11/16/16

This week, I was spearheading communication with Vander-Bend, specifically with Scott Bryant. My team, along with the small-scale track development team, will be meeting with the company to discuss methods of fabricating our interlocking column design, as well as obtaining a cost estimate for the services they are able to provide. We are all new at manufacturing so we hope to glean a lot of information through this.

We also worked on our second rapid prototype, which is the interlocking structure again, but with zippered parts so that we can extend the length of the column. We laser cut the parts today (Tuesday) and will be working on assembly tomorrow.

11/9/16

As stated in our group's blog post, we've just finished our presentation. From here on we will be focusing on constructing our prototype, which will be a small scale of the columns, footings, and guideway, focusing on the methods utilized to connect everything securely.

We also have a writing assignment due. The topic is mobile technology.
More specifically, we had to describe the effect that mobile technology has had on us. I took the stance that mobile technology has widened the divide between people from different cultural, racial, and ