PLTW/VEX

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Project Lead the Way

Over my 4 years at Martin Luther King High School I was lucky to be enrolled in Project Lead the Way courses. This served as my first taste of engineering and kickstarted me on a life time love for the topic and for robotics specifically.

Introduction to Engineering

This course introduced me to engineering practices and standards. In this course I also learned inventor and used it to make my first parts, assemblies, and 3D prints.

Principles of Engineering

Through this course key lessons of materials, tolerancing, mechanisms, robotics, statics, kinematics, and electronics were taught. This was also my first experience using VEX and learning RobotC.

Digital Electronics

In this class we learned circuits, logic gates, state machines, soldering, and wiring. We utilized large Elenco Solderless Breadboards for a variety of circuit testing. In addition we also learned simulation software like Multisim.

Computer Integrated Manufacturing

In CIM we learned about the manufacturing process and the equipment that enables it. We learned how to use lase rcutters, lathes, and cnc machines. Using both the VEX kits and Lynxmotion arms we were tasked with making an automated factory process. Mine utilized a conveyor belt of dixie cups full of batter, a Lynxmotion with a spatula, and a hot griddle to autonomously make some pancakes.

Engineering Design and Development

This capstone class was the final class in the series where we worked in a team to take a design through the engineering process. For this, we designed a multimeter that could plug into the charging socket on your phone to allow for quick and easy results for tradesmen, engineers, and hobbyists.

VEX Robotics Competition

I participated in my school's very first year of VEX Robotics Competitions. This 2v2 game consisted of picking up different colored bean bags and placing them in a scoring zone of your designated color. There were three unique scoring zones: a floor level square, a raised trough, and a high platform increasing in points respectively. Our team created a "vacuum-like" rotating to belt to suck up the bean bags with a scissor lift arm to reach the high locations. In addition to this, the mecanum wheeled based allowed for any motion across the field. I worked primarily on the mechanical design and a fabrication side of this robot but did aid in elements of wiring and coding.

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