Research

Dear President Obama,

I am a senior high school student at the Marine Academy of Science and Technology located at Sandy Hook, New Jersey.  We are a unique school dedicated to the oceanography and technology.  We also have a very successful NJROTC unit of which I am a Cadet Lieutenant Commander, Alpha Company Commander.  In 2009, I attended your inauguration with the People to People Student Ambassadors.

During the senior year, each student is assigned a senior, capstone project; in this project, the students culminate all of the information they have learned over the past three years and put it all together in a single project.  I have chosen to design and construct a VEX robot with abilities to complete aquatic tasks.

Our teacher has assigned us two different options for a final exam, write a traditional report or have significant person in the education community visit the Marine Academy of Science and Technology in order to see not only our project but also our innovate and unique school.  Thursday, May, 31, the project will be moved to the Manalapan Library.

It would mean a lot to my fellow classmates and me if you could take time out of your busy schedule in order to come to our high school and observe the hard and diligent work we put into our projects. 

For more detailed information on this project, see the attached document.  Also, we had to keep a blog of our progress.  You can view the blog on the following link.  http://vexroboticsdb.blogspot.com/

Thank you for your time,

Dustin Brandl

Teaser Article

A VEXciting New Experiment

By Dustin Brandl

This article is written about Dustin Brandl, 17, a senior at the Marine Academy of Science and Technology. He is from Farmingdale, New Jersey, which is a part of the Freehold Regional Sending District.  He is partnered with CJ Bzozowski, also 17, on the VEX Robotics senior project.

The Directed Field Research class offered at the Marine Academy of Science and Technology, Sandy Hook, NJ, has a multitude of projects presented before the class of 2012 that opted to be a part of this class.  This article focuses on one project and student in particular, Dustin Brandl and the VEX Robotics.  For this class, the VEX Robot must complete a set of aquatic challenges.  The aquatic challenge includes a series of challenges based off of the Coast Guard challenges.

The VEX Robotics system is designed to create an interesting opportunity for students learn about science, technology, engineering, and math, STEM.  The VEX Robotics system not only encourages STEM skills, but it also encourages more personable skills such as teamwork, problem solving, and leadership.  Brandl’s individual design brief is to design and construct all of the electrical components in order to successfully meet the criteria for each challenge.

The set of challenges for the VEX Robotics teams was designed from the Coast Guard Academy STEM challenge.   Another member of a different VEX team constructed a challenge course to test the groups’ ability to solve problems and work together to achieve a goal.  The set of challenges include placing a ball through a hoop, tugging a friendly vessel, planting a buoy, and sinking an enemy vessel.

The most important STEM calculation, by far, was the buoyancy and stability.  If the final product is not able to float or stay stable in the water, the team then has just wasted a lot of the school’s money and must pay it back to the school.  Buoyancy is found with three factors that were available to these students.  These are mass of the robot, density of the robot, and density of the surrounding liquid.  If the liquid’s density is greater than the robot’s density, then it floats; if not, it sinks.

The final product was shown at Building 77 on the MAST Campus on May 10, 2012.  The challenge being displayed will be the water challenge; the viewers of the presentation saw the final product to place a ball through a hoop, tug a friendly vessel, plant a buoy, and sink an enemy vessel.  Also, one can expect a presentation recapitulating the work, time, and effort that was put into this project.

Brandl and Brzozowski had a few professionals to help them along the way of construction.  These people helped the VEX duo throughout the way of construction by answering any questions that they had.  Some of the things they needed to know were the types of propellers to use, how to calculate buoyancy, and how exactly gear-ratios work.  Another important issue that the mentors addressed was the waterproofing of the electronics.  Brandl used plastic bags to surround the most important mechanical apparatuses.

            Brandl and Brzozowski have dedicated their senior year to this project.  They researched VEX robotics and robotics in general.  They created different ideas using VEX pieces and their own ingenuity in order to complete the tasks set before them; these included, placing a ball through a hoop, tugging a friendly vessel, planting a buoy, and sinking an enemy vessel.  The final presentation of the robot will truly a VEXperience one would not to miss.

Testing Results

The Final Testing of the VEX Robot occurred on the “fine-bombing night,” otherwise known as Senior Night.  We scored our robot according to our testing procedures in order to see how it stacked up to our expectations.  Each test was scored from one to five.

Exploratory tests:

·         What are the challenges that need to be completed? 4

·         How can we complete each challenge? 4

·         How could this product be used in the real world? 3

·         Would this design appeal to the Coast Guard? 5

·         What kind of materials do we need to construct such a machine? 4

Assessment tests:

·         Will the machine complete all of the tasks? 4

·         Is the VEX robot efficient? 5

·         Would each apparatus be effective in doing its specialized task? 5

·         Is the VEX robot practical? 5

Validation tests:

·         Can this design be constructed? 5

·         Will it be able to complete each challenge without major error? 4

·         Is the VEX robot usable? 5

Comparison tests:

·         Is the claw more accurate than the slingshot? 5

·         Is it easier to build and use to use a claw to plant a buoy over a slide to drop the buoy? claw

·         Which would be better equipped to sink a boat? A claw or an arm? claw

Design Questions:

Useful

·         Can the VEX Robot parts complete all of the challenges? 5

·         Does the VEX Robot float and fit in the tank for the aquatic challenges? 5

Usable

·         Is it portable enough for one man to carry? 5

·         Does the remote controller properly relay commands to each apparatus? 5

Desirable

·         Is the movement through the water efficient? 5

·         Does it look pleasing to the eye? 5

Producible

·         Is the VEX Robot assembled in way that will not be extremely difficult? 4

·         Are the materials easy to find and relatively inexpensive? 3

Differentiated

·         Does each apparatus efficiently complete each challenge? 4

·         Does it work better than any other possible solution?2

      Images of preliminary testing (before Senior Night) are found under the label “Testing.”

log 39

Senior year is almost over, and we will soon be moving on to college.  The class has completely finished working on their senior projects, and now all that is left is the paper work.  The students had a choice of doing the traditional final or an alternative final.  I have chosen to do the alternative final which includes publishment, a teaser article, a finished article, and research.  I have research and the teaser article completed.  Publishment will not happen because of previous publishment with which DA was not pleased.

More Pictures

log 38

Today, my mission is to get published.  I will first try national geographic kids.

log 37

Last week was the "fine bombing night" or as others say, senior project night.  This is where the seniors got together to show off their hard work.  We demonstrated the VEX robotics system.  On the first trial, we only missed the ball through the hoop.  We towed the vessel, planted the buoy, and sank the other vessel all with in three minutes and eightteen seconds; however the other group missed every challenge.  I think that it was an overall success.  There were a few juniors there that had a chance to test our VEX kit because that is what they will be doing next year. 
Note to the future: Black is a great display color.