Over the past week EYE continued
work on planning the next Saturday Program. We began to gather teacher
volunteers to lead the various planned stations, reaching out to faculty from the music department to go along
with our “Music in Engineering” theme. Also this week, EYE will officially open
registration for our Saturday Program by giving fliers to each elementary
school within the district, to be distributed to every student. To promote this, we have sent out our own invitation to parents whose children participated in past
EYE events. We plan to continue testing and finalizing the stations for the
program in the next two weeks. The next few weeks leading up to the event will
certainly be very busy, but we’re up for the challenge!
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Saturday, January 24, 2015
Redirecting our efforts towards Nitinol's application again, we have begun to look for a way to create
cheaper, more easily attainable solar energy by combining Nitinol and Solar heater technology. We have recently ordered an engine and are currently trying to
improve upon its pulley system, which we hope, will drastically increase its efficiency. We seek to do this by 3D printing a new pulleys. These pulleys we have designed in such a way, that friction between the Nitinol and rotating wheel should be less. We are also considering purchasing new pulleys, explicitly marketed as low friction pulleys. This will give
an idea of where our project stands in terms of energy scales. In other news we are reestablishing contact with Kellogg’s
Research Labs and beginning to discuss their potential role in helping us to build and design the Nitinol aspect of this project, they have much to offer in the way of experience. We are working hard and there seems to be a lot of potential
on the horizon.
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
EYE is currently working on coordinating future Saturday programs at Saratoga, with the next date set to be February 28 th. The new programs will have a different theme; music. Activities and logistics of the program are currently in the development phase. We aim to create activities that successfully incorporate music into engineering-based challenges, exposing elementary level children to design processes and ideas that they would not otherwise encounter. We have been working with Shen on running an initial “All about Engineering” Saturday program. We also seek to reconnect with Ballard school in South Glens Falls in order to run a Saturday program later this year, following up on a previous Saturday program. EYE continues to support weekly LEGO clubs at both Dorothy Nolan and Division Street and continued efforts are being made to become a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.
Friday, January 16, 2015
Things are really getting underway with our autonomous Hydroponic garden. Materials are in and building has commenced. Students scramble back and forth across the room, the grow-tent is taking shape and programmers are learning new code in order to interface our electronics with Arduino microcontrollers. Decisions have been made in regards to which electronics we will use, LEDs, pumps, aerators and fans were delivered over break, while microcontrollers are on their way. We have also ordered relays for use in switching components that operate at higher voltage. As everything begins to speed up and take shape, we are very excited about the future of this project.
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