Moderator:  Mrs. Monica Wood

     Next Meeting: Wednesday January 14, 2008

We now have our own wiki!  Check it out -

www.asjrobotics.pbwiki.com

Meeting Journal

Date 2/11/09:

     The team decided to postpone the presentation for the school's sport's assembly in April. We are still working on the programming and the costumes for the robots. Please visit our website at asjrobotics.pbwiki.com for more information about the project.

Date 1/7/2009:

     Welcome back all members of Robotics and Happy New Year! In the new year the robotics club has taken on a new task, a performance at the Spirit Week competition. Today, the club met and planned its future activities. The different tasks that will be performed by the robots were divided among the different teams. After each team has completed the programming of their robot's move they will send the program to Tara who will combine it to make the robot dance routine. Thank you for all the hard work put in by all the team members especillay Farshiya and Alex who worked on the moves for the robot this week. Also, thank you to all who put in their advice and volunteered for other projects.

Date 12/17/2008:

     Today was our  Christmas party in conjunction with the Math Team. The members, even members of the math team voted on the song that the robots will dance to on Spirit Week. The winner was "Cha Cha Slide" which won by a landslide. Team 5's wonderful robot, Wall-E Junior, was festively displayed on the buffet table with a Santa Claus hat for all visitors to see. The robot encouraged some members to continue working on their robot. It also demostarted the hard work team members have put into their robot and more importantly the team as a whole. As we celebrated our achievements thus far, we reflected on the future of the team as well. It was clear that as the new year approaches, the team hopes to develop their talents and abilities. I encourage all team members to continue their hard work. More importantly, I congratulate them on their current work and determination . Their dedication is truly eminent. I think we all have learned of the efforts that take to put an idea forward but most importantly, we have learned of the reward we receive when we have accomplished an arduous task. I hope this holiday season proves to be a restive and merry one and I wish all the best of luck in the New Year. May it bring joy and success to all!

Date 12/10/2008:

     The meeting today proved to be very productive. All team captains met and planned the activities for the rest of the year for the robotics club. We had a special visitor, Ms. Irene Nugent, who will be our mentor throughout the rest of the year. It is with pleasure that I announce our plans for Spirit Week. Please refer to www.asjrobotics.pbwiki.com for details.

     The team captains decided to prepare for a special presentation on Spirit Week in which the robots will dance to a song while the votes of the last day are being counted. We thought this would be a wonderful way to entertain the students and faculty at ASJ. After Spirit Week, the captains decided that the teams would do a couple of challenges every week. The challenges will be picked by different captains and all teams will participate. We thought this would be a fun way to test all our skills learned throughout the first few months of the team.

Date 11/19/2008:

     We are making progress! Team 2 has already completed all the lessons. Congratulations for the hard work the team put in to their robot. Some groups are still working on their lessons and others are experiencing some difficulty downloading the programs onto the robot.

     Everybody is excited waiting for the next step the team will take. Unfortunetly, we have lost some team members. Although the group seems smaller its members still show enthusiasm for their robots. I think everyone in the club has learned about the wonders of technology and are eager to challenge what they have learned thus far. Keep up the enthusiasm!

Date 11/12/08:

     The groups continue to work on their programming lessons. As our knowledge of the software increases we hope to prepare ourselves  to hopefully create our own programming. All the groups continue to work on programming thus far. Group members have shown to be very supportive of eachother. Keep up the good work!! =)

Date 10/22/08-11/05/08:

     The robotic's club continues to grow as students start to get more comfortable with the different programs. Most groups have completed the light sensor lesson, some have even started working on the programming to get their robots to talk. Everyone is at a different stage, nevertheless, they continue to work in independent groups on their robots.

Date 10/8/08

     Hello everyone and welcome new members! Programing is going great as many of the students begin to divert from the original lesson plans inventing their own programs and adding more personalized work onto the program. The new students quickly learned about robots and were amazed at the work the robotics club at the Academy of St. Joseph is doing.

     Most students have grown close to their robots giving them names and showcasing them to the teachers. In the beginning of the meeting, some people were having problems with getting the robot to execute the program correctly.However, as time elapsed, the students were becoming more comfortable with the software. Good luck everyone with programming next meeting!

Date 10/1/08

     Today was officially programming day as all the teams began programming their robot. Many students were amazed at the programming software. It was coherent, with detailed explanations and easy to follow instructions. What was even more amazing was that the robots were actually performing the tasks. We all learned that programming a robot requiers a lot of detail. The robots need to be told what to do for every move. They need to know when to start, when to stop and how far to go.

     We not only carried out the tasks in the instruction software for programming but as a result of the student worksheets, we learned about programming in general.We hope to be able to create our own unique programming soon, but first, we need to work on the other programming lessons. People were really excited and many are eager to download and run more elaborate programs for their robots.

Date: 9/24/08

     This was the first day of programing. Some students were still working on their taskbot and others proceded to the first programming activity, Full Speed Ahead. Robotics is new to most of us, so we are still trying to get acuanted with the lovely machines. Today was the first day when group effort was really shown as we divided the tasks among the team members. We have the engineer, the software specialist, the information specialist, the project manager and the journalist. Team captains have also been officially chosen. Good luck to all of you!

Date: 9/17/08

     Robotics is growing.  There are still 5 teams, but there are 4-5 girls on each team.  Every team began building their robot using the Lego instruction booklet and has the software installed on at least one laptop for programming. 

     Teams or parts of teams will be meeting during other times of the week.  (Robotics requires a lot of time to make progress.) Each team must select a captain. The overall student leader, who will be the interface with Mrs. Wood, is Giaynel.  Check out the individual team pages for their logs. 

Date: 9/10/08 

     Mrs. Wood presented an overview of the kits and software.  Students will bring their own laptops to run software.  Prior to that meeting, students can see Mrs. Wood to install software.

     Students will form teams of two to three girls.  We will use Carnegie Mellon's curriculum to learn the features of the robots. Later we'll agree on a project for, hopefully, Spirit Week.