Got the Bike

I have brought in an old bike from home to use for parts of my unicycle.  I have two ideas of how to approach the project. One is to remove the front wheel and weld the seat to that spot and shift the pedals to the center of the frame. I hesitate using this method because the unicycle will be extremely tall making it hard to ride.  The other method I was considering was to take the front fork and place it on the back wheel.  I would then take the pedals and connect them to the wheel where the gear and chain are.  I will probably use this method because it will create a direct drive unicycle which is easy to ride.
So far I have only begun stripping down the bike of unnecessary parts.

Some stripped off parts

Old bike from home

Project Unicycle

For the rest of the quarter, my project will be constructing a unicycle.  I decided not to pursue a camera based project, simply because I cannot come up with a suitable application at the moment.  I would, however, be able to use the unicycle as a means of transportation.  Since I will not be bringing a car to college this fall, I will have to use some other means of getting around.
Most freshman bring a bike to ride a class, so I thought, "Why not a unicycle?"  With a unicycle, I will definetly be the coolest kid on campus.  This weekend I will find a bike frame and some other materials so I can start building next week.

Unicycle with chain

Unicycle with pedals directly one the wheel

A New Project

Over the weekend I researched many projects on instructables.com.  There were a few projects that interested me and I am debating which one to pursue.  One of the projects is a robotic camera dolly system.  This project creates a motorized camera system that moves along a track.  This project might be to complex and expensive for me since I have no experience with robotics.  Another idea would be the time lapse shield for gopro cameras.  There are fewer steps in this project but it might be too easy and I would probably finish it before the four week deadline.
A project that I thought would be doable in terms of difficulty and price would be a cable dolly.  It's a camera mounted on a wire and is controlled by remote control.  Building the frame is the bulk of the project which I can mostly handle myself.  The robotics part is minimal compared to other projects and I could always have Matt, Dylan, or Mr. Martin guide me along in the process.
I will know for sure which project I intend on doing by tomorrow and I will begin gathering my materials and developing my own timeline for completing it.

Radio controlled dolly system that I will probably choose as a project

Camera dolly system that is too expensive and will take too long

Senior Symposium Finished

Senior Symposium was a success.  Four judges came around to evaluate my project and all of them were impressed at the idea of using solar energy to bring clean water to third world countries.  Many students were also impressed with the idea as well as the quality of the presentation board.

Now that symposium is over, it is time to start a new project.  This weekend I will look different project ideas on instructables.com and for the next four weeks I will spend time building something and then making a powerpoint documentation of the project.

Looking up project ideas on instructables.com

Symposium Day

Preparing for Symposium

This week is symposium week.  I have to print my board design and paste it on a piece of foam core.  I also have to do the finishing touches on my portfolio.  My original design was good, but I think the new one I came up with looks a lot nicer and is still relevant to the subject matter of the experiment.
A new cover design and dividers is all that I need.  Hopefully symposium will be a success.

New board design

Old board design

Board underway

This week I made a great deal of progress on the binder for my project.  All that is left is to make the cover page and to edit a few pieces of the written material.  I have also started the design for the board.  I'm designing the board on a power point slide and it will be printed out as one large sheet of paper.  The printer is at school and I will print the board on Monday.

Portfolio cover design

Design for portfolio dividers

Working on Presentation

This week I plan on finishing the binder and to make progress on the presentation board.  Hopefully, I will finish the binder early and will be able to finish most of the board before the weekend.  Currently I am wrapping up parts of the final paper.  During the weekend I will complete the power point for the presentation.

Completing the graph of growth data

Completing the abstract

Beginning Portfolio

This week I was able to write up my data analysis and conclusion.  I was also able to complete my citations for my paper.  All that is left is to go over all my written material one last time to make sure there are no errors.  This weekend I will buy the materials for my board and start putting the binder together.

Completed works cited page

Completed data analysis