Holidays Already?

Hello Future Engineers! I know that as a result of Hurricane Sandy and such it has been a while since we have been on track and back to normal. I hope everyone is continuing to come up with project ideas as us officers are discussing basket ideas for the baskets that are being given away. Now with the holidays coming up, what's  better than BUILDING a gift to give to someone?! Hope everyone is doing well and coming up with some great project ideas for the holidays! See you at next week's meeting!

~Ashley

Halloween Happening 2012!

Well Guys,

We survived the Halloween Happening yet again! What with the table in the Cafeteria and the Skeleton in the Haunted House, no wonder things went so well...well, we may have had a few malfunctions here and there, but that's not to say we didnt enjoy ourselves, right?
The table in the Cafeteria looked amazing. Anthony's magic mirror (A.K.A. Klaus) and its little drawer of candy and erasers, and Matt's Porthole with the polarized film...very cool indeed. As well as the light-up Halloween figures hanging around our station, these were all immensly successful.

As for the Skeleton in the Haunted House, the word from Mrs. Adamo was that it was a job well done not only to those who helped create it, but those who controlled it behind the scenes. But let's just say this: Gravity is not a friend to that Skeleton.

I'd also like to thank everyone who came to help out and support the club, including those who already graduated from Commack High School (Troy Pomerantz and Former Presidents Chris Faraci and Vincent Chiechi).

Hope to see everyone at the next meeting, and have a happy Halloween!

-Aiko

Success!

     Hey everyone! I just wanted to thank all of you for working so cooperatively at today's club meeting. I know a lot of you are beginners, and I think everyone is very impressed by how much you have learned and how interested you guys are already. This year had been off to such a great start! The club will definitely do AMAZING the rest of the year! Some of the ideas all of you have come up with for the Halloween Happening are great ones! It's great to also see so many of you taking part in these projects. Keep up the good work! See you next Thursday!

~ Ashley

Good Luck Guys

Hello everyone, this is former president for the Future Engineers Club Vincent Chiechi. Even though I've moved on to college and started working and studying to become an engineer myself, I will still be popping in occasionally to see whats going on and use my experiences here to help those in the club. I've got to say that so far the club has really helped me out a lot in my studies and understanding of engineering and that I really hope other students in the club will get as much out of it as I did.

I want to wish everyone the best this school year and hope that they are determined to make this a great and memorable year for the Future Engineers. I know you guys are dedicated to everything you do and not everyone see how much work you put into the things you do. Keep up the good work and don't let anyone tell you that you can't do anything because when you put your minds to it and work together, you can do anything.

-Vincent Chiechi

New Year, New Excitement

Today was the officers meeting of the Future Engineers, where we pooled together ideas for the upcoming year.
Projects, events and the likes.

The First official meeting will be Thursday (Sep. 20th) in the Tech room. Hope to see you all there!

-Aiko

Back to School

Well, it's been a long summer but now it's time to get back into the swing of things.
 The Future Engineers Club will begin holding meetings as soon as possible in order to start off strong, and hit the ground running.
The Future Engineers Club is dedicated to giving students the foundations and skills that successful engineers use in real world applications. Here at the FEC students are encouraged to participate, brainstrom and even come up with their own projects of building, designing and applying to the community of Commack. The FEC also participates in engineering fairs around Long Island which gives students and the school recognition for their hard work and dedication to engineering. The FEC is not all work and no play. Students have the opportunity to also make new friends who share similar interests and work towards the same goals. Together the FEC creates valuable communication, and group skills to aid in future endeavors.
Sound like a brochure? Don't worry, it's an opportunity to have fun, learn new skills, and most importantly, make new friends.
This year we will be participating in the schools' annual Halloween Happening by creating some fantastic creations and of course, putting in our signature animatronic skeleton (named Sheela by former President Vincent Chiechi). But this year has to be better, and we could use all the help we can get, so listen to the announcements to find out when the first meeting will be held.
The club also host a Robotics Competition each year so this will be something to look forward to. Teams of students build their own robots which then go head to head to see who's robot is the best.

We hope to see all returning members and plenty of new members soon.

-Aiko

Robotics Contest

    The 2011-2012 school year officially came to its end a couple of weeks ago. This post will conclude our many successful projects/events from this past school year. 

     Our final Commack FEC event was what we called the "Robotics Contest" which took place in the beginning of June. The students who took the advanced robotics class in school were eligible to compete in the contest. Students competing were given time in class to work on their robots as well as afterschool and during free periods. Many students stayed hours and hours after school each day just to work on and improve their robots.

     June 4th, 2012 was the big day. This was the day of the contest. Commack FEC prepared well in advance for the upcoming night to make sure this years competition would be the best. Videos from past robotics contests as well as videos of some of the robots competing were on the school news a few weeks in advance to the contest in order to inform and excite the kids on the upcoming event. The week before the contest, students who built robots were able to show off their robots and how they work every morning in the arena set up in the lobby before school started. On the actual day of the contest, students reported right after school to help prepare for the contest. Students built the arena while others put finishing touches on their robots and helped gather materials and set up as well. 

