[NOISE] Ready as you'll ever be?
In 3, 2, 1, go.
[APPLAUSE]
The class is basically build a robot in 10 weeks.
Most of the students come into
this class having some vague idea.
They've heard horror stories,
but they don't really know what they're getting into.
Three, 2, 1, go.
Natalie, you need to get short.
Sorry. [BACKGROUND]
Everybody, welcome to mechatronics.
Hopefully, the class doesn't
need much of an introduction.
We're going to go on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
for the next 10 weeks,
and it's going to be a ton of work.
On the very first day of class,
right after lecture, I just
rushed down here and started the lab.
I was here from
9:00 -12:00 at night every day since that first day.
They have approximately 31 days to build
a robot that can navigate the field,
get to the other side,
turn around, locate its opponent,
shoot its opponent with ping-pong balls
in a team of three.
I'm pretty confident that I have a solid team.
It seems like we all communicate really well.
This class is very hands-on.
It's the most hands-on class I've ever taken.
Outside of school right after I graduate and stuff,
I want to go into prosthetics.
I want to make better headphones.
Actually, I didn't have to take this class,
but it was something I was very interested in.
I've always been interested in robotics.
I want to be able to
design something that can help other people.
Material things go away after a certain amount of time,
but what do you do for other people,
how you as a person
influence everyone else that's long-lasting.
That's what we want to be known for.
Today is the day before our check-off,
and we have two more things to do.
We have the shooting mechanism and the beacon detection,
which we already started on.
We just need to finalize [NOISE]
everything and get it perfect.
[BACKGROUND] [LAUGHTER]
Clear you robots, clear your field,
let's get some robots shooting at each other.
[APPLAUSE]
Three, 2, 1, go.
[NOISE]
[MUSIC]
If I had more time, I would have set
the code up for this event.
But since I had so many assignments
to do, I could no have time.
Right now, our bot setup is for minimum spec.
[BACKGROUND]
[MUSIC] [APPLAUSE]
I want to be the first one
to get out of this act, [LAUGHTER]
We were just waiting there for an extra two minutes just
waiting for our bot to be shot
at. I was sad at that point.
[LAUGHTER] I'm going to remember it
as one of my favorite classes.
I was there at 2:00 AM, 4:00 AM
mindset of just staying in the lab,
doing something that doesn't work,
and then you just say go home and sleep and do it again.
I played for the NCAA team here.
I didn't go to the second half of games because
I felt like I had to go to this lab and work on it.
I feel more confident approaching
problems or approaching lab problems.
I can problem-solve a lot better than I used to.
Anyone that likes to get their hands
dirty and work on something to take this class.
If you're a programmer but also
likes cooler hardware, take this class.
If you're electrical and
you don't know programming that well,
this class is a good opportunity to learn it.
I recommend this class to any engineer.
Looking back in this class,
I think I'll remember the people the
most because of all the time we spent together.
I think I'll remember my lab partners,
every single one of them.
Then especially Selina and
Hasson because I spent the last half quarter with him.
I know that every year,
Elkaim says that alumni can
build a robot in a day and you come partake,
which I would love to do.
I just don't know if a day is enough time because
we spent five weeks and that's what we had,
so a day is probably not enough time to build all that.
But I do probably see myself
trying to communicate
with one of those people and saying,
hey, let's partake, because this was really fun.