Group Members:

Joshua Lee, Mason Lau, Grace Kripgans, Andrew Kam, Nina Huang, and Matthew Liberson

Civil and Mechanical Engineering:

Civil Engineering: Civil engineering takes a huge role in the normal life of humans. They make highways, bridges, and etc.. For this project, civil engineering was essential because our task was to build bridges, and create a car using mechanical engineering to get a car across the bridge carrying three bricks and back. This is like a real life scenario because in real life, on bridges, and the bridges created have to carry immense amounts of weights. Learning and building the concepts of bridges was a challenge, but after practice on simulations, we built a successful bridge.

Mechanical Engineering: Mechanical engineering was a very complex part. The mechanical engineering part of this project was to build and program a part. Working to create this car was quite a challenge, but lots of fun. We had to cut pieces of metal in order to get the perfect sizes, but once we had the correct size, we had to screw the pieces together. Our group was the first to create a successful, programmed, space-conservative robot. Without the difficulties of having to try to cut the metal pieces, it was quite a blast.

Materials used for this project:

This project was even more difficult than the last project because we had very limited materials.This was very difficult but it was more enjoyable because this was more like a real life scenario. The more supplies we used, the more “money” we used, and the more materials we would run out of. For this project, we used balsa wood planks, balsa wood sticks, hot glue, and vex robotics parts.

Following the packet to create a prototype:

Balsa Wood Bridge:

Balsa wood is a very brittle material that is wood. We had to use this wood to create a wood that would be able to hold a metal car holding three bricks along as it moves across the bridge, turning around, and to come back. Our team ran into a few challenges as we were trying to accomplish our mission. We first had difficulties trying to create a car that had correct dimensions due to the bridge’s capabilities. Second, the car was not functioning correctly because the program was having difficulties. But, with the help of the professor, we found out that the problem was that our car’s battery was not strong enough the feed the motors the power it needed. So, we changed the program to utilize less battery power for a longer amount of time.

Working with others to create new projects:

Finished car design:

Finished car design with bricks on it:

The finished substructure of the bridge:

The final bridge and car along with Siggy:

Successful Sigma Squad group photo:

SOURCES:

https://www.docs.google.com/

https://www.youtube.com/how-to-create-sturdy-bridges/

https://www.prezi.com/

PHOTAGRAPHER:

Joshua Lee (6) and Grace Kripgans (1)