     The arena, which was set up in the school cafeteria, was large and rectangular which was made out of wood. (24 feet by 16 feet). The arena was separated into two sides, one for each of the two robots competing at a time. The whole idea of the contest was to see which robot could collect the most golf balls. On each side of the arena, there was a tube attached to a tunnel where the ball would be inserted and roll out afterwards. When a ball was put into the tube, sensors would sense the number of balls to calculate the score. However, on each half of the arena, there was a trough which made getting golf balls in more efficient. The negative of using the trough was that each golf ball that was put in counted as less points as opposed to using the tube which scored more points. The robot that had the most points was the winner of that competition. Eventually, more and more robots were eliminated if they lost their match leaving us with two final robots to battle it out for first place. 

     This night was a very exciting one in Commack. The preparations and advertising for the event definitely made this year's robotics contest a big and popular one. The cheering of the crowd, food, and the music from the DJ made everything more exciting. The most exciting part of the contest came when it was down to the battle of the final two robots. The first group consisted of Anthony Pensiero, Wendell Kury, and Joe Sparacino. The second group was Justin Shulman, Omaid Halimi, and Joe Russo.With a very nerve-wracking, yet exciting, final competition, the first group (Anthony, Wendell, and Joe's group) came in first place winning the whole competition. 

Below is the link to our Robotics Contest video as well as pictures:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMyK68uhrq0&feature=plcp

 Scoring System

The final two robots battling it out

     Thanks for reading! Hope you found the Robotics Contest to be interesting and exciting! Check out all the videos on our youtube channel as well as future blogs!

~Ashley

Real Problems Real Solutions 2012

Over the past school year a team of 25 students discussed, designed, and constructed incredible 'Imagination Stations'. Beginning in September, we built prototypes of our future devices. These included determining the best way for a ball to roll down an incline, raising and lowering puppets with pulleys and string, and using an Arduino to produce circus sounds.  

By the June 15th deadline, we concluded with four working devices that needed to be delivered.

1) Push and Pulleys

2) RGBmachine (Rolling Golf Ball / Red Green Blue machine)

3)Sensory Circus

4)Textu-ments

Links:

YouTube Video of Presentation

Photo Gallery

RGBmachine Documentation

Andrew

New York Institute of Technology Field Trip

     Hey there everyone! I am going to continue recapping the success in this past school year. Right now I am going to continue by recapping Commack FEC's field trip to the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT).

     On May 2nd, 10 members from Commack FEC took a field trip to NYIT for their showcase competition. The objective of the competition was to bring in cool, interesting stuff that students in your school built as well as present and demonstrate it. For Commack, this was an important day. Many of the students worked vigorously on their projects in advance to make it the best it can be to possibly win the competition. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place prizes consisted of a cash prizes from NYIT.

     The first Commack project was entitled "Jerry Seinfish the Animated Clown Fish". 4 students, Scott, Andrew, Matt, and Kim worked very hard to create this animated, joke telling fish. Jerry Seinfish started out as a stuffed clown fish. By taking out his stuffing and inserting a skeleton along with wires, Jerry became animated. Along with the animation, he was able to talk, and tell jokes. Jerry told Jerry Seinfeld jokes which relates to the reason why the clown fish's name is Jerry 'Seinfish.' To add an environment and to make the whole view of Jerry more appealing, he was placed inside a fish tank which was decorated with rocks and plastic seaweed. Overall, the animatronics group did outstanding in the contest. When the judges and all of the other students saw Jerry Seinfish and his presentation, they couldn't help but smile. The animatronics group took first place out of the whole competition. The most exciting part was that they received $1,000 for taking first place!

     The second Commack project was entitled "A Mode Configurable Robot." The group members, Anthony, Binoy, and I, created a robot with three modes; follow the wall, remote control, and wander. With the use of the VEX PIC Microcontroller along with many different sensors, we were able to create this robot. Two out of the three modes were autonomous; follow the wall and wander. Remote control was not autonomous because the operation  of the robot depended on the human who was controlling the remote control. The different sensors used in this project assisted in helping the robot move around and function safely in its environment. In the competition, we received the "Excellence in Engineering" award.

     The third and last Commack project was entitiled the "Automatic Height Sensor." Danny, Mei, and Matt created a sensor that when you stand underneath it, it automatically senses your height. Once you stood underneath, your height would appear at the top. This is a very smart idea because it could become very useful and popular in the future. For example, at amusement parks, when you have to have your height measured to get onto certain rides, with the help of the height sensor, it will be more efficient because it measures your height without having to touch anything or push any buttons. The Automatic Height Sensor received the "Innovation" award.

      The NYIT showcase competition was a cool event to see what projects other schools came up with. Many of the other schools built robots, but some had other, different projects as well. Below are the links to watch videos of each project along with pictures:

"Jerry Seinfish the Animated Clown Fish"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UP49NFmSLI&feature=plcp

"Mode Configurable Robot"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGkCIcjFVSY&feature=plcp

"Automatic Height Sensor"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lr2Qj3Ga0-c&feature=context-cha

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoy!

