Category: Uncategorized

“You can’t go fast if you go too slow!” – The Backyardagains

I finished the Pololu3pi project on Monday, and filmed the video as well! I feel so proud of both myself for coding this and the Pololu for solving the maze haha.

I’m still using the body doubling technique I mentioned in a previous post. It really is a game changer for getting work done. I wrote the whole README file for the Pololu in one sitting while in class, and I just know it would’ve taken me a few days and multiple breaks to get it done if I was my myself. I think it’s because having someone else near you that is also doing work makes you feel obligated to work as well.

I talked to Jamie about my essay and explained the 3 products I chose to write about. He likes the sound of my idea, but said I may have trouble writing about the Elgato capture card as feature-wise its a very simple plug-n-play device. So our solution is to generalise the categories a bit. I’m going to write about all Elgato brand capture cards, as they each have different features and uses. I’ll also do the same for Retrotink and Retroarch to balance things out.

I have never felt so accomplished about something before, this course has taught me so much about productivity on top of actual subject matter!

“It could be his head wasn’t screwed on just right.” – How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966)

I spent some time over Christmas break finishing up task documentation and any other documents needed for submission. My careers folder is finished, and I even found a job listing to apply for on profile! I sent in my CV and Cover Letter on Thursday, so I hope to hear from them soon.

For once I feel caught up with all my projects, I am not behind on everything and feel relaxed about submission. I am really enjoying these projects, and I think I’ll actually be sad when it’s over, which is crazy.

My plan is to finish the Pololu project on Monday, and get the video and task documentation done by Wednesday next week. Then I’ll have the rest of next week and Banking Hall to write the 3000 word essay, which I am also very excited for. After that I’ll have nothing to do except the final project, which I will probably enjoy as well!

I have the essay planned out, I just need to do some more research into my 3 products before starting. I’ve chosen to compare the Retrotink 4k upscaler, the Elgato HD60x capture card, and the Retroarch emulator. They’re very different products that all market to the same demographic, so I think it’ll be very fun to compare them. They’re also all things I am very interested in, and I’ve used all 3 of them before, so I’m sure I’ll have a lot to write about!

“Gotta go fast!” – Sonic the Hedgehog

Out of the 2 races my robot won one and came 2nd in the other!!!! I am very proud of myself, and the race I won was the one I put more effort into optimising as it was trickier. But the point of these guys isn’t speed, they need to solve mazes!

We looked into more algorithms this week, and I really enjoyed it. Math is one of my favourite subjects, I really like working with variables and doing algebra in general. We looked at algorithmic complexity and binary trees and I’ve never taken more notes then I did in that lecture. (I also learned a new focusing technique, having a very pretty notebook makes you want to write in it!)

We also learned what our essay would be about, another thing I was dreading until I got to the class, I need to stop judging before I try things. Basically we have to review 3 things. Those things can be anything! Electronic devices, websites, or other creative tech projects., we were given free reign.

I really like essays. Though I get bored if the research isn’t something I’m interested in, and I hate writing, and I get bored rereading my own work, BUT I love how smart and proud I feel afterwards so it’s very worth it. If the research is something I’m interested in I do so much of it. And this specific essay feels like it was made specifically for me! I have tons of ideas, and anything I pick will be fun to write about, so my plan is to try and be ahead of the game by getting it mostly drafted over the 3 week break!

“As perfect as I am, I’m also extremely competitive” – Teruhashi Kokomi, The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.

New project week!!!! As usual I was extremely sceptical that I’d enjoy this project, but I was once again proved wrong. Coding little robots to solve a maze is so fun. And we can take these projects home for once, which helps with my personal goal of finishing this project early.

We learned about algorithmics and worked on creating a basic line following code, and it turned into a competition on who can make their robot the fastest. Turns out, along with bribery, competition is a great motivator for me. I was determined to have the fastest robot, I stayed late on Wednesday to really optimise my code. I don’t actually care about winning, the key is to know you tried your best regardless and be proud of yourself for that. Its the concept of being in a competition that motivates me.

One part of coding the robot to stop reminded me of my second c++ project back when I was in the games course. To get this robot to stop at a finish line we have an ‘if’ statement at the beginning of the main loop. If the ‘if’ statement was at the end of the loop then it would keep running since the loop just restarts regardless, whereas the loop is cut short when it reaches the fulfilled ‘if’ at the beginning.

I used the same logic to code a deck of cards being delt, it’s really cool to reuse something I didn’t even know was helpful.

“Nothing starts until you take action. If you have time to worry, then run.” – Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)

With one week left to finish my controller, the only thing keeping me from panicking was the fact that it was never meant to be a final draft, only a prototype.

Long story short, the gyro stopped working and I never figured out why. Luckily I had recorded footage of it when it was functional, and the controller has enough other components to still play simple platformer games. But it took everything for me to not immediately go back to spending all my time doing gyro troubleshooting.

Instead, I focused on finishing the code for the joystick and the final revision of the shell. It was hard to focus when my mind kept drifting back to the gyro, as a result I didn’t have time to print that final shell. But I did finish the controller, and it plays fireboy and watergirl very well haha.

The hat I made also didn’t work, turns out my pins were upside down so it can’t actually connect to the Arduino. I used a breadboard to make it work, and since I still made the hat I could photograph it for my documentation. But the fact that everything stopped working really threw me off.

I’ve decided to look at it positively because in the end I still got all my work done and had plenty to write about (and I wrote about those new developments very quickly with my new focusing routine).

“What’s a flip phone?” – My 8 year old sister

Interchange may have been the most productive week of my life. True to my word I did my research and have found a few tricks that have helped me focus on my work. I finished both documentations and walkthrough videos this week ith time to spare.

