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Week 2
Welcome family, faculty, fellow students, and COSMOS prospects to Cluster Ten's Library!
Here you'll find details on our projects, assignments, and daily activities. So, without further ado sit back, relax, and crack open a book about our weekly experiences.
And PLEASE, if you smell smoke...say something.
In the Neighborhoods of La Jolla
Alice's Adventures in La Jolla
Sunday 7/14/24 (Chapter Seven)
T’was the morning of beach day, and all through the halls, not a creature was stirring, not even a shrill wake-up call. That is until six thirty rolled around. The students of Cluster Ten were up and on their feet, donning their blue COSMOS T-shirts, and making their way out of their dorms. After receiving a filling first meal, the students returned to their dorms to retrieve their necessary supplies for their field trip to La Jolla Shores. Students grabbed plenty of sunscreen and water, while also bringing other beach essentials, including their: flip-flops, towels, sunglasses, swimming attire, etc. Then, they left the dorms, again, and waited on the steps of Cafe Ventanas. Soon, the buses arrived to transport the clusters attending that day, and the students loaded onto them.
Surroundings Near Home Base
Shore of La Jolla
At the beach, the students enjoyed multiple different activities. Many students began their time on the beach, setting up their towels and heading straight for the water, and others simply opted to soak up the sun. Regardless of whether they chose swim or sun, seemingly every student found the time to dip their toes into the cool water of the Pacific. Additionally, some students built sand sculptures and spent some time digging their necessary resources, or played sports like frisbee and football. As some pupils peeled away from the sandy surfaces, they explored the shops and eateries of La Jolla. Most notably, students enjoyed pizza, sushi, and burgers, before topping it all off with some cafe drinks, ice cream, or doughnuts. As the students’ time at the beach neared its end, they began walking back to the “home-base” the RAs had set up. The RAs displayed a plethora of food here, and allowed the students to take as much as they could carry. As a result, multiple students returned to their dorms carrying packs of chips, soda, and/or oranges. The tired students walked back to the bus, and were transported all the way back to ERC, where they unpacked in their dorms, ate dinner, and later went to bed.
COSMOS Students Chatting and Enjoying Treats
Gone with the Code
Monday 7/15/24 (Chapter Eight)
On this bright morning, students woke up to the sound of seagull screeches. And as a result of this blaring wake-up call and possible search for food, the students were influenced in doing the same. After eating their breakfast at the dining hall, students headed down for headcount. Once they received the greenlight to leave, the students were able to walk to class without their cluster RA! Making their way into their classroom, the students were greeted by their instructors and their teacher fellow. This day, Jonathan explained the sample codes for photos and videos with the PiCamera, given to us the previous week. Additionally, he gave us some of his own code for further experimentation. A bit later, the students were sent to lunch, where they recharged their energy for the afternoon. Returning to the engineering building, the students left for the lab. Here, they continued on their code for their autonomous vehicles. After an afternoon of troubleshooting, debugging, and querying, the clock struck four and the students were told to clean up their areas and power down their Raspberry Pis, before leaving the lab and walking back to Eleanor Roosevelt College. This week, the students' boundaries were widened, and during their inside time (which now lasted from four PM to six PM), they were able to get boba, froyo, go to Target, and more! Some students opted to stay in ERC, either in their dorms, or in the laundry room. As the hours went on, students then headed to dinner, before enjoying some lovely nightly programs. Then, as always, they headed back to their dorms, for suite time, and slumber.
Post-it Note Detection
Students at Work
Jonathan Explaining Python Code
RaspBerry Pi and Post-Its
Evan Working on His Robot
One Hundred Years of Debugging
Tuesday 7/16/24 (Chapter Nine)
Picture this: a serenely silent room, sleeping students...and the blaring bleep of an alarm clock, ruining it all. This day, students dragged themselves from their halls to Cafe Ventanas for a filling breakfast, before making the lengthy trek to class. Walking through the doorway of their classroom, the students were greeted by Johnnie, who instructed the students to continue on their Ethics Projects.
