Feb. 25 Hydro Garden

   We are currently working to finish constructing the tent with the PVC parts. We will need to be able to regulate fans, pumps, and lights, succeeding in this will require the interfacing of an external timer and our Arduinio Microcontroller.  Components we are using in our system include, a 555 timer, 5v relays  and an LED display to show temperature and time. In the near future, we are going to begin planting the lettuce seeds and do our first round of testing.

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February 13th EYE

Quite a bit has happened with EYE in the past week! On Wednesday we met with representatives from the Ballard Elementary to begin our process of moving forward with their second Saturday Engineering Program, which will be held on March 28^th. We have continued work on our February 28^th “Music in Engineering” Saturday Program, securing and meeting with our stations leaders as well as beginning to gather our high school volunteers. We were also contacted by professors of education from Skidmore College who were interested in having their students volunteer at our program as a way to observe how engineering concepts can be integrated into other subjects . The next step in planning is to finalize our high school volunteers and finish putting together all of the activity bags. Also this week, EYE attended the Division Street STEM Expo and showcased our Slow Racer activity where students have to move a ping-pong ball down a pegboard as slowly as possible. All of the students were very excited to participate and the only complaint we received was that there weren’t enough pegboards for all of the foot traffic we had! On Saturday, EYE had a table at the Saratoga Reads LEGO Fest where students could either build a LEGO Maze or create a structure to survive the “drop-test”. Both of these events really helped EYE spread our name and reach a new set of students! On Wednesday of this week, EYE had the final meeting of the second session of Dorothy Nolan LEGO Club. The problem this week was to build a tower as tall as possible, without any human support. 

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February 10th HydroGarden

Lots of progress was made over the weekend.  We have picked up the PVC for our tent and written out the code for the lights, pump and fans.   As we continue moving forward with the build , we also move forward with our conceptual idea.  One thought was that people who live confined areas, might be drawn to low maintenance, aesthetically pleasing  plants.  This would entail reengineering our idea, and replacing practical components like our grow tent, with something less invasive.  We are working on finishing our first design so that we can improve upon it, making our next prototypes better products.

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February 6th EYE

Educating Young Engineers has been working diligently in preparation for the upcoming  “Music in Engineering” Saturday Program at Saratoga Springs High School. We have completed the distribution of flyers, activity plans and supplies to schools. This Saturday Program will need both teacher and student volunteers to assist the EYE team with each station, this recruiting  process has been initiated and will be completed in the coming week. Dorothy Nolan will be finishing their 3-5 LEGO club on February 11th and their upcoming session for K-2 student will require new Lego challenges, so students can have a exciting and instructional experience. In addition, Ballard Elementary school has contacted EYE with intentions of starting their own LEGO club,  EYE plans to offer a lending hand in nuturing Ballard's program into existance. 

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February 2nd Nitinol

The nitinol group has been working extensively trying to find solutions to the various setbacks we have been facing. We have been brainstorming, and our current idea is to model an engine based on the Minto wheel. We are going to start designing this via sketching and Inventor after we do more research. Our projected Minto wheel design is the most efficient and practical design we have thought of yet. We are also trying to get the 3-D printer in working order so that we can print 3-D parts whenever we need to. We have also been looking into doing more fundraisers. Things are looking up for the nitinol group. Exciting developments should continue to come with our new ideas.

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