2016 Mission Engineering-Team 5

The theme for this years summer program is Mission to Mars. Here at USC, we had to build circuits, rockets, gliders, robots, cars, etc. We worked in teams to finish our tasks. The team consist of Vanessa Ramirez, Gracelyn Pham, Danian (Peter) Zhang, Justin, Warren, and Joseph Nudelman.

Circuit

The first week we were here, we learned to build circuits, series and parallel. The circuit that is built with 'Mission to Mars' has to turn on LEDs (green, yellow, and red) and an alarm. If the green LED were to light up, it would mean that there is no danger of radiation. If the yellow light were to light up, it means that there is a little danger. If the red light were to light up, it means that there is a lot of danger, but when the alarm would go on it would mean that you are basically dead. Vanessa and Joseph worked on the circuit. Vanessa built the LED section where all lights were to light up to a certain switch. Joseph built the alarm section. The teacher assistant helped us making sure the wires were correctly placed in.

EV3 Robot

The EV3 robot is a lego robot. This robot is suppose to go in the working area and be able to pick and place back a cup. This is to represent collecting samples in Mars. In the first week, everyone built the first robot that was in the kit to get experience but the robot that the group wanted to build was a robot that had a claw and the Gripper was the robot that was chosen. Vanessa and Gracelyn built the robot. Peter and Gracelyn programmed the robot.

Redbot

The redbot is suppose to follow a black line on the working area and stop at the end. When someone stops, the robot is suppose to go back following the black line. This is suppose to represent so when there is an earthquake, the robot would exit and go to a safer place in Mars. Joseph programmed the robot. 

Scribbler

The scribbler is suppose to go around the working area and be able to detect when it is close to an object. When it does detect that it is close to the object, it is suppose to back up and go around. The represents when a robot is exploring Mars and it comes across an obstacle, it should back up so the robot could keep exploring. Gracelyn worked on the programming.

Windmill

The windmill is a source of energy and for humans to be able to live in Mars, we need energy to power our places. A design was suppose to be made in order to transmit energy to a battery tester where that would make electricity and the string that would hang would move. Joseph designed the windmill. Justin helped built the generator and help put it together. Vanessa and Peter also helped built the generator and Gracelyn also helped put the windmill together.

Rocket/Glider

A rocket was suppose to be designed as well as a glider to detach in the air and land safe. This would represent the astronaunts in the rocket taking a robot to Mars to experient. The glider represents the ship that would be the ship that would hold the robot and is suppose to land safe on Mars. Joseph and Justin both worked on the design and the construction of the rocket and glider.

Scratch

Online simulation were suppose to be created to represent the rocket, glider, robots, and windmill. Vanessa did all the simulations.

Presentation

A presentation was suppose to be created to be able to communicate our ideas to others. Peter, Vanessa, and Gracelyn worked on the presentation.