My summer experience at the University of Minnesota ~ Sara Lahr
| Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | Week 10 | Week 11 | Week 8: July 12 - July 18Journal
Elizabeth is back this week, so finally the whole team is back together. We are starting to integrate our pieces together. Elizabeth is working on the GUI and creating a back end to actually store the data we collect. Mike is handling the image processing and tracking so that a Scribbler can find its way back to the starting tower. I am still working on the algorithm itself: the dispersion, the patrolling, and the swapping of positions.
I think my algorithm works! The only problem is that I THINK it works; I haven't had the opportunity to completely test it. So chances are there is something that is wrong. I have only been able to test portions. The Scribblers are not cooperating like I would like them to. An act that should be easy becomes difficult when the infrared line sensors return inconsistent information. I expect a Scribbler to stop when it reaches a white area, but it does so only some of the time. I cannot make the area any whiter, nor can I make the instructions any clearer. The frustrating part is that this isn't what I want to focus on. If the robot would just act in a predictable manner, I could make much more progress. I suppose that this is part of the process of robotics, but that does not make it any less frustrating. On the plus side, it is forcing me to be creative. The fact that I continue to make progress even though certain aspects don't work as I would like proves that my goal is possible. It is just not going to be easy!
I only wrote a page of my final report. It is a good start, but not as far as I would like to be. In addition, I spend a part of most evenings studying for the GRE. I think I have a good hold on the math portion. I can do all the problems fairly easily; I just make a lot of silly mistakes. Hopefully I can get over that. I am also studying for the verbal section. Studying the vocab is such a daunting task! There are an enormous amount of words, and chances are the ones that I learn will not even be on the test. I continue to study, but I keep thinking that my efforts will be futile. Next week I hope to start studying the writing portion. I just want to take the test and be done with it.