Week 1: Robot Progress!

Robot Progress!

This week marked an exciting milestone. I got the robot moving for the first time.

After finishing the major mechanical systems, I focused on programming and basic motor control. The motion still needs refinement, but the robot is pretty much ready to be built and programmed by students.

Getting it to move helped me identify small mechanical issues. Some joints needed more room to move. A few printed parts required minor redesigns. I had some slight programming issues as the cheap servo motors could not find the correct zero position after starting and stopping the code. After some refinement, the robot now has the flexibility that I was initially looking for and it looks like it can move reliably now.

Mentor Feedback and Approval

I also presented the robot to my mentor at Build Play Learn Labs. I wanted feedback before moving further into curriculum testing. After walking through the mechanical design and explaining the learning goals, I received approval to continue developing it as part of the program.

Expanding the 3D Printing Curriculum

In addition to hardware progress, I continued building the 3D printing portion of the curriculum. I outlined lessons that introduce students to basic CAD modeling, exporting files, slicer settings, and printer setup.

My goal is to help students understand how a printer works as well as why prints succeed or fail. Instead of treating the printer like a mystery box, I want them to see how design decisions affect the final part. That understanding builds confidence.

Sharing Engineering with the Class

On the side, I gave a short introductory presentation to the class about what engineering is and what I do on my robotics team. I explained that engineering is not just building robots. It is solving problems in a structured and creative way. I shared some basic advice that I will be going through again through this curriculum, things like being curious, not being scared of big projects or failure and how to work with others. 

Next week

Although this week was still focused mainly on the engineering, next week my goal is to finish the curriculum and get a demo class started in order to introduce students to 3d printing and hopefully get some parts printed