world. The robot does not have eyes and a brain to tell what an object
is or where something is. It guesses what the world is like based on
measurements from sensors. Upon building a robot, you must create a
model which will give the robot the simulation of life. As the world
goes as the model goes, the robot will function and make decisions
correctly. But as the robots in their field are so perfect in the lab,
it may not function correctly in the field. This is due to their model
being so specific and narrow only working in certain conditions. Once
put outside of the lab, the model will not work and their decision
making will not be right. This is the reason robotics is so difficult.
So in the future, robots need to be able to be flexible and make
decisions on the spot without interaction with humans. Once that
happens, robots will be revolutionary and unstoppable. There are different types of robot programming such as:
joint co-ordinates- This tells the robot basic movements of arms or any joint
Global co-ordinates- This tells the robot basic movements in the planes x,y, and z. Also rotations can be preformed
Tool co-ordinates- This, similar to the global, this moves on one tool center point
Programming in the technological world is a very big part. Almost electrical ran piece of technology was built off of programming giving the world these gifts of smart technology and a huge part of the 21st century.
Computer Programmers and The World of programming
In the 21st Century, computer programmers are a very very important job. These people sit at a computer writing and testing code. These people use languages such as C++ and Java and test them to check for faulty and or errors. Also these programmers update and expand on the previous languages and lines of code. These people are very skilled and are very important to the world. This world we live in has a thirst for computer programs. People everyday check their Facebook or twitter. They live on these devices and apps. These websites and apps are created by digits that are placed over and over again. Billions of lines of code that work together to create a website. Now the world is and will always from now on be all over technology. We always need a new iPhone or iPad. That's another reason why computer programmers are even more important. With things like Objective C used by apple. The world wants an evolved phone. A new phone. Programmers are trying to find the best types of programs. They are trying to make new things to make the world even more convenient. With a new generation, people are trying to create the newest things. Maybe in the future, someone can create a new language in which all languages before look so small and out of date. This is the goal of a computer programmer. This is what the world is looking for.
http://www.toptal.com/robotics/programming-a-robot-an-introductory-tutorial
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/robot-learning/
Monday, December 14, 2015
Technological Singularity
Technological Singularity
 | ||
| (The red is human progress) (Green is robot) |
The history of the Technological Singularity
First quoted by, John von Neumann, used Singularity in the 1950s said "Ever accelerating the processNext, Alan Turning had talked about robots passing humans in intelligence and once robots started that thinking, they will no longer need humans to help.
Soon people like Ray Kurzweil had built a machine where the computer played the piano and not him actually playing. At the age of 17 he built it and demonstrated it. Soon 46 years later, he believes that computers will pass human intelligence and humans will be wiped out.
The Theory
Human Biological Enhancements
When we think of half human and half robot, we think of cyborgs and robotic enhancements to the body where the robotics will help humans in many ways. They could help the disabled such as people who cannot walk or stand up. There are things that can help the blind see again. Make people hear again. Robotics can create a better world for individuals to live the lives they want or don't have. But to do this, scientists have to create something to help these disabled people. They cannot just place a computer into these people and expect things to happen. They have to develop things that will work with the human system. The robot would connect to the humans nervous system and all the blood vessels and anything to function. This may take a while to create but things like prosthetic arms and legs have been in use for a long time. But soon to come are more things trying to be developed.
- Superhuman Vision- This dream power of everyone can be achieved through the scientific field. A kind of permanent contact lens better than 20/20 can be applied by surgery to create almost superhuman vision. Although you can't see through walls, this is a huge step into the future. Designed by Ocumetics Technology Corp. Dr. Gareth Webb created this contact lens to help the world. Its better than glasses and contacts and could almost cure your vision forever.
- Bionic Hands- If someone lost a hand due to an accident or a disability, bionic hands can give them joy again. Over the summer, a 29 year old women named Nicky Ashwell was born without a right hand. For 29 years of her life, she had only 1 hand. But she soon discovered the BeBonic, designed by a UK group called Steeper-Group. This hand had over 337 mechanical parts and moved with ease. Finally, Nicky was able to ride a bicycle for the first time in 29 years.
- Chip Implants- When wanting to turn off the light, heaters, or doors remotely Kevin Warwickinstalled a chip in his arm where he can do all these things remotely. Warwick has founded the Project Cyborg where he wants to be the most complete cyborg and has been testing various things to him since 1998.
