By Jay B, Junior, 3rd Year Recently, an amazing feat has been achieved by Disney Imagineer Lanny Smoot. This February, Smoot accomplished the feat of receiving his 100th career patent, the first to do so in the history of the Walt Disney company. Imagineers are responsible for researching and developing ideas for the Walt Disney Company. Including over 140 jobs, Imagineers are in charge of dreaming, designing, and building Disney theme parks, attractions, cruise ships, and resorts. Lanny Smoot has spent over forty-two years as a theatrical creator, inventor, electric engineer, and scientist, twenty-two of those years have been spent working with the Walt Disney company. Smoot’s passion for creating and inventing was inspired by his father. Recalling his childhood, Smoot said, “Growing up, our family did not have a lot of money. My dad was a bit of a jack-of-all-trades and taught himself to make many mechanical gadgets, including several of my early toys. One of my earliest childhood memories was him bringing home an electric bell, a light bulb, some batteries and wire. He set up the bell to ring and the bulb to light, and that lit my career!” According to Because of Them We Can, Smoot began his career working in technology and research at Walt Disney Imagineering. Since then, Smoot and his team have been responsible for the creation of Disney inventions, like Madame Leota’s floating head as apart of the Haunted Mansion attraction, the Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure, and the virtual interactive koi ponds at the Crystal Lotus Restaurant at Hong Kong Disneyland hotel.
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by Yan L, 1st Year, Junior Technology as a whole has changed our society in ways that have replaced the past inefficient ways of doing things. Whether that is from automation in businesses to our smartphones, it is hard to deny that technology has changed the way of accomplishing most tasks. No topic illustrates this point more than the introduction of automated vehicles, which are also known as self-driving cars. Several years ago, people would have laughed at the prospect of the creation of “cars that drive by themselves”, however, this is slowly becoming a reality, through companies like Tesla, Ford, Audi, and more. The main technology used for these self-driving cars is vision technology, and this technology is also almost always used with top FRC teams around the globe. The typical norm for operating a vehicle on the road is by human interaction using a steering wheel. However, with the introduction of automated vehicles, all driving operations are done by a computer inside the vehicle. Autopilot on a Tesla car works by using cameras and sensors similar to those used for vision programming in FRC, that take in information from the outside environment and transmit that information to a computer inside the car. In FRC, we used cameras and a limelight sensor in order to detect certain objects, based on properties such as reflection, contours, edges, etc. The detected objects are shown in white and the code takes that image, and calculates the position and distance from the object. That information is then processed through an algorithm to make the turret on our FRC Robot, Pyxis, track the target. Similar to how we used vision for FRC, the computer on the Tesla car interprets the information detected from the cameras and sensors and acts on it in a matter of milliseconds, which according to Tesla will “...provide drivers with an awareness of their surroundings that a driver alone would not otherwise have.” This type of technology has many implications in regard to safety and efficiency. If any dangerous scenario happens on the road, the computer can quickly compute and tell the car what to perform in a matter of milliseconds before catastrophe strikes. With this technology, you could reduce the annual 1.2 million traffic fatalities to a much lower number. In regards to FRC and robotics, this technology increases efficiency and decreases the complexity in doing tasks in autonomous and tele-operated.. There are many other technological innovations in development currently that will revolutionize the way we see or do things, and automated vehicles are one of the first steps into this revolution. With these advancements coming soon into the future, more lives can be saved and tasks can be accomplished in a shorter amount of time. Although some people challenge the idea of future technological developments related to automation, ultimately it is hard to deny that without the technology we have today, basic tasks that we take for granted today would be much more tedious. In the case of vision programming and object detection, it would be extremely jarring to complete a handful of tasks on a time limit without it during an FRC competition. Technology is a massive part of changing our future, and its influence will continue to prosper for centuries. By: Austin Y, 1st Year Sophomore Skills that we use in FRC in order to develop robots can be used in all aspects of life. For example, the development process that our team uses can be applied to any project in the future. Every project needs planning, teamwork, and effective communication. Being in robotics helps future designers and programmers to learn how to efficiently and effectively develop and plan projects. Inspiration to join robotics can come from many sources, from something like seeing a FIRST robotics competition or even something as simple as playing a game you enjoy. We live in a society that runs on code. Computers, smart phones, and the internet are all great inventions of the 21st century that define our society today. Through the modernization and development of technology, the integration of code allows each individual person to create and implement their own ideas. During quarantine, since people were unable to talk to each other in person, a game known as Among Us became popular. Among Us was developed in 2018 by Innersloth, and was inspired by the popular party game Mafia. The game is similar to Mafia, where there are different roles for the characters. In Among Us, there were originally 2 roles, the impostor and the crewmate, since the game is set in space. Innersloth’s continuous updates led to its popularity greatly increasing due to continuous updates and mods. Like many other games, Among Us was written in C# using the Unity Engine. The Unity engine is a popular engine for many programmers who are game designers. C# is a language developed by Microsoft in order to rival the Java development language. The origin of many coders starts here. They are inspired by something they see, anything they see, that has been made with code. For many people, games like Among Us have inspired them to become interested in coding. As they become more skillful in coding, their confidence expands, leading them to join local events related to coding such as FIRST. Today, Among Us is one of the most popular games in our generation. It motivates people to create for the game, which inspires many future programmers and designers. Childhood experiences such as gaming can lead to the development of an inspiration that can lead them to join FRC and live fulfilling lives. By Jay B, 3rd year Junior Prior to the writing of this piece, I was working on a media project for the 2022 season and I began to think about how my time in media on this team first started and how I’ve grown so much in what I do since I was a freshman. My first introduction to the Columbus Space Program’s media team was at the 2019 Columbus Event, when I visited CSP’s pit during the competition. Then-CSP-member Kevin G was at the front of the pit introducing myself and others to everything that being on the robotics team encompasses, and that is when media was first brought up. Even though it was a very small interaction, this is what not only sparked my interest in being a part of CSP, but it also sparked my interest in media. Prior to that, I had never thought in a million years that I could do graphic design on a robotics team. Coming onto the team as a freshman, I had no knowledge of anything about graphic design. I could draw, but I didn’t know anything about using software on a computer to create things. I was taught so much about graphic design from CSP alum, Kevin G, as well as a multitude of Youtube videos and Google “How-to” searches. My first little foray into graphic design was helping design the old logo for the CSP Astrobots. I was uneducated at the time, so unfortunately, the old logo that I created was unable to be put to use for the Astrobots t-shirt. However, I was still proud of what I created and was excited for what I’d get to create later on. Going into the FRC season in January, I was assigned with more media tasks, like creating signs for the pit. All of these projects I was very excited to complete. Unfortunately, the season was cut short due to COVID-19, but the next year I would get to create more. Overtime, I began to see my work progress from what I was making freshman year. For example, during the 2021 FRC season, I created a logo for the FIRST Game Design Challenge, as well as a logo for CSP Green. Both pieces of work I am extremely proud of because they truly show how much I have progressed since the beginning. And now here I am this season doing more. I’m truly excited to continue to create for this team and am so proud of myself for all of the work that I have created and what is to come. |
AuthorThe CSP Blog is written by members of the CSP Media team, with guest blogs by alumni and other guests. Archives
March 2022
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