My Bridge

Building a bridge has been an extremely difficult task so far. Even getting the materials to get started was hard because I had to get the exact dimensions for the wood. There is also a lot of thing to take into consideration when building a bridge. I have to make sure it stays under the weight limit, but also that it can hold 120 pounds. I have to make sure my bridge stays in static equilibrium so that it does not collapse under the weight and pressure. 

In order to make my bridge the best that it can be, I am going to build several different types of bridges including a truss bridge and an arch bridge. I am going to try to build a bridge with a warren truss because it has a special way of distributing the force. Where the force and pressure of the load is put is extremely important when building a bridge. Otherwise, if it goes to the wrong place, the bridge will completely collapse. 

The problem with building an arched bridge is that you have to heat the wood up a little bit. Also, once the wood dries, it stays in that shape. 

In our group, we have decided to split up and work on different types of bridges. Then we will regroup and see what works best. We are also giving each other tips on how to build the bridge along the way. 

Building a bridge is a tough, time consuming project. However, I will try my best and hopefully it will be able to withstand 120 pounds using the techniques I am researching. 

Static Equilibrium

When all the forces that act upon an object are balanced, then the object is said to be in a state of equilibrium. Even though these forces are balanced, it does not mean that they are equal. Objects in equilibrium have a net force and acceleration of zero. This comes from Newton's First Law of Motion. 

Even though the object has an acceleration of zero, it does not mean that it is at rest. It can also mean that the object is in motion and continuing in motion with the same speed and direction. 

However, when an object is at rest and is in equilibrium, it is said to be in "static equilibrium". Static means stationary or at rest. 

A bridge is an example of a system in static equilibrium. The bridge undergoes no motion. Static equilibrium is an important concept when building a bridge whether it is small or huge. It is important because these structures need to maintain static equilibrium under all expected loading conditions. A bridge reaches static equilibrium when the weight on top is equal to the resistance on the bottom of the bridge. If the bridge was not in static equilibrium, then it would not be able to hold all the weight it was supposed to, and it would collapse. 

Bridges

A bridge is a structure built to span obstacles such as bodies of water, valleys, or roads to provide passages over the obstacle. There are many different designs of bridges that serve unique purposes and apply to different situations. Designs of bridges differ depending on the function of the bridge, the nature of the terrain, the material used to make it, and the funds available to build it.

The first bridges were made by nature itself. These "bridges" were often trees fallen over that provided a passage across a stream or small river. The greatest bridge builders were the Ancient Romans. They built arch bridges and aqueducts that withstood extreme conditions. Many other civilizations caught on and began to build different types of bridges.

Types of Bridges:

Beam Bridge: horizontal beams that are supported at each end by substructure units. The earliest beam bridges were just simply logs across rivers and other similar simple things. Beam Bridges are the most common bridge type in use today. 

Truss Bridge: A bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss. This truss is formed by triangles. Truss bridges are one of the oldest types of modern bridges. A truss bridge is economical to construct owing to its efficient use of materials.

Cantilever Bridge: They are built using cantilevers-horizontal beams supported only on one side. They are constructed using much of the same materials and techniques as a beam bridge; however, there is a difference in where the forces act. 

Arch Bridge: Arch bridges look slightly like beam bridges; however, they have abutments at each end in which the weight of the bridge is thrust into. Abutments are substructures at the ends of bridges where the bridge's superstructure rests. 

Tied Arch Bridge: They have an arch-shaped superstructure but the ends of the arches are restrained by tension in the bottom of the structure. They are also called bowstring arches. 

Suspension Bridge: They are suspended by cables. In modern suspension bridges, the cables hang from towers that are attached to caissons or cofferdams. 

Cable-stayed Bridge: They are also held by cables. However, there is less cable required to build these and they also tend to be higher. 

Most bridges are fixed bridges, but you can also find movable bridges that having moving parts to it. There are also double decked bridges with two levels to support more traffic. These tend to be in busier areas such as large cities. 

Programming

Robot software refers to the coded commands that tell a mechanical device, such as a robot, what tasks to perform. Programming is not extremely hard once you learn how to do it because there are many softwares designed specifically to make programming easier and faster. Robot software can be extremely simple or extremely complicated. Some robots, like the ones we built, are programmed to just pick things up and move around. However, there are some robots that are programmed to act exactly like humans and speak like them. Most robots are programmed to do repetitive jobs or dangerous jobs that humans do not want to do. Most of these jobs are in factories and include building cars, candy bars, and electronics. Some robots are even programmed to explore underwater or even other planets!

Data flow programming is used by most robot manufacturers. It is based on the concept that when the value of a variable changes, the values of other variables affected should also change. The programming language that includes data flow is called data flow language. Data flow languages include functional concepts as well as numeric processing. Data flow language is modeled as a sequence of functions unlike other programming languages that use imperative programming.

Run-time is an important concept in programming robots. Run-time is when a program is running or executing. It is also used as a short form when referring to a run-time library. A run time library is a library of code instructions used by a computer language to manage a program in that language. Run-time is also used by some people to specify when problems in a program occur. A run time error is an error that happens in the program while it is executing, or running. For example, if the arm of your robot turned left instead of right, this would be a run time error.

