INTRODUCTION
Hello Hive and hello everyone! This is iamscinttwister again, your friendly engineering blogger presenting you with a new blog that would hopefully be worth your precious time, provide you with quality content that offers both knowledge and entertainment. But before we start with the content of today's blog, I would like to extend my greetings and thanks for giving it a chance and reading though this blog, it is much appreciated. I hope that whoever is reading this blog is doing great in life and facing hardships with confidence and perseverance, continue giving it your all! For today's blog I'll be sharing to you guys how my weekday started and realizing what a dumb bird I am sometimes, I present to you guys "A DAY IN A LIFE AS AN ENGINEERING STUDENT: BLOG 3 - FIRST ROBOTIC ARM EXPERIENCE".
THE USUAL MORNING ROUTINE
I have never been late since I kept pushing forwards, of course I'll flex it! HAHAHAHA LMAO, that "of course" trend is a laugh trip. Anyways, you can't really start a day without the morning routines. These routines may be a short walk around the house or a brief exercise to warm up your day, but for me, it's just enjoying a simple breakfast and a hot cup of coffee. For today, it don't really count as simple because I was more hungry than I used to before in the mornings, so when I arrived at the campus I went straight ahead to the canteen to eat breakfast.
BREAKFAST = HAPPY TUMMY
This what I bought for breakfast today, it has really been a growing habit of mine to eat more in the morning before attending class. Well there was this one time, maybe 3 to 4 days ago, when I decided that I'll just have a cup of coffee before attending the class. Without warning my stomach started to feel a burning sensation similar to an acid reflux or maybe it was an acid reflux, I tried to endure the pain until the end if the first subject, well barely did. When I got out of the room I drank water and had a snack to hopefully stop the pain, but nothing seemed to work, and know I needed to attend the next subject. Two hours lasted like an eternity during that time, I was holding me side where it was aching the whole time. It's not similar to a stomach ache where you just need to poop and then you good, no, it definitely wasn't that. By the time the class was over, I decided that I really need to go to the clinic to ask for antacids or anything to relieve the pain, it's just that painful. That day left me traumatized, I have not missed a single breakfast since then. SO this is what I got for breakfast, some friend meatloaf, rice, dynamite lumpias and a steaming hot cup of coffee. It really hit the spot!
A funny cup of coffee
As I have mentioned previously, I always drink coffee in the morning right? Yes, and sometimes I forget that I have a class afterwards. Got so immersed in eating I forgot about it. When I can't finish my coffee, I take it with me in the classroom where so I can finished it there and not get late in class. It would be a waste I woke up early and still ended up late, right?
When the class was over one of my classmate asked me
how was I able to bring my cup of coffee inside the classroom, implying that they have never tried it since they were not allowed to bring the cups outside the canteen. Looking at me like I have accomplished something impossible, they asked me how. Well I replied in the simplest way I could, I said that "I have been drinking coffee every morning for almost 3 weeks now, they already know who I am and knows that I will surely return what I borrowed, because I have done it several times already". They even know the brand or type of coffee usually drink. I have gained their trust through honesty and keeping my words.
LESSONS FOR THE BRAIN
Today's lesson was all about multiphase or polyphase alternators. Basically alternators or alternating current generators are devices that converts mechanical energy in to AC electrical energy and can be found commonly on car engines, and in power stations driven by turbines. The discussion today was great I have gained a lot of knowledge that would prepare me more for my future career. But of course, I must survive college and pass the licensure exam, for me to be able to or hopefully apply and broaden my knowledge. "The journey is yet still very far, but I am also far from where I've started."
This shot was taken when I arrived at the second building where our room for the next subject is located. Our classroom was in the third floor and there were still 10 minutes left before we could come in, so I took the chance to look around the rooftop. What a pleasant sight to see, a bright blue sky with a cool breeze of air.
NEXT SUBJECT ROBOTIC ARM: HANDS ON
The robotic arm is new to our campus and the instructors/ professors wants us engineering students to experience being able to program the robotic arm to do certain function. In our microprocessor subject, we were tasked to be able to perform a hands on activity to make a certain program for the robotic arm to follow or execute. Since robotic arms have great adaptability and posses a lesser marginal errors compared to human workers, it has become an essential tool in the industrial production world. The discussion regarding the robotics arm went similarly to how a workshop or a seminar would go.
FIRST DAY:
In our first meeting/ discussion we were introduced to student manuals regarding the parts and functions of the robotic arm. Like in any other discussion, similar with a slide presentation, the topics are carefully discussed one part at a time and highlighting the important features and functions of certain parts and components. I was really amazed , without any expectations, I was given the opportunity to experience the chance to learn more about robotics and even to create a program for one. I was really amazed on how our instructor was so knowledgeable about it, you can really see his passion in his work.
SECOND DAY:
In the second meeting / discussion we were now shown the actual function and coding process of the robotic arm. With step by step explanation and with the aid of the manuals, the "tutorial" went well. This time I was still a bit confused of some of the specific functions within its teaching pendant, by the way, a teaching pendant in simple terms, is like a remote control with a display setting for the robotic arm that has a function that saves the actions or coordinates of the each axis of the robotic arm. This saved action will be send to a computer which will use that "saved action" or we call it inputs in a system of codes that will serve as a general command for the robotic arm.
THIRD DAY:
Today is the third meeting and the day that we are allowed to actually practice using the robotic arm system. With the observation/ guidance of our instructor we are now allowed to personally use the teaching pendant and formulate a code with the saved inputs. Everyone was so enthusiastic and excited as each of the group tried for the first time, some hands were shaking and some were getting cold, because they were afraid to make mistake and damage the robotic. Groups have been assigned to work with each other in handling the robotic arm, roles are also assigned so that each of the member gets the chance to operate the robotic arm in a different manner.
There are three roles in total, first is the look-out, this person is responsible for observing the robotic arm alignment to have better accuracy, the second is the teach pendant holder, which is responsible for the manual control of the axis of the robotic arm and lastly, the coder, which the name suggest, is responsible for the formulation the the inputs gathers by the teach pendant holder and the look-out. Everything actually went well, everyone was able to perform well and felt relief that the difficulty of using the robotic arm was not as complicated as everyone has expected it to be. And with that we are now ready for the graded hands-on of the robotic arm next week.
I give to you the result of today's hands-on practice:
That is all for today's entry for my blog "A day in a life as an Engineering student: Blog 3 - FIRST ROBOTIC ARM EXPERIENCE", I hope that I have imparted knowledge to you guys. If you ever made it this far in the blog, I hope it meant that you liked and enjoyed reading through it. If you ever find my blogs interesting and you want to read more of my future blog, you can show support by giving me a follow and I'll be sure to follow back. If you have any thoughts in mind about my blogs or any suggestion, I would love to know about it. I hope to see you again in my next blog and thank you for the time, it's much appreciated! God bless!💖
Until the next blog...
-iamscinttwister