Being disabled and having a robotic arm can be a bad thing. But on the other hand people have tried to make it a good thing. Some people perform in the Cybathlon. This competition is for the cyborgs and half robot people who have prosthetic and robotic help. Races in this challenge include things like prosthetic leg races, exoskeleton races, arm prosthetic races, brain controlled computer game, powered wheelchair races, and muscle stimulated bike races. This competition is something that is a step into the future and with the people who lost the chance to be athletes and competitors.
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence, or also known as AI, is a term used to talk about the time where robots will have their mind of their own without the needs of humans operating it. When this happens, robots can actually end the lives of humans and end our human race.
On the first Sunday of 2015, Elon musk, a engineer, inventor and investor of many big companies, gave a speech addressing the topic of AI. Along with musk, there was physicist Steven Hawking who also agreed with Musk. Although, these two well known scientists of the world are not the first to address something along these lines. But the reason this topic is big now is because for the last 5 years, Facebook, Microsoft, Google all have spent millions to billions of dollars hiring people to create these AIs and algorithms. At this rate, these big companies may cause the extinction of humans in our near future. But at this point there isn't anything to worry about just because there isn't robots who can walk and think on their own and have opinions based on humans.
But with great power comes great responsibility. With Musk at a Puerto Rico conference, there was a letter addressing these bug companies to use AI with care and responsibility. It must be used for good and not violence. This letter will be the most important thing before people like ISIS or hackers get their hands on it to create weapons of mass destruction and can try to harness it for bad. Yes this does sound like something straight out of a science fiction movie, but the thing is, we are approaching the point where what believed science fiction ideas are coming to reality.
On one hand, AIs are being developed where some of the best AI computers are as good as 4 year old children.The University of Illinois Chicago gave the ConceptNet 4 Artificial Intelligence system (created by student at MIT) the Weschler Preschool and primary scale Intelligence test and it recorded that it is as smart as the average 4 year old. At this rate, computers will be smarter and smarter. The test showed that the computer did good on the straight fact answered questions but struggled on the why questions. But this is common and will take a while for these computers to really develop. But artificial Intelligence has a far way to go before they can hurt anyone. One thing is that it will take a long long time before these robots will even have common sense which occurs in most 8 year old children.
The aftermath of the Singularity
In any science fiction movie, we would know that we end by robots taking over the world. But with precaution, we can prevent a WWIII. As stated earlier, Elon Musk and many other companies trying to create AI, this must be done in a nonviolent, non-threatening way. We must build to help not destroy. As we all know, humans and their destructive nature will find a way. But when there's a robot uprising the world we know will be gone.
All we know is there is 2 possibilities.
1.When we find AI and harness it with its power, we can build a better world. With AI we can create a Utopia and with robots tending to our needs while humans can relax. Robots can then develop everything we want or need. They will have the nature of creativity and intelligence. With these robots, jobs will no longer be needed. Everything from farming, to manufacturing is done by robots. Humans don't need to work anymore.
2.When we find AI and harness it with its power, we can build a better world. But when putting these robots to work, with their own mind and conscious, they will realize there is no need for humans. All they do is lay down while robots do everything creating the world for them. Soon they will not need humans and can kill them. Making the humans extinct creating a WWIII where robots will win.
http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/ethics/waiting-for-the-rapture http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/robotics-hardware/video-friday-cybathlon-dronecatcher-bistrobot
Monday, November 30, 2015
Robotics
Robotics
By definition a robot is a machine to accomplish a task. Robots are everywhere from building cars, to sweeping the floor to even helping repair the International Space Station. These robots are helping humans in other ways such as manufacturing. Before robots, humans did everything by hand and by manual labor. But these robots do not have limits. They do not feel tired, lazy or wanting to quit. They make production faster and more efficient. Furthermore, robots are taking the place of humans is hostile environments and becoming more reliable in most situations than humans do. Although we as humans have not created real artificial intelligence, we have developed basic movements and ideas to start our robotic revolution.The History of Robotics
The history of robotics dates back to the ancient Greeks and their mythology. The God Hephaestus, (God of fire and metal works) has told the tale of creating mechanical servants in which moved on their own power. They were ranged between tables to golden handmaidens. |
| Heron Of Alexandria |
- Next, a engineer named Heron or hero of Alexandria created two texts called pneumatic and automate, these texts went over the ideas of hydraulics pressure, air and steam, and ideas such as opening and closing doors and statues that pour wine. Along with those readings, more texts include Belopoeica and Mechanica. These books go over war machines and how to move heavy objects. The idea of these machines and conceptions are way ahead of their time. War machines and automatic doors did not come out till a very long time.
