Wednesday, April 02, 2008

• It's been quite a while since I've written something here - if I can subtract correctly, it's been about a 3-1/2 month blog-less streak, in which many things have occurred.  So you may be wondering why I haven't been writing regularly, like I did over the summer... or maybe you're wondering why I'm breaking the streak at this time, probably the busiest time of year for those at school.

  One of the courses second-year engineering science students take in the winter term is "Engineering Design" - which is a pretty vague name for the course, because it could mean anything.  This is true because the course is defined differently every year.  In each year, the instructor sets three related projects in the form of a "Request for Proposals" (RFP) document.  Then students, in teams of three, design and build a robot to fulfill the objective stated in the RFP.  The entire process serves as a context for teaching the various aspects of engineering design.

  This year, the project that was assigned to my team was a "Flashing Ball Test Machine" - basically, we're given a set of balls that flash light when a moderate shock is applied, and we have to design and build a machine that test for their functionality (i.e. do they light up when struck?).  Here's a short teaser video to show a component of our robot in action:

  Want to see how it all works together?  Then I will extend an invitation to attend the Engineering Design Competition, where teams compete to have the robot that is most functional, i.e. performs all the tasks required in the RFP.  Here's a promotional poster created by the instructor for this event:

   

  Here's a Google map to the building:

  

  The Sandford Fleming building is the one labeled "University of Toronto" slightly northwest of the green arrow.  It's about a 5-minute walk from Queen's Park subway station or the College St. stop on the Spadina LRT.

  As you can see, my public demonstration is this coming Monday from 1-6pm.  I don't know yet when my demonstration is scheduled, but it will likely be in the first half of the session.  Of course, I'll still be there for all of the five hours.  If you have an extended lunch break, I'd really appreciate a visit (if you're in the Toronto area, of course) so I can show you what I've been slaving over for the past four months... but if you can't make it that's okay too.  Also, I would strongly suggest that you attend the other sessions as well - all of the projects featured at the demonstration have innovative solutions to the problem presented in their respective RFPs, so it's definitely interesting to see what second-years can do.

  I hope I'll see you there!

  • 2:50 AM
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