Today we had lab in both classes all day. Robotics was really fun because Jennifer and I almost finished building our robot. But we were really worried because we didn't know how to make the robot move sideways and to make the typing arm more effective/accurate. I hope that we have enough time to finish the project. In Biophysics, I thought I was going to die after the first hour. I am really confused by Python and I don't get random walks at all...
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Class was really long and it felt like it would never end but I was super excited to start the final project. I'm super excited for Sunsplash tomorrow because I love rollers coasters and thrill rides. This blog post is really short but the day wasn't very eventful so...
In robotics, we spent the day making our code more efficient and streamlined, such as using for loops, putting in comments, and using functions in place of large chunks of code. In Biophysics, we learned about probability and averages. We had another distinguished lecture and this time it was about sharks and conservation efforts to protect them from overfishing. We learned more about Python and graphing sin and cos. We also learned about random number generators.
Today we went to the Exploratorium in San Francisco for a field trip. It was really cool there because you could touch and experiment with everything. One fun experiment was when i put my hand on a switch and a couple of girls from our cluster held hands so that when Dory touched the opposite switch, the light would turn on. We were a part of the circuit. Another exhibit was a huge pinhole camera that let us see all of the cars and boats near the Golden Gate Bridge in a small room. We also went on to the Fog Bridge, but because it was so windy, the fog kept blowing away. I ate sushi for lunch and the salmon was so fresh! After we got back, I went to Karaoke with some of the girls, but I didn't sing. Jasmine was so good! It was fun to just hang out and try everything in the Exploratorium.I completely forgot to post over the weekend! It was really fun though, especially Sunday because almost our entire cluster hung out the entire day drinking boba and playing Cards Against Humanity. Today, we had presentations for Chapter 1 of Imagine, learned about the history of calculators and the earliest computers. In Biophysics, we practiced more Python coding and learned about the Taylor sequence. After lunch, we gave and received feedback for our robot project proposals. I got a lot of helpful advice from Jerry (the teacher), Kevin Z., and Michelle about my robotic desk assistant. We also watched another Ignite presentation to get more inspiration about our own presentations. During the robotics lab, I finished the line follow, which was super frustrating and not fun at all.. I started on the line detection project. I hope I can finish it on Wednesday! I'm really excited for the field trip to the Exploratorium tomorrow. I think it might be kind of like the San Francisco equivalent of the California Science Center in LA.Today was very productive and challenging. I finished all but two of the robot programming projects. I finally finished the 4 Squares, which made me really proud and happy. The obstacle course was challenging, but it was the most fun to do. After dinner, I went to play Sardines at the Deathstar, but it was not fun at all. Once we found the hider, we sat in the burning heat for over an hour. I expected it to be indoors and more maze-like. I was also disappointed by the lava lamps because they wouldn't work. Apparently, we were supposed to use soap, not vegetable oil. So I just got a cute mason jar. Today was very relaxed and average.
I'm glad that we went over commands in C for the robot programming because I feel like I have a clearer idea about what kind of prompts I should use for the lab. I learned that the robot measures movement by degrees of wheel turns and that it continuously checks for stimulation or change in environment every 3 milliseconds. Biophysics was really fun today. I enjoyed learning about computer lingo like terabytes and learning a little about the chemical structure of cells and oil.
Today was a lot of fun! I really enjoyed the introductions we had in the beginning of the class! I feel like that was the first time I actually had a conversation with any of the guys in our cluster and they were very nice. We had to talk about our hopes for the future and I learned that Kevin wants to be a professional soccer player and Young wants to go into computer programming or engineering. This a lot into the future, but I also learned that all of us want to get married in our late 20s or early 30s and have kids. Young is an only child and Kevin has a younger sibling. The robotics programming compiler was being glitchy and would terminate every couple of minutes, so that was really frustrating, but doing the programs was a fun and challenging experience. I'm really looking forward to reading the book about creativity. I made a reading group with Kevin and Young. Another fun thing was going outside and playing that purple-card game (I forgot the name of it). I'm super competitive, so I was happy that I won.
In a single word, this day was long. Even though it was only the first day of class, I felt like I had already been there for a whole week. The first lecture of class was, I admit, tedious and dare I say, a little bit boring, but it was cool to identify the hardware that we will hopefully become familiar with through the course. I learned that IBM made the first computer in the late 1970s and that Apple's first PC, Lisa, was an incredible failure. Dr. Dad-del's lecture also explored the basics of computer hardware and software, including components like the CPU, RAM, operating systems, and applications. I'm super excited for the class overall, especially the field trip to Google, but I can't say I'm overjoyed about the homework. But I like how the homework that we got was a group project because then we're forced to talk to each other! I'm really glad that we have a lot of experienced TF's to help us. I especially want to get to know Jamie; I kind of want to ask her about her experiences being a minority in the STEM field as a woman.
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