When using a robot, you have to know how to program it. Otherwise, the robot will be able to do nothing and it will be useless. You can program robots do anything from hardly anything at all to making cars and roaming around on different planets that we cannot set foot on.

My Robot

My Robot

I built two different robots with my lab partners Richard Wolfe and Juliette Jacobson. The first robot was just a basic robot that was able to pick things up and move. It was composed of many different sensors that were able to detect changes in the environment such as something blocking its way. The second robot we built was the gyro boy. The gyro boy was made to be able to move around the room and do different activities. Just like the first robot, it had many different sensors so that it could sense the environment around it. 

We overcame many obstacles when creating this first robot. Sometimes, the instructions were quite hard to read and the details were not included. However, we were able to use common sense and figure out where some pieces went. Also, we had to figure out how to program our robot. This was not exactly easy because none of us had ever programmed a robot before. However, with the instructions, we were able to program it to do many different things. We were then able to play around a bit with the programming to find out all that the robot could do. We had a lot of difficulty with the arm on our robot because we were not able to make it go up and down and pick things up. We tried all the different programmings and it still would not work. I think we might have placed the arm wrong on the robot. Despite all of these difficulties, we were able to build our robot and make it work. 

The second robot we built was called the gyro boy. We chose this robot because we thought it was going to be a fun robot to build, and it looked quite challenging. There were many challenges with this robot. First of all, the instructions were complicated and very hard to read. Therefore, we had to rely on our brains to do most of the building. Also, there were many wires that needed to be attached in different places. These wires were really hard to work with and were very confusing. We never finished this robot because we did not have enough time. However, we built enough of it so that it looked a little like the picture on the instructions.

Building these robots was a lot of fun and I learned a lot about programming. It was challenging but we were able to overcome many obstacles and build a robot.

Robotics

Robotics

Robotics is a branch of technology that deals with the design, construction, operation and application of robots. It also deals with the computer systems that control and program these robots.

The design of a robotic system involves the principles of mechanical engineering, electronic engineering, computer science, and artificial intelligence.

The concept of creating machines that can operate dates back to the classical times. However, research on the potential uses of robots did not grow until the 20th century.

There are different parts of a robot.

1. Sensors
• Sensors allow a robot to gather information about the environment around it
• This information is used to guide the robot and its behavior
• Cameras are sometimes used as sensors 
• They allow the robot to construct a visual image of the environment around them
• It allows the robot to see things it wouldn't see with a regular sensor like the shape, size, color and distance of things
• Microphones allow robots to detect sounds
• Buttons inside of bumpers on a robot allow them to see when they have bumped into walls or other things
• Advanced robots have thermometers and barometers that allow robots to sense temperature and pressure

1. Effectors
• These are parts of a robot that do the actual work of the robot
• They can be anything mounted on the robot that is controlled by a computer
• Almost always, effectors are specific to what you want your robot to do. 
• End-Effectors
• These are tools at end of a robot's arms.
• They interact directly with with objects in the world.
• Grippers, spikes, lights, hammers, screw-drivers
• Motors
• They are used for many of the moving parts of a robot.
• Pneumatics and Hydraulics are another way of moving parts on a robot. However, they are used when a robot needs a lot of strength for a task. 
• Speakers
• They allow robots to talk and interact with humans. 
• They are able to produce many different sounds.

1. Control Systems (the brains) 
• It is the part of a robot that determines what it will do and what actions it will do.
• Pre-Programmed Robots
• These robots repeat the same actions over and over again.
• They can only detect very little information from their environment. 
• Autonomous Robots
• These are able to respond more appropriately to their complicated environments. 
• They will have many sensors in order to detect these changes.
• They will also have a range of behaviors that will allow them to respond to these changes.

Mouse Trap

A mousetrap is a type of animal trap designed to catch mice. 

Spring-loaded bar mousetrap

The first spring-loaded mouse trap was invented by William C. Hooker. It is a simple device with a heavily spring-loaded bar and a trip to release it. You can put many different foods on the trip depending on what mice you want to catch. The bar swings down extremely rapidly and with great force when anything touches the trip. It could take your own finger off!! The design is made to break the mouse's neck or spinal cord or crush its ribs or skull. Some of these mouse traps have an extended trigger that looks exactly like a piece of cheese. This extended trigger has many advantages such as increasing the leverage and increasing the probability of even the most cunning of rodents to set off the trap. 

Mouth mousetrap

This is a lightweight mouse trap that consists of a set of jaws operated by a coiled spring and triggering mechanism inside the jaws. The bait is held in between these jaws. The trigger snaps the jaws shuts which kills the rodent. However, it is not as powerful as other mouse traps. On the other hand, they are safer than other mouse traps because they can be armed by foot which eliminates the chances of cutting your finger off. 

Electric mousetrap

The electric mouse trap is a more recent mouse trap. It delivers a lethal dose of electricity when the rodent completes the circuit by connecting to electrodes located either at the entrance or between the entrance and the bait. They are safe for humans because the electrodes are inside a plastic box. 

These traps are just some of the few mousetraps that have been invented. Most of them use the same kind of mechanisms such as devices that snap the rodents bones.