Robots and Steel

We had two exciting experiences recently in the high school Academy. Firstly, in the 9th/10th Grade Foundations of Engineering group, we decided to take a break from the rigours of trigonometry to see some robotics in action. Scott Gary, a Providence parent, brought in his Battle Bot--The Piecemaker!

The Piecemaker has competed in several events about fifteen years ago, including "Robot Wars" over in London. The robot enjoyed mixed success, going against such fearsome competitors as Bunny Attack, Hannibal, and Techno Trousers.

Scott pulls off the cover to show the internal workings of The Piecemaker;

Jakob and Samy have eyes on the flamethrower!

Alec and Colby watch as Scott describes the

internal wiring, which was actually less complex

than the robots we will be building next month

The Piecemaker is controlled by a regular remote-controlled aircraft setup, which sends signals to the powerful wheelchair motors at the wheels, and also to the metal cutting disc on the front. Scott showed us a worn-out disc from previous competitions; the fuzzy debris from other robots was still stuck on the blade!

Scott takes The Piecemaker outside to fully demonstrate its destructive capacities!

The students were allowed to operate the robot... be assured that the rotary cutting

disc was disconnected first!

Scott attempted to light the flamethrower, but the wind just wouldn't cooperate...

too bad!

Low-res proof of former glory: The Piecemaker (middle right) goes head-to-head

with Bunny Attack (left)

This week, the members of the 11th/12th Grade group, Advanced Engineering, took a walking field trip to the nearby Santa Barbara Forge & Iron over on Gutierrez Street. The business is owned and operated by Dan and Andy Patterson, who are newly related by marriage to our own Mr Hurt. Sadly, two of our group of six were out sick, and they were missed!

Dan met us, and began by showing a few of the projects that he currently has on the boil, and how he uses Trimble SketchUp to plan his designs after taking the initial site measurements. Tys and Sarah Jane spent much time last year learning SketchUp, and Kylie and Caleb recently had their first exposure to the CAD program. It was gratifying to see the exact same software in action at a thriving Santa Barbara business just blocks away from the school.

Dan opened the tour by showing some SketchUp projects

Dan was also able to show us around the shop, which is filled wall to wall with fascinating industrial machinery. Workers busily hammered away at iron and steel, drawing it out into custom-made features destined for various local businesses and residences.

Tys, Sarah Jane, Kylie, and Caleb look on as Dan demonstrates the various

co-ordinate axes of the drill press/lathe

This particular piece is destined for a local museum, at which we hope our students

will soon have opportunities to volunteer... more on this later!

Sometimes you just gotta hammer away on

a good old-fashioned anvil

And sometimes you use a jet of energized plasma on a computer-controlled machine;

the students gratefully finished their tour with this huge piece of equipment

Many thanks to Dan and Andy and everyone at Santa Barbara Forge & Iron for their warm reception of our students. Their creative passion, combined with hands-on skills and applied mathematics, are an inspiring example for us. Thanks again also to Scott for bringing in The Piecemaker.

Stay tuned for more projects and field trips and guest speakers! The year is just getting started.

Advanced Engineering: Community Design Project

We're in the fourth week of school now, so it's a great time to unveil our Big Idea for the 2016-2017 school year. The Advanced Engineering group, comprising Tys, Aaron, Sarah Jane, Kylie, Jake, and Caleb, have been given a momentous task to accomplish.

From left: Jake, Caleb, Aaron, Tys, Mr Meadth, Kylie, Sarah Jane,
and a Pacific Gray Whale

Drum roll, please...

They will be working on a year-long project to design and construct a play structure for the Providence Lower Campus!

Most of these students already learned to do CAD last year, creating models of orphanages, Mars habitats, and small houses. This was all done from a purely "design" perspective, focused on aesthetics and interest alone.

Sarah Jane and Jake showing their CAD model for an African orphanage last year

By contrast, the point of this year's work is to understand structural engineering: materials science (just when will that piece of timber break?), loads and stresses (how much tensile stress is that chain carrying?), column behaviour (when will a long thin supporting column buckle?), and so much more.

So, after making a design that is interesting and aesthetically pleasing and fits its environment, the students will bring their new skills to bear on their structure, which will enable them to select material types, choose thicknesses, add triangular structures, etc. This will be far more math-and-physics based than last year's work.

But for now it's all fun and games. We've been researching nearby playgrounds...

...appreciating local artwork...

...performing structural tests on candidate materials...

...speaking on location with the all-important client, Mr. Knoles...

...getting inspiration...

...critiquing ideas...

...and getting it all down on paper.

This week also marks the submission of a grant to a local nonprofit to help fund this project. The students wrote this grant themselves, and will be waiting hopefully for the response. Stay posted for more updates on this exciting work!

(photos by Rodney Meadth and Tys vanZeyl)

Engineering at Providence: The First Few Weeks

As we step into the 9th day of classes, I'd like to give an update on all things engineering at Providence. With eighteen high schoolers in the Academy, fourteen middle schoolers in the elective, and three different classes between them, there's a lot going on!

In the high school, we talked about how all technology is an amplifier; that is, it takes the output of the user or the designer and magnifies it--for good or for bad. Technology in and of itself cannot create, and it is not inherently good or evil. The responsibility is on the user or the designer to exercise wisdom and virtue, so that their technology is amplifying for good. Lofty thoughts!

One historical amplification of human effort and creativity occurred with the widespread implementation of the waterwheel in medieval Europe. The waterwheel could be connected via a crank and connecting rod (or a cam) to convert continuous circular motion into reciprocating linear motion. Did I lose you? Take a mental break and watch Sarah Jane and Aaron demonstrate...

Imagine using running water to power a system that can bounce something back and forth over and over and over again. You can crush gravel, pound pulp to make paper, stitch cloth, saw wood... the possibilities are practically endless!

The process can also be reversed, as shown by Tys and Caleb below. This system is what's happening inside your car's engine, with pistons moving up and down (linear) to make a central drive spin (circular). It's no exaggeration to say that modern industry depends on this simple setup.

David and Todd also came up with an impressive cam system, complete with a tiny weighted hammer on one end.

David and Todd show off their tiny industrial device

Samy and Jakob designed a sideways system that imitated the kind of action that would be used for sawing a piece of wood. The long white piece moves in and out horizontally as the wheel spins.

Samy and Jakob with their sawing machine

Did I mention that all of this was done by the students themselves, without any help from me beyond describing what the goal was?

Ben and Alena with another crank-connecting rod machine

Students have also been getting into some CAD work (computer-aided design). Kylie is brand new to the world of CAD, but after a couple of coaching sessions by Sarah Jane, she is turning out models with the best of them. She also learned the hard lesson that 3D printing is not a foolproof process...

But you can always try again.

And sometimes you just end up with a piece of modern art.

Over in the middle school elective, we began with our traditional opening challenge--record of 26 books still held by Josh and Pedro from a couple of years ago.

Constraints:

• At least 4 inches / 10 cm high
• Three sheets of paper
• 1 metre of tape
• Freestanding (not attached to the table)
• As many books as possible!

Cameron and James look on as the pile grows

One central cylinder--strong but not stable

Mr Meadth also showed the principle of inertia--that objects want to keep doing exactly what they are currently doing. A cardboard tablecloth is not the very best thing for this, but the students seemed to get the idea, with some help from Christine.

Note the heavier cast iron teacup staying perfectly in place. The salt and pepper almost did, but as Dylan pointed out, the higher centre of gravity made it more difficult despite their inertia wanting to stay in place.

That's a taste for now of all that we are doing. Coming up this month: playgrounds, battle bots, earthquake-proofing, trigonometry, and more!