~Ashley

Brookhaven National Lab Bridge Building Contest

     Hello readers! Even though it is the start of the summer, I am continuing to recap all of Commack FEC's creations from this year.
   
      In March, the Commack High School participated in Brookhaven National Lab's bridge building contest. Though not all the members of Commack FEC did not participate in it, I as well as 12 others from Commack did. It was a very important event for the technology department in Commack. There were about 200 students from all over Long Island who participated in the contest. Each student was required to build their own bridge by using 3/32-inch square cross-section basswood and any adhesive to hold the wood together. In adddition, there were many restrictions set that determined whether or not your bridge was eligible to be entered in the contest. The link below describes the rules and specifications of each bridge:

http://www.bnl.gov/education/PDFs/2012%20BRIDGE.pdf

     Each bridge in the contest was placed in a machine which lowered and measured a load right onto the loading point of the bridge. Weights would be lowered and suspended onto the bridge until the bridge snapped and was no longer capable of holding the weight. Then the amount of weight the bridge held was divided by the actual mass of the bridge to get the structural efficiency. The person with the highest structural efficiency was declared the winner. Prizes were given for first, second, and third place as well as an aesthetic award for bridge design. The first and second place winners were sponsored by the Brookhaven Science Associates to participate in the national bridge competition held in a new location every year.

     There was a lot of competition at the contest this past year. The actual contest took place on Saturday, March 31st, 2012. Watching the contest along with weight being suspended on the bridges followed by bridges snapping was very nerve wracking, yet exciting. However, Commack did not place in the top three spots. I placed number 24 out of more than 100 students in the contest and was the top freshman. It was disappointing that students from Commack did not place in the top 3 places, but we are all proud of ourselves and our success. Seniors and juniors from Patchogue-Medford took places 1-23 as well as 25-28. They had built some unbelievable bridges. Overall, this was a great experience. The whole experience and building of the bridge was not too difficult. In my opinion, the hardest part was actually designing the bridge and coming up with an idea so each bridge would be very light, yet strong by holding a lot of weight. This was an experience I will always remember and an event I will continue participating in in my future.

Here are some pictures from the contest:

Hope everyone is having a great summer! Enjoy!


~Ashley

Winter Animatronics

     Hello everyone! Though the school year flew by and is just about over, Commack FEC had a very successful year. Right now I am recapping our fantastic creations from the past year.
   
     Around Christmas time, our animatronics team designed a holiday-themed project. This project was then taken to local children's schools to entertain the kids and get them into the holiday spirit. We also got a chance to show off and explain the ideas and wonders behind animatronics. Many young kids are unaware of exactly what animatronics is, and all of the cool creations and things that come out of it. It was a great experience to be able to show the kids such a fun creation. Our project definitely put a smile on their faces.

     To briefly describe the process of our design, a group of kids began and designed the project. The project started off with five various winter animals. The penguins, snowmen, and reindeer were then wired and placed onto a board that was painted to resemble a winter wonderland. The animals sang Feliz Navidad, a Spanish Christmas song, as they danced and moved around. Next year, we will come up with a design for something even more interesting and fun for the holiday times!

 
Commack FEC's Winter Animatronics

      Check out the link to our youtube channel above to watch a video of our winter animatronics as well as some of our other cool creations!

Thanks and enjoy!
~Ashley

Beginning of Our Year

Hello citizens of the internet! We are the Commack High School Future Engineer's Club, dedicated to learning and creating new technology here in Commack. Although we just started this blog as of today, June 7th, 2012, we have been creating new things all year! I guess a recap of this year's projects would be a good way to start off the blog, as we won't be doing much over the summer.

The first major event that we participated in this year was our high school's very own Halloween Happening. We made a couple of cool things to help make a fun Halloween for everyone who came, as well as making it easier for everyone else who was running the event. We had an automatic candy dispenser, which was put outside the haunted house. It operated through a Lego NXT, connected to a servo motor and an ultrasound sensor. Whenever kids got close enough to the device, a drawer opened up, filled with candy!

The second thing that we presented was an animatronic skeleton made by our club's president. It was modeled after an exact replica of a real skeleton, so it looks really nice. It essentially was a skeleton body with remote controlled servo motors. When the motors turned, they moved the body with it, and could move in all sorts of cool ways (A lot like Craig Ferguson's "Geoff"). Here are some pictures of it:

Above: The skeleton wearing a clown hat

Above: The skeleton under construction

It was a pretty cool event, with all sorts of fun gadgets. Hopefully next year, we can do something just as exciting! I personally thought it would be fun to set up a fund-raiser type event with a local store, such as Radio Shack. We could make Halloween decorations for people to put up on their homes, and sell them to raise money for the club. It's a bit of an ambitious project, but if we start right away I know we can do it.

Thanks,

Scott