- Then after Heron came Leonardo da Vinci who came up with the idea of a mechanical knight which can move. He created drawings and sketches of this idea but no one has found evidence of him attempting to make it.
- Then in 1737, a french engineer named Jacques de Vuacanson created the first ever humanoid robot that can play the tabor and pipe. To add, he also created a fully mechanical duck in which can eat, flap it wings and even defecate.
- Soon enough in 1937 and 1938, the company, Westinghouse, had created 8 humanoid robots called Elektro which can walk, smoke cigarettes and move its arms and head.
- These robots are the start of a mass production and revolution of robots to help the world and humans.
Types of Robots
Industrial Robots
Manufacturing assemblies were always run by humans. Manual labor can create humans to become tired and bored. Robots don't have these emotions like we do and because of this, robots are taking over the world in manufactured goods and in the work area. With these robots, they are more dependable for a long time without pay. Although they cost a lot to purchase these robots and program them, they are much more efficient than manual workers who may not get the job done, take payments to the week or month, are very slow and may not create the best, most exact work that robots do. Robots also can make products better. Things like car manufacturing. Before, cars were put together by hand in the assembly lines. But now robots can put cars together faster and more efficient than ever before. For these reasons, robots are in the need much more than ever before.Humanoid Robots
Now that in the 21st century, humans have tried to create a humanoid robots to resemble humans and to do human acts. But to do that, robots need to be programmed very well. But to do that is extremely difficult. The reasoning to build these humanoid robots is to replace human tasks. The future will be based off of robots doing the hard work. For example, people are trying to build robots that will act as first respondents to tasks such as firefighters. This replacement of work can save many lives in the act of life or death situations and events. So this group in MIT built HERMES. This robot can go into a building on fire and a person telling the robot what to do feels and sees everything HERMES does. This robot can save the lives of humans, chop/break wood, and grip things like humans do. | |
| Valkyrie has many human aspects, classifying it a humanoid robot |
- Exit a habitat airlock hatch and use a ladder to reach the terrestrial land
- Remove a communications/power cable from a soft-goods storage location and attach it to a connector located at least 10 meters away, while traversing a irregular rocky terrain, like the surface of Mars.
- Repair or replace damaged components on complex equipment, such as a broken valve or damaged tire on a planetary rover
- Collect or recover desired samples or items, such as Mars soil and/or rocks
Non- Humanoid Robots
But with humanoid robots, there are also things such as drones. Right now there are robots in which deliver your amazon packages. They could be in flight or on the ground. The more present drone by amazon is the amazon prime air. This drone can take your package and send it to your door by robot and in flight. These robots can get deliveries sent faster and more conveniently to you. At first, humans delivered this packages to your door. They may take weeks to ship to your house. But with these, they send them ASAP right to your door faster than before. But next on the ground, amazon has ideas for new transportation of packages with the trans-wheel robots. These robots balance on one wheel and bring your package straight to you. What makes this type of robot better is that they also travel faster and more convenient then the every day mail man. To add, these robots can travel alone or with more to carry heavier loads. But due to Federal Aviation Administration, they may not allow these types of not man driven robots to roam the streets. But if it passes these robots could change the way delivery works.Military Robots
Because robots are made to make human lives easier, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Project Agency) has created exoskeletons for soldiers to help carry their load. These machines help reduce muscle tears from the usual weight of the packs they carry. Although, so far it doesn't lighten the load, it mostly helps medically then performance. Before, many soldiers suffer from muscular scoliosis and fatigue. Now these robots can start a new path to more upgraded soldiers weaponry, defense, or transportation. This exoskeleton is one step into the future of military robotics.Programming
Robots to preform task/ carry out task, they must be programmed to do so. We are not so far into the future where the robots know what to do if we told them. We need to specifically tell them what to do and how to do it based off a computer. Programming is basically the written out code to complete certain tasks without the need of humans. When programming a robot, humans specifically say and write the motions of these robots exactly the way shown to complete the task.The problem about robots is the robot is always guessing about the real world. The robot does not have eyes and a brain to tell what an object is or where something is. It guesses what the world is like based on measurements from sensors. Upon building a robot, you must create a model which will give the robot the simulation of life. As the world goes as the model goes, the robot will function and make decisions correctly. But as the robots in their field are so perfect in the lab, it may not function correctly in the field. This is due to their model being so specific and narrow only working in certain conditions. Once put outside of the lab, the model will not work and their decision making will not be right. This is the reason robotics is so difficult. So in the future, robots need to be able to be flexible and make decisions on the spot without interaction with humans. Once that happens, robots will be revolutionary and unstoppable.
There are different types of robot programming such as:
joint co-ordinates- This tells the robot basic movements of arms or any joint
Global co-ordinates- This tells the robot basic movements in the planes x,y, and z. Also rotations can be preformed
Tool co-ordinates- This, similar to the global, this moves on one tool center point
Like humans, robots need a goal in their "life". They must have a reason for life. They are just like humans in the work area. Robots need to be able to make decisions without being programmed like at work something happens, they need to be able to do something about it not being mindlessly breaking things and objects.
The goal for programming robotics is to get the point where robots can learn from their own mistakes/experiences. But to do this is very difficult. They would have many many lines of code and artificial intelligence to do this. But predicted by many scientist, robots will be smart enough to do that by 2045. In conclusion, robots through history to now has progressed from simple tasked robots to human robots and soon enough robots with their own mind around the world that can revolutionize the world or become the end of humans.
Sources
http://spectrum.ieee.org/video/robotics/military-robots/darpa-tests-batterypowered-exoskeletons-on-real-soldiers
http://www.toptal.com/robotics/programming-a-robot-an-introductory-tutorial
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/robot-learning/Thursday, October 22, 2015
My Mouse Trap Car
My Mousetrap Car
Materials
Upon making the
actual mouse trap car, you have to have an approach. You need light
materials and you need to know what you are making for the final piece.
To start, an overview of what I needed for my car was:
- 2 pieces of wood (18")
- A mouse trap
- 4 regular CD's
- 2 smaller pieces of wood (10")
- 2 sticks or 1 cylindrical lever (=22")
- 2 big straws
- 1 piece of string
- Duct Tape
- 4 metal washers
- 2 cylindrical sticks
- 4 zip ties
Steps to make
The first step
to making the car were the wheels. The wheels were CD's. They were
secured by wrapping tape around the straws until the CD would fit and
stay on firmly. You did not want the CD's to move around so you would
have to cut pieces of tape and put them around the edges and so the
wheel would not be able to go over the tape.
Next, upon both wheels being secured, you would need to put a 12" or 1' wooden axle through the straw where the straw can be connected to the rest of the body. Tips when doing this step is, when making the back wheels, you do not need to create a pulley or any type of pulling system for the car to move because the string can just attach to the straw and not anything else.
 |
| After many trials, the pulley was taken out of the final product. |
Furthermore, the structure was to be made. The body was made of 2 18" rectangular sticks. These
created a long and thin body shape that gave it a good look and worked well. At the end of each stick,
there were holes drilled in so the axles could go in it and stay there. The axles were not meant to spin
but the straws and CD's were meant to spin on the wooden axle.
To add, the area to place the power source, the mouse trap, is built on 2 pieces of 10" wooden sticks.
These act as a platform for the mouse trap to sit on. They are then put into place by screws to hold it
down. The mousetrap is attached to the platforms by screws and the platform is attached to the rest
of the body.
Also, when making the car, the power source must be effective and useful.When creating it, the lever
is made up of 2 wooden sticks (each being 12" or 1') equaling 22". The lever is not that heavy but is
still very strong. These are then zip tied to the mouse trap arm to create a strong effective lever. At the
end of the lever, there is a piece of tape wrapped around the piece of string to hold it. The other end of the string is not attached to the wheel but simply wrapped around the straw. The rest of the string is just wrapped around the straw and ready to be released.
The last part to the car is the extra add on's to make the car go even better. First off, tape or a rubber
band can be added to the back wheels to give the spin a little more push and release. It will give
better traction and can actually help a lot. Next, metal washers can be added to make sure the wheel
(CD's and straw) are not touching the sides slowing it down. The washers hold the wheels in a certain
area not letting anything else slow it down. Third, glue the parts that need to be put together. Gluing
the wooden axle to the sides can keep the structure from moving and shifting sides. Finally, take off
any unnecessary pieces. Before getting to the final piece, most materials did not fit perfectly and not
have any extra space. They usually had some little pieces sticking out. So towards the end when you
happy with what you have you can trim off some remaining pieces to give it that thin look aerodynamic
look and feel.
Tips
When staring up the car, you do not want any overlapping string or else the car will jam and not run as smoothly. To get rid of any overlaps, you want to elevate the back wheel and spin the wheel as you pull the string tight until you need to start moving the lever down. You want to keep the string tight and not loose when you are trying to start it. When it is loose, the string will overlap without a doubt. Another tip when making the car always make sure all your measurements are correct and add up so
there are not any non-straight lines for the structure. The body must have all 90° angles.
After following these steps the car will run smoothly:
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