We had to get the forwards motion mechanism, figure out a way to link the drive motor to the actual mechanism (hard due to limited space), put it all together, make the skin, and get it working.
So I don't I don't want to estimate how many hours we spent on the penguin all together, but I will.
Monday - 4 pm - 11 pm = 7 hours
Tuesday - 4 pm - 12 am = 8 hours
Wednesday - 4 pm - 4 am = 12 hours
Thursday - 4 pm - 9 pm = 5 hours
Friday - Day off!
Saturday - 2 pm - 7 am - 14 hours
Sunday - 12 pm - 6 am - 18 hours
So that's a total of 64 hours in one week. That's longer than a standard work week.
It was mostly a blur. Honestly. I don't remember much about the week, but it definitely was a LONG week. Saturday, I have to say, was kind of satisfying. We got the main mechanism working and we started putting things all together. Stayed up till 7 am, and it started snowing. We were super excited! And then we went to iHop (I heart obese people) for breakfast.
MY GOD they serve a ton of food. I ordered pancakes with hash browns, eggs, and bacon. I was expecting it to be kind of big and was thinking "oh man I'm going to be full after this, but I'm hungry." But I got the meal, and it took up two full sized dinner plates. Ridiculous!
Anyways we got back and we ended up going to bed in the design nature studio at 9 am. We were able to fit me and a teammate on a small couch, as well as another teammate on two of those single couches put together.
We woke up to people alllllllll around us working in the studio, machines blaring, people talking. It wasn't unpleasant really, but it was just kind of funny. Well we pretty much immediately started working after the 3 amazing hours of sleep. That day we got everything put together, made a skin out of fabric (I sewed!). And then we put it in the water! And it worked! And we cheered! And YELLED! And hugged! And threw a party! Well, no party. But we were amazingly happy. So we cleaned up the room a bit and finally went to sleep at 6 am!
Woke up to everybody in the room, including our professor, at 9 am. We were all set to go, and the kids came at 10:30 am. We were at our table presenting the penguin to the students, and they seemed to like it! Then we had the demonstration, and lo and behold....The penguin doesn't work! Turns out the chain that we used for the gears got unlinked (it was a lego chain). And then a rod fell out of the truck. So he said to come back at a later time with it working. So we got it working. We put it in the water. It swam forwards for 5 seconds!
And then.....The penguin wasn't able to turn. And then...the wings stopped moving. This time the wire that connected the servo to the tail BROKE. So whatever. Our penguin didn't work in the end. But it was over!
DESIGN NATURE IS OVER!!
How amazing.
So now, I've been adjusting back to life this week. I found myself unshaven, nails long, emails not replied to, and in general out of touch with the world. But now I'm back to normal. I'm enjoying myself and doing what I want...It's a pretty amazing feeling in general.
So that was my week. Some fun, but crazy intense. Crazy, crazy, crazy intense.
Overall, it was a pretty amazing project. As hard as it was, it taught me so much. My skills with working in a group improved a lot. I learned from my mistakes. Always make a CAD model and keep it updated. Aesthetics is very important. A teacher can always be defied!
So that's that. I learned a lot. I made a new awesome friend. I was able to work with an existing one. And I got to know another guy really well! I was in Team List of Sheild of Bug Species Recorded In Korea, and we made Trevor LeRoy the Badger, a remote controlled penguin that swims in the water.
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