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