SmartLab 2 Students Tackle Farming Challenge

Students in the Junior High SmartLab 2 classes are learning to program using robotics and a real-world need for automated farming machines. The students learned that agriculture is a big business and requires more and more automation. Students were given a problem to solve where their automatic tractor needed to treat a row of crops. The robot had to stop at specific points along a row and treat the crops. The two-student teams used Lego EV3 robots and programming to create their farming bots.

Lytle Junior High Students Create Their Own Manned Space Program

Students in Mr. Clamon's SmartLab 2 class sent an astronaut in the lower atmosphere recently. The class has designed and built their own model rockets and began testing them recently with launches from the Junior High practice field.

The first launch from the program included a special passenger. Bob the Beetle was chosen to ride in the this rocket's special payload section.

The beetle was shot into the sky about 200 feet and then recovered, safe and alive. He was released in the wild shortly after. Students used a special computer aided design software package to design their rockets, then built and painted them.

All rockets have now been test launched - some successfully, some not so successfully.

Each rocket launch was tracked by a ground team who tracked each rocket's progress using an altitude tracker. The trackers - basically a glorified protractor - gave the angle from ground team's position to the apogee of the rocket's flight. Using the angle, the distance from the ground team to the launch site and some simple trigonometry, the student's calculated the rockets' maximum altitude.

SmartLab 2 Prepares for Space

         SmartLab 2 students are designing and building their own model rockets using a specialized computer aided design program. Two-student teams designed their rocket using SpaceCad software which enables them to choose already-rendered rocket components and piece them together any way they like.

        The students can then use the software to simulate a launch and also to measure the rocket's aerodynamic stability. Students must choose their components wisely in order for the rocket to maintain stability.

 The students also design their own fins from scratch, then use the software to determine how their fin design will affect the rocket's flight.

The teams have already completed assembling the body tubes, fins and nose cones. Students also added rocket engine holders with centering rings and a recovery system. The students are currently finishing painting and adding stickers to their rockets and are expected to launch early next week.

SmartLab Students Make Their Designs Come to Life

Using a computer aided design application called TinkerCad, students in our SmartLab are learning to create designs in 3D just the way professional industrial designers do. Students learn the basics of the software by completing a series of tutorials before choosing their own design project. When they have completed the design, they can print it out using the MakerBot Replicator 3D printer.

This student designed a jack-o-lantern for Halloween.

SmartLab 2 students explore 3-D printing

SmartLab 2 students began the process of setting up and calibrating their new 3D printer this week. Students learned that the printer is a very sensitive machine and must be calibrated and maintained on a daily basis. The students will be in charge of that maintenance and calibration and will soon be the campus experts on the subject. The students learned how the printer works and the history behind 3D printing as well as other Computer Numerical Control (CNC) devices. The students loaded the Makerbot Replicator 2 with plastic, which is fed on a spool into the printer's extruder. They then leveled the build plate and printed their first model - a small table.

 

 

Robotics Team studies loops

Lytle Junior High Robotics Team members were learning to write programming loops during their weekly robotics meeting. The students built automatic mining robots during previous meetings and were learning to program their robots for various tasks. The team members created a program that had their robot driving in a square for a predetermined number of times, learning how to limit a programming loop.

Students use lasers to explore science in the SmartLab

Students in the SmartLab began using lasers this week to explore science concepts such as properties of light and sound. Students created their own security system by reflecting and refracting a diode laser then using a photometer to create an alarm when the laser beam was broken. Some students even used the laser to broadcast audio across the room.