First Laboratory Session For Robotics Course

Hello, Hola, Namaste, Vanakam, Néih Hóu to All My Blog Readers.

            The above sentence is the result of meeting a lot of internationals in HKUST. Today (9-9-11), I had my first ever laboratory session for the Introduction to Electro-Robot Design course. For those of you who don’t know me that well, I am a robotics freak so this lab session really got me going.

Just a few days before I had my Computer Lab Session for JAVA. I was slightly late for it as I couldn’t find the place in such a vast campus. The lab work proposed for us was slightly advanced than what we had done in the lectures so I was not able procure the Bonus Point.

         The Robotic Lab session was scheduled at 3.00 pm today right after my ENGG 1130 course which ends at 2.50 pm. This time around, I did not take any chances. Few hours before the session, I printed out the lab manuals and notes. When the clock struck 2.50 pm, I got up excitedly and started navigating myself using the snapshot of the PathAdvisor screen worrying that I might be late again due to the difficulty in finding the lab. PathAdvisor is a program that was developed by the students here in HKUST a few years back. It shows you the direction from one point to another in the University Campus.

          This time around I got a bit lucky. I found the class almost effortlessly thanks to PathAdvisor. I went into the class totally confused as this was my first lab session. We were told to sit down and complete the Pre-Lab work. Then came the most exciting part. The Teaching Assistants and Student Helpers started distributing the Robotic Kits. It was a kit called Navidroid developed by a company which specialises in educational robotic kits that was started by a group of HKUST Alumni. As what I have heard, this company has been evolving and growing as time passes.

            My kit was numbered 93. My heart just leapt when we were told that we get to keep the kit till the end of the semester. Me and my lab partner, Eric, opened the box and started counting the parts using a checklist that was given to us. Once we completed the check, we just chucked all the papers one side and started building the robot according to the manual.

          The robot started taking its form very quickly and we finished within building the robot within 30 minutes. One thing that was a bit disappointing was the fact that we were not allowed to handle any electronic components as we were not qualified yet (NOOOO!). One of the Student Helpers helped us to connect the wireless control unit and tested it using a remote. He was kind enough to let us navigate the robot up to the Teaching Assistant to get it verified and our name jotted down for grading purposes. Since most of the other teams were not ready, we were allowed to play with our robot for a while. We also took a few pictures. Then when the next team came, our robot’s brain had to be taken out and it was time for us to pack. It was a bit nostalgic as we would not be able to see our robot for another week. Anyways we decided to pack it and returned the kit to the Lab Assistant. That was the end of my first robotic lab session.

 My first robot

 Workspace

Electronic components of my robot

SENG Induction and First Day of Classes

Before I begin my narrative, for those who are wondering what is SENG, SENG is the abbreviation for School Of Engineering in HKUST.  On the 31st of August, we, new engineering students of HKUST had our induction organised by our respective departments. Since I took Electronics Engineering, my induction was carried out by professors from the Dept. of Electronic and Computer Engineering. Induction is basically the introduction to your Bachelor's Degree course.

All of us were very excited and for me especially, I was both excited and nervous. I was nervous because of the confusion that was caused by the course registration process a few days earlier. Since it was the School of Engineering, we were given a cool free gift when we registered. The gift was a small, hand held fan. The best thing about it was the lights on it. The lights lighted up in a specific order so that designs were shown when the blades were spinning. The video is at the end of this narrative.

The agenda for the day was:

12.10pm - REGISTRATION

12.45pm - WELCOME SPEECH BY THE DEAN

1.00pm - SPEECH BY THE CO-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES SUPERVISOR

1.15pm - ROBOTICS TEAM PRESENTATION

1.45pm - BEATBOX PERFORMANCE

2.00pm - DEPARTMENT INDUCTION

The programme was started by a small joke by the Dean. When the Dean was speaking, the microphone malfunctioned a little and he quoted "Being the School of Engineering, this should not have occurred". I was excited for the Robotics Team presentation but the excitement was cut short when they started presenting in Cantonese. I was grateful to know that the classes will be conducted in English and the Robotics Team is recruiting members.

Next up was the Beatbox performance. For those wondering what is Beatbox, Beat box is production of sounds made by different instruments especially drums by using one's voice. It was quite amazing to watch as he produced a lot of different sounds of music instruments with tune. One of the most amusing sound was the sound of a Chinese violin (exact name is unknown but it sounded a lot like a violin).

After about ten minutes break, at 2.00pm, we were told to go to our respective department inductions. We were given a short lecture on what to expect from our courses and another introduction to Robotics in English (relieved me of my worries).

On the 1^st of September 2011, my lectures started at 12.00 pm. The first class was Maths called Introduction to Linear Algebra (Code: MATH 2111). There were about 50 students in the class. The classroom fits the university’s name. It was again a high-tech classroom with various types of projectors and a camera to record the class for students who could not attend the class.

At 3.30 PM, it was time for my Introduction to Java (programming language) class. It was conducted in a lecture theatre. Here we had a system called Personal Response System. We were basically given a remote kind of device which had a number pad and an OK button. When a question is projected on the screen in front, we were told to press the number corresponding to the right answer. Two things were recorded in this case, our attendance and our answer. This helps the professors to evaluate our understanding of the lecture.

I am sorry that I could not get pictures of the classes since cameras are not allowed. Stay tuned for my next blog entry on Hong Kong City Tour with a lot more pictures this time. Got a few pictures of the library after the video. The picture quality may be bad since it was taken using a phone camera. The shutter rate of my camera could not match that of the blinking LED lights so there might jitters in the video.
                              
                                     The cool fan from School Of Engineering

                                        The immense size of the Library and this is only from M-Z.

                       One of the large screen television for common advertisements and promotions.

                                                              SpaceSaver Bookshelves.

                                              The SpaceSaver bookshelf operation instruction.