Embedded Files
For this Learning Module, Alex worked on creating an ultrasonic sound alarm system with a buzzer attachment that would change frequencies based on the distance being input from the sensor.Alex first learned how to use the ultrasonic sensor and got it to work pretty accurately after some trial and error with different iterations of code. Alex also learned how to get the buzzer to work in sync with the ultrasonic sensor.
Alex learned the basics of using Arduino's and is now familiar with all the essential parts to do some basic things using Arduino's. He learned about a lot of Arduino hardware and was able to make use of LED’s, the ultrasonic sensor, the button, and the buzzer. Alex learned a lot about circuits and got some experience with making them.
For this Learning Module, Alex completed a practice circuit board. Alex learned the fundamentals of how soldering works. Alex learned that you can fix broken pads by tethering wires from one port to another to continue the flow of electricity. He mistakenly soldered two holes together which we learned was causing a problem. Then he learned to desolder from the experience so it was a gift in disguise.
Alex learned that you should check the temperature of the solder before you begin because Alex accidentally had it at the max setting and burnt a pad as a result.Even though originally it didn't work when he completed the circuit it felt more accomplishing when everything actually worked after the adjustments.
For this Learning module decided to research how to use the Craftbot Plus 3D Printer. First he had to learn how to use online software to print out objects, for this project he used Tinkercad and Craftware. Alex made the designs in Tinkercad, saving it as STL files then sliced it using Craftware which converted the STL file to a GCODE file.
Among the first troubles that Alex had was figuring out how to print out his own designs. Alex researched it online and read over the user manual to discover that you need to download craftware to slice files so that it is readable by the craftbot. One day the filament wasn't sticking to the table so he decided to put glue on it but that ended up making the table too sticky so the following class period he had to clean it off. The first dinosaur design failed because he forgot to provide scaffolding for it to be able to print the whole thing since there are separate sections that need to be held up.
For the Learning module, the goal was to look through and attempt to download multiple operating systems to put on outdated computers and decide which would be most effective to donate to people with little computer knowledge. During the first week Alex had to decide which operating systems to utilize during this project.Alex and his Jonathan had to get multiple OS downloaded onto a flash drive. The following week he was able to successfully download Chrome OS after trying a new method of installation.
By the end of the learning Alex became comfortable with different operating systems. He successfully improved 5 laptops utilizing 3 different operating systems. Alex created a spreadsheet categorizing each laptop and their specs. The spreadsheet also goes over how to download chrome for linux onto a flashdrive. There is then another section which details how to download the operating system onto the hard drive.
The initial goal of this learning module was to be able to run Minecraft on my laptop through an ide then learn to make edits to the way that Minecraft works. The first week Alex spent setting up the environment to be able to run and edit Minecraft. He used VSCode to run Minecraft Fabric which is a lightweight Minecraft editing software. The second week Alex learned how to create a block but couldn't figure out how to apply a texture to the block. By the end of the learning module Alex was able to apply a texture he designed to a block that he created and make it naturally spawn in the game. Doing this Minecraft modding allowed him to also be able to play download and run Minecraft for free.
Alex's main problem was that he hadn't coded in awhile and was having troubles understanding the class system. There were multiple things he had to download to be able to tun Minecraft and it was a challenge for him to figure out what to download. Many of the methods of the original tutorial that he watched were out of date so he had to figure out his own way to do some things like naturally spawning the block. While running hsi code there were many errors but most of them seemed to not matter and still allowed the code to run, it was challenging to determine what errors actually mattered for what he was doing.
Alex and Jackson went into this project with barely any plan at all. They had the idea to take different parts from a few RC helicopters and mini drones then combine them to make one extra powerful flying device. As they began taking apart the helicopters and drones more and more ideas hit them in regards to what they can do with the project. After a lot of unusable ideas and brainstorming, they decided the game plan was to 3-D print a body which would hold four propellers from a very small drone and four propellers from a slightly larger drone
In the end Alex was able to design and print at home a drone body that looked coo and assemble it all together with the motors. It looked cool but wasn't able to produce enough lift to fly. If they had more time Alex planned on adding more batteries in series and running a complex circuit enabling each of the motors to receive a far more powerful current thus making it more likely to fly. Sadly Alex learned about circuits and batteries in physics too late to be able to apply the knowledge he learned.
The original goal for this learning module was to create an interactive 3D chess game using Unity. This was to be combined with 3D scanning people in real life to use as the pieces on the chessboard. In the end the 2 weren't merged together due to time constraints ,but both finished separately. Evan worked on the chess game whilst Alex worked on the 3d scanning and making the chess pieces.
Alex was able to use an Xbox 360 Kinect to scan peoples faces by downloading ReconstructMe then saving those scans as STL files. Then he cut off their heads in SLICER and combine them into various chess pieces. For example he turned his friend Jackson into a horse to use as a knight piece.
Wordle(link to website)
The original goal of this module was to mass produce versions of Wordle. We figured it would not be that difficult to do as Wordle seemed quite simple. We wanted to create versions like pig latin, incorrect spellings, and many others.
Accomplishments/problems:
We found a Wordle clone code to work off of starting off. This code was very messy and used many aspects that we couldn’t use. We used this code to learn some basic javascript but it did not even come with a word list. We find and code in a word list ourselves. We also wanted the site to work on mobile which took a lot of research into CSS and how styling websites work. Once we got the website to look correct we tackled some bugs with the logic of the game. Once the game was finally finished we added settings to make our Wordle stand out by making nearly everything customizable.
Learned:
We learned how to create websites with HTML using tags to create lines and objects in the document that can be viewed on almost any device. We also learned how to style all aspects of our site, like colors, fonts, sizes and aspect ratios. We learned how to write code in javascript that can make an interactive website. We finally learned how to connect these three aspects to create a final product that looks good and functions good too. We are glad to have learned so much about web development during the module. If we did this again we would have tried to do it all on our own without using code from online. Now that we know what everything does we could create many other websites even more advanced than this one.
Learning Module #9
Goals
The original goal was to make an online multiplayer game with many different features.Their final project did not end up looking exactly as they had originally planned, but they’re very happy with the final product and achieved everything they had hoped to. One major part of their goal was not only learning about website design, but learning how to let users interact on this site as well. They were able to achieve this, and that alone made this module a huge success, but the other major goal of the module was to use this to make a multiplayer game. It was tricky to apply their basic understanding of NodeJS to something like a game, but they were able to do this too. They ended up adding many features to the game, and finished with a really cool result. Overall, this was an extremely successful module as a multiplayer shooter game.
Problems and Success
A big problem with this module was finding reliable learning resources. Many tutorials were too specific and did not give enough general knowledge on using websites and servers, instead walking the viewer through it step by step by hand, making it hard to actually understand what’s going on. After a while, Max and Alex were able to figure it out by watching enough tutorials, and more importantly, consulting James. Once they were able to clear this hurdle, the rest of the module went fairly well, with the rest of the issues mostly consisting of typical bugs that could be fixed with reexamination, a Google search or two, and more help from James on occasion. The only other consistent issue was accessing the local console when Max and Alex needed to debug, as they could not access it on the chromebooks and needed to get help from someone using a real laptop
Each individual tutorial was not too helpful, but as mentioned before, Max and Alex were eventually able to pick up enough general knowledge and apply it to their own ideas. They learned to have a server communicate with clients, and apply it to a gameplay setting. They also learned how to actually make a game using HTML and JavaScript, which wasn’t easy. After all, it’s very different from working with a platform like Unity, but they learned the ins and outs and made a finished product they could be proud of.
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