That morning, many students began or continued to record their videos. Some students flooded out into the courtyard, while others remained in the classroom. The students stayed sat in huddles to work on their projects until they were sent up to the lab. In the lab, students either continued on their projects or continued working on their robots. A bit after that, the students headed to lunch, where they briefly rested, before returning to the lab. As they did the days prior, the students worked on their code. Many students began testing out their robots in the test maze laid out on the floor of the lab. In a whirl of colorful arrows, wiring, and electrical tape, the students finished their day in the lab. But despite completing their day in the engineering building, they were only beginning the evening in ERC. They enjoyed their time after class, just before washing up and heading to bed.
Jenny, Sophie, and Audrey
Continuing to Work on Our Ethics Projects
James and Sophie
Clarisse and Michael
Juha Talking with a TA
Dhilan having a Discussion
To (put down) a Programmer
Wednesday 7/17/24 (Chapter Ten)
A sheep, a teddy bear, and a blanket walk into COSMOS. They sing lullabies and cheer for sleep...until they're all chased out by an alarm clock. And seagulls. And a trumpet? Regardless, the students somehow left the comfort of their rooms and headed to the dining hall. After a breezy breakfast and speedy headcount, the students made their way to the beloved engineering building. And they were off! To the races? Not necessarily. To the Cluster Ten classroom? Not today. The lab? Not quite. So then what? On Wednesday, the students were able to view a new room. Apparently, the faculty expanded on the idea of "larger boundaries" to include theinclude the the educational classrooms as well, which was why Cluster Ten found themselves in the computer lab that day.
Professor Gravish gave a lecture on Freehand Sketching and Spatial Visualization. He explained that being able to understand fully how one's design will look spatially and being able to communicate it was a very valuable skill in their field. The students practiced drawing out isometric models before they all signed into OnShape, a platform for computer-aided design. About an hour later, the students went to lunch to recharge their minds, before making the journey back to the engineering building for lab time.
At the lab, they continued tinkering with their robots. More and more students began testing out their bots, some going into the room next door to use a second testing area. Groans of frustration from programmers experiencing bugs were audible. As the day dwindled down, students cleaned up, packed their bags, and said "farewell" to their beloved lab, before leaving back to ERC. And with that, another day came to a close, as laughter echoed through the lovely night sky.
Panel of Alumni
The Picture of RaspBerry Pi
Thursday 7/18/24 (Chapter Eleven)
Thursday: the final stretch before the completion of the week. Today, the students woke up bright and early, readying themselves for the long day ahead. After walking to the engineering building, or EBU-2, the students were ushered to their seats, and a COSMOS alumni panel began. The students were able to gain insight from these past COSMOS attendants, and learned what these individuals were able to achieve later in time. Additionally, Professor Gravish, who is also a COSMOS alumnus, was able to discuss his fondest memories from COSMOS in 2000, which was playing ultimate frisbee after classes. Furthermore, the young inventors were allowed to ask the alumni panel questions about college, majors, and careers. All in all, the panel encouraged the students to continue with higher education, and understand that they all are capable of achieving many incredible things.
Various Robots in Gravish Labs
Gravish Labs
Once the panel ended, students continued working on their ethics project, while some began setting up their digital portfolios. As lunch neared, the students left the building, to begin their roundtrip from the EBU-2 to Cafe Ventanas. This time, however, after lunch, Johnnie led the students to a different building: Franklin Antonio Hall. Here, the students would receive a tour of Gravish Labs, as well as numerous presentations from some of Professor’s Gravish’s PhD students. The PhD students discussed their research and projects, showing their presentations, posters, and physical creations. During the tour, the students viewed even more robotic configurations, including works from Jonathan and Rohan, one of three of their teaching assistants. Then, the students left the hall to return back to the lab. Having an hour to continue working on their robots, the students scrambled to smooth out their code. With sticky notes all over the floor and students dashing after their robots, the day came to a close. Students returned to their classes, participated in nightly activities, and slept soundly for the day to come.
Students begin placing their robots in the maze, meticulously placing all their arrows along the path. The trial times for each robot became shorter and shorter, until there one winning pair was determined. For fastest robot time through the maze, James and Sophie won. For the documentation prize, there was a tie between James and Sophie and Michael and Clarisse. Congrats to all our winners! As the day dwindled down, some students prepared to leave for family weekend. In a flurry of “Hi”s, “Hello”s, and “I missed you”s some students joined their family to leave for the weekend. The remaining students enjoyed dinner, nightly activities, and slept soundly into Saturday.
You can find videos of some maze runthroughs here! https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/14i59lIPm6yavW48fc1BNKen1fWOs8VyA?usp=sharing
Wuthering Motors
Friday 7/19/24 (Chapter Twelve)
Friday has officially arrived to the students of COSMOS, and they begin to muster the strength to get out of their beds in grand anticipation of the day ahead. After briefly walking around the courtyard of the engineering building, the students made their way up to the lab to add last-minute details to their robots in preparation for the competition. Roughly an hour and a half into their lab time, the students were called to the classroom to observe an undergraduate panel with some STEM students from UCSD…and Columbia. The students were able to learn about applying to college, majors, and study abroad programs from the delightful upperclassmen. After having their questions and queries quelled, the students returned to the lab, before leaving for lunch. Shortly after lunch, the students returned to the lab, making a mad-dash for minor tweaks and tinkers.
Students Preparing for the Race
The (2024)Maze
Hippo
The Wind in the Robot
Saturday 7/20/24 (Chapter 13)
Today the students woke up, bright smiles donning their faces as warm rays of sunlight cascaded over the ERC campus. After enjoying a lovely breakfast, the students began to prepare themselves for the long day ahead. On this wonderful Saturday, the remaining students on campus would be able to visit the famous San Diego Zoo. Cluster Ten students went to the zoo, in search of pandas, birds, and all sorts of other creatures. Some were successful, finding themselves in the zoo’s aviary, while others…couldn’t exactly find the pandas, much to their chagrin. But animals weren’t the only thing at the zoo. Students were also able to go on the zoo’s Skyfari Aerial Tram, which offered them treetop views, from one end of the zoo, to the other. Additionally, other COSMOS attendees found themselves in the shops, looking for a plethora of items, including, but not limited to: cute keychains to decorate their lanyards, San Diego Zoo apparel, to show off to friends at home, and food that wasn’t from the dining hall.
Students at Zoo
All in all, the students had quite an adventure at the zoo, but this chapter of their COSMOS experience wasn’t quite over yet. Back on campus, the students returned to their dorms for inside time, before leaving again for dinner. Once they finished their dinner, they walked off to all the nightly programs offered that night, which included the ever-loved karaoke night. And with that, the students went back up to their suites, prepared for sleep, and slumbered comfortably.
Find the 3rd Capybara! (Not in the Water Body)
Bring snacks! (or buy from target on campus if you'd like)
Clean up after yourself; you're not the only person living in your dorm, so respect other people's space as well as your own
Atomic Hardware
This week's advice section provides some more dorm-specific information. So, if you're a confused future COSMOS attendee, this is all for you!
An extension cord is actually relatively helpful, especially if you're on the top bunk
Mesh caddies may be more useful than the larger, plastic caddies, as they're easier to hang on the bathroom hooks
Consider bringing cloth hangers
Consider bringing a small fan; dorm rooms and common rooms can get a little stuffy
Brought to you by the Cluster Ten Newsletter Team!
Writer(s): Kaitlyn Ly
Editor(s): Brendan Gho
Photographers: Brendan, Kaitlyn, Alomah, Anthony, Siya, Clarisse
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