Meet Jumpy! {by R}

For my birthday my dad got me an RC airplane, a type of glider called the Zagi 5C. Unlike the Jettiger, that we tried last year, this plane is easy to fly. My first airplane, the Jettiger, only got one flight before it was demolished in a crash. 

We got to build more on the Zagi 5C.

  I even got to design the colors myself. I used my favorite color for the main part: yellow!

A few days after I got the plane, me and my dad started building the Zagi 5C. We started by getting some materials like the 3M77 spray adhesive. Then we set up the GoPro for a time lapse. We then glued the two airfoils together and glued in the carbon fiber spars. That glue was extra strong.   

We took it out for its maiden voyage this week. My dad is still working on the video. Stay tuned! I can't wait to get more time with Jumpy. You'll see why I named it Jumpy soon.

 

Time to Build {by R}

6/10/14
I woke up this morning ready to build. After we all ate breakfast I thought up a design for a robotic plant. It was going to have solenoids to grow when the robot was placed in water and then it would face and follow the sun with photovoltaic panels.

Later, the Nonni picked up my brother and me. At their house I drew the schematics and the design for the robotic plant on paper. I also had to clean up my room in the Nonni’s house. The problem was that it was full of my inventions. I had to throw a lot of stuff away. Then we planned for the summer. Soon it was lunch time.

After lunch my dad picked us up and took us home. I decided to build an ROV. My 5th grade teacher gave me enough parts to build one. I would have to build the control box first. I drilled three holes in a small plastic box to insert the three switches. This would allow the ROV go up and down, back and forth, and turn right and left. It was hard to figure out how I would wire the whole thing correctly. Then I drilled holes for the connection wire and the power wire. The connection wire would connect to the ROV. I took wire connectors and I started working on the circuit.

Finally it was late and time to clean up.

LEGO Mindstorms: The Tritimer {by R}

This is my Tritimer. It is a start/stop timer that counts minutes. As you can see it is built out of Lego Mindstorms.

I called it the 'Tritimer' because it has three sections in it that slow down the speed so that it will take exactly one minute to spin around a full circle.

I have used no programing in this build because we can't get the programing software on our computer. I have used the trial and error method with my mom as timer. If it didn't go correctly, I would just tweak the gears so that it would.