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To Kevin, Levi, Logan, Skylar, and Ms. Betke:
KevinryangallerskylarmychalsfillwagonlevidavismawhirerloganstewartsellersBot
is an interestingly shaped robot. It is unique among the designs, but
it
is actually similar to a design we had considered for our robot. I'll
tell
you some of the problems we ran into, and then maybe you can figure out
a
way to solve them.
From the sides of the design that I can see (talk
to Drew, Adam, and
Dawson about the other different views you might make), it seems that
you
have only one or two propellers and that they are both on the back of
the
KevinryangallerskylarmychalsfillwagonlevidavismawhirerloganstewartsellersBot.
The other issue that our design and your design both
have is screen size.
By putting the screen on the side, you leave room on top for sensors,
but
the screen can't display very much information. Do you have a plan for
how
the robot will communicate with the astronauts? What if the KevinryangallerskylarmychalsfillwagonlevidavismawhirerloganstewartsellersBot
needs to convey large amounts of information, like diagrams or lists of
instructions?
There are a number of parts of your robot of which
I am quite fond. The
Celeron processor is low-power, which means it won't drain your power
reserves very quickly. However, it isn't clear from your description where
KevinryangallerskylarmychalsfillwagonlevidavismawhirerloganstewartsellersBot
gets its power. Is it from batteries? Does it plug in? If it plugs in,
how
does it move around? If it is from batteries, what does
KevinryangallerskylarmychalsfillwagonlevidavismawhirerloganstewartsellersBot
do when they run out? It has sensors on three sides, which means it is
unlikely to hit anything, but it doesn't have any on the bottom. With
the
camera looking straight ahead, how will the arms know what they are
grasping? Each arm has an "elbow" and a "wrist." Can
the arms grasp things
together? Are there things that
KevinryangallerskylarmychalsfillwagonlevidavismawhirerloganstewartsellersBot
can't do because of the number of arms, their positions, or the number
of
joints? Have you considered other types of joints (think about your hips,
shoulders, wrists, and ankles, for example)? Are there advantages or
disadvantages to having more or less joints?
Feel free to ask us more questions. The best way to
solve a problem is to
really understand it. I look forward to seeing the next version of the
KevinryangallerskylarmychalsfillwagonlevidavismawhirerloganstewartsellersBot,
also known as the Peppered Salmon.
-- Salvatore Domenick Desiano
Research Scientist
smile.
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