First of all, a friend of mine suggested I may have adhd which could suggest why I lose track of time and struggle to focus. Now I do not have the resources to get an official diagnosis or anything, but I did try something called body doubling (https://www.simplypsychology.org/adhd-body-doubling.html) and it works SO WELL. All I had to do was go sit with my brother and I could just type without getting distracted once it was awesome.

One of the projects I researched for the first half of my sustainability documentation(that I didn’t end up using) was dumb phones. They’re just any phone that doesn’t have smart phone capabilities, like social media apps, and are mostly marketed towards the elderly. But I, a sucker for anything electronically retro, became OBSESSED with them.

I definitely use too much social media, and as its easier to open Twitter than Microsoft Word my productivity does suffer a bit. But dumb phones have solved that, specifically the modern flip phone variant. I uninstalled all social apps from my iPhone to see if I could handle using a dumb phone, and I have gotten so much work done just by not scrolling online.

Also learned that I can be bribed, “get all your work done and you can research which flip phone to buy” worked WONDERS. I can happily tell you that I’ll be buying a Kyocera KYF42 in blue.

“Ninja never quit” – Master Wu, LEGO Ninjago

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I really struggle to “quit” or accept defeat. What I mean is, when I start a task, I will not stop until I succeed in what I intend to do. And that can be a great trait! Not giving up when something is difficult is often challenging, and I am proud that I do it often, but it can also be a big weakness.

I spent a lot of time, probably too much time, focusing on making a gyro work in my controller. My whole plan is to make it function like a Wii Remote, using motion to control a mouse. But a gyro is not the only component my controller is going to have, but the gyro wasn’t working and I just needed it to work.

Now that I have 2 weeks left (or just one, because of interchange) I slightly regret not delegating my time better. I did get the gyro working, but now I have to finish the joystick, hat, and shell in quite a short amount of time.

The problem is that I know this is a problem, as I finish most deadlines with minimal time to spare, but I don’t know how to solve said problem. I can tell myself that I’ll work on time management, I’ve even done so in past posts here, but how do I actually do that?

Maybe it’s something I can work on over interchange? I also have my documentation to write, something I’m very good at not doing haha.

“The true meaning of life is finding your own way to enjoy it.” – Sussie, The Amazing World of Gumball

After a lot of debate I have chosen to make a one-handed controller to help fulfil Goal 10. I chose to go over my reasoning more in my supporting documentation, here I want to (try to) explain and reflect on the type of project I chose as it relates to the personal planning folder.

I believe I come off as a creative person, suiting a creative technology course, but I actually have little interest in pursuing a career in a creative field. As I grew up home schooled, I had more time to figure out what interests me and what doesn’t.

I quickly learned that I do not enjoy creating for anyone other than myself. When I draw it is not posted online, when I sew it is clothing alterations for myself, and whenever someone asked me to create something for them I started hating tasks I love to do.

But technology is different because I enjoy engineering for the process. I would happily sit and solder anything for hours, I could be planted in a room full of circuit designs and asked to prototype them and wouldn’t get bored at all. I could be asked to code the most boring website and do so without fail.

And so I decided to give myself a very practical project. I want to be an electrical engineer, and with an interest in gaming devices a controller is a dream job. Not only will my project be helpful, but it’s a great portfolio piece!

“You gotta do something else first before moving on.” – DJ Professor K, Jet Set Radio Future

When I first heard that our 2nd project would be on sustainability I was not very excited. When people think of sustainability they think of making the world greener, something I am all for, but whenever I’ve had a project on sustainability it’s always been about doing research, with the project never actually being helpful.

I was very surprised to learn that a green world is only one of the 17 sustainability goals created by the United Nations. Our project was to pick one and create something that helps fulfil a goal.

Our first task was to do a lot of research, look into a goal and present how close it is to completion. I was planning to pick gender equality, as a nonbinary person it’s something I care about a lot. But someone else picked it so I chose goal 10, reduced inequalities. Turns out gender equality is mostly about men getting paid more than women, and reduced inequalities fits what I’m interested in much more.

I have written about lack of representation for minorities for all my university essays in the past. It’s something I care about a lot, but I was worried that I should pick something new instead of choosing the easiest option for myself. I spoke about it with my lecturer and she heavily encouraged me to pick what I’m passionate about, pointing out that I’ll get bored quicker and put less effort into something I don’t care about.

So I have officially chosen Goal 10 and will be making something to help rid the world of inequality!

“And remember that bad times… are just times that are bad…” – Katrina, Animal Crossing

With one more week to work on the motor circuit I was feeling very nervous. The main thing I needed was to get my laser cutting design cut, and to pick up the final version of my box.

My laser cutting session was reliant on the fact that I wanted to get a UV printed design on my gear, but the technician told me their printer was acting up and it could take up to 3 days to get done. When Wednesday rolled around and I hadn’t heard from them I got very nervous, but luckily it had been done and I just didn’t get an email. I managed to get the gear cut and ready the same day!

The box I picked up still had some errors, I didn’t think about how the wires would fit inside, so I had to rush to send in another model. The 3d technicians are so nice and let me skip the queue, but I can’t rely on that in the future so I need to better manage my time.

Writing the arduino code was very simple. I took the default colour sensor code and plugged the separate r, g, and b inputs into the LED’s RGB function and it worked pretty quickly.

I got so much done on Monday and Wednesday, but I still had to come in on Thursday to put everything together, pickup my new box, and film footage for my showcase video. But while I was picking up my box, my battery’s wires somehow touched and melted! I am SO lucky my circuit wasn’t damaged, I just had to borrow a classmate’s batteries and I was done.