Journal 7/13

The sprayer consisted of a case enclosing a motor, a plastic gearbox, a piston-like object, and other small parts. When the motor turned on, the gearbox converted its circular motion into back-and-forth (horizontal) motion. This pushed the piston forwards and backwards, pulling water up and out of the sprayer - when the piston moved back, water was pulled via suction, and when it moved forwards, water was pushed out. I'm guessing that this function is similar to that of a soap dispenser, excluding the electrical components.

Journal 7/14

The first chapter of our distinguished lecture series was definitely nervewracking. While the research was very interesting, to me it felt morally questionable. I was especially taken aback by the idea of a monkey playing fake Pong over and over while being rewarded through an endless smoothie straw, because it seemed almost dystopian. The main question that this type of research raises is something that we should really be considering any time we eat meat or tame animals: where does one draw the line between valuable life (humans) and throwaway (animals that we kill and perform experiments on). Instinctively, it doesn't sound all that bad to be above all other animals. But many other species can feel emotions as well, including intense pain. It's hard to decide on a discrete point at which to draw the line, and so we simply limit the benefits of life to our own species. I think that this issue may become more prevalent as we continue to develop more advanced AIs that may eventually be able to "feel" in the same sense that we feel emotions.

Journal 7/15

I think that people like Tesla often become famous for large achievements that aren't enirely their own because of the way we think about success in the modern era. From my experience, at least, the idea of a 'lone inventor' as mentioned in the book is very common in our society. Perhaps it's an offshoot of the American dream, where the goal is to be absolutely self-made. The truth is that every achievement follows a long list of inventions that make it possible, and it's important to remember the foundations of geniuses. To be completely honest, I too inwardly subscribe to the lone inventor ideology, although I also greatly enjoy collaboration. It's hard not to absorb the implicit ideas that always lie around you.

Journal 7/18

It makes sense for computers to use a base two counting system because electricity has two states: on and off. This makes it easy to store data internally in terms of binary. However, binary is not very readable to humans, because you need lots of digits to represent even small numbers - we use base ten instead. To me, base ten doesn't seem very logical, because ten isn't special mathematically (as opposed to numbers like 2, 12, and 16). Base 16, or hexadecimal, is used for memory addressing because it's a more readable form of binary. Base 16 is also used for colors, because six hexadecimal digits can represent 256 * 256 * 256 possibilities, equivalent to the RGB system. On a totally different note, here's what I've been doing for my health at COSMOS. I have been making sure to consistently get eight or more hours of sleep per night, because I know from experience that a bad sleep schedule can have a lot of negative effects during the day. I've also been (sort of) paying attention to what I eat, making sure to consume some fruits and vegetables every day while not drinking soda whenever I get the chance. In terms of exercise, I could be doing better. I think that I could improve by biking around the area on weekends, but I don't really have the energy to do that after class on weekdays.

Journal 7/19

Interestingly enough, Monte Carlo simulations have a lot of applications in finance, such as calculating customer lifetime value and acquisition cost. Originally, this type of simulation was used in the 1940s to estimate neutron diffusion while developing the atomic bomb, because scientists needed an accurate calculation that couldn't be done using simple algebra. As for the DMG Mori robots, it seems like they are mainly used to build other parts. In fact, I'd guess that many of DMG Mori's clients actually use their mills and lathes to fabricate even more part-making machines, just because the mills are so large. I'm planning to ask my aunt about this when I get back, because she works on fabrication for Astra and probably deals with some of this technology close up.

Journal 7/20

I think that DMG Mori uses machinery from other companies to build their parts mainly because of the cost. The robots in the fabrication room were so large that building them would takes lots of money, time, and energy, not to mention using their own machinery to build the machinery that builds their machinery. However, the tour guide did mention that they aimed to transfer to using only native machines in the future. In terms of how I learn, I think I still need practice taking notes and studying. I can take notes, but I don't think that my notes actually help me retain the information that I gain otherwise. As for studying for exams, I don't know many methods besides flashcards and going through things in my head. In other words, learning is an area that needs improvement.

Journal 7/22

I think that most devices run on DC power because they use batteries to store energy, and battery circuits run DC by nature (one-way flow of electricity). So even though outlets dispense AC power, it makes the most sense to convert to DC and then store in a battery or use immediately. As for Exploratorium assignments, I think it would be awesome to have COSMOS students make an exhibit. This would require a lot of coordination with the people at the Exploratorium, but it would be great for a final cluster-wide project.

Journal 7/25

The quote from historydoctor really reinforces the 'standing on the shoulders of giants' doctrine that Newton emphasized in terms of his discoveries. It's absolutely true that Newton's laws of classical mechanics and calculus stemmed from Galileo's previous experimentation and Descartes' mathematical prowess. In other words, a timeline of revolutionary discoveries and inventions can be seen as a steady flow of knowledge from inventor to inventor, the sum of that knowledge increasing over time. As new knowledge abounds, new discoveries become imminent. Being a genius requires not only intellectual ability and creativity but also the ability to learn effectively from others.

Journal 7/26

No Journal 7/26

Journal 7/27

No Journal 7/27

Journal 7/29

I remember that I used to deal badly with frustration. For example, I would often slam the keys on the piano after making a small mistake and then close myself in my room. It's definitely important to handle your anger instead of bottling it up, but some methods are better than others. If I'm ever super frustrated, sometimes I'll scream into a pillow as a way of releasing energy without harming the ears of anyone else. As for failure, I still need to work on being flexible. I've always been a bit of a perfectionist, although I have gotten better at curbing that instinct over the years. Still, I end up feeling really bad about myself when I make a mistake that really has no significance in the long term.

Journal 8/1

While I haven't received any critiques from other groups, Dhruv and Lucas have helped us stay on the right track to success. They often warn me when I'm about to make a structural misstep, which saves a lot of time in the long run. Overall, collaborating has been really helpful for building the robotic piano, as we can all contribute unique ideas and designs.

Journal 8/2

The biggest challenge we've faced with the piano has been the conveyor. We initially planned on using a chain to move a carriage across a long distance, and we constructed the entire contraption accordingly. However, the chain ended up being inconsistent due to jumping, and we had to scrap the whole thing. Now, our plan is to use linear gears paired with alternating large and small gears to move a carriage along. I've learned to compensate with failure, as it's a necessary part of design. I think that failing once actually led us to think more carefully about our design decisions as a whole, so hopefully our future hiccups are lesss significant.

Journal 8/3

I think that I've been mostly on task during both robotics and biophysics, so my ratio is closer to 80:20 than 50:50. I have mainly been motivated by the time crunch, because Dhruv, Lucas, and I are attempting a project that requires a lot of careful design and fabrication. Also, I have really enjoyed playing with Legos for as long as I can remember, and so it's hard to get distracted from the task at hand.

Journal 8/4

Almost everything went well in the end with the automatic piano. We were able to get our robot player to slide without skipping or getting stuck, which was a major issue early on. In addition, the structure for both the piano itself and the robot player is quite solid, and you can easily carry both of them without worrying about anything falling apart. The only thing that I'm not satisfied with is the music reading feature - while we got it to work once, the reader was never that consistent because the colors themselves weren't different enough.

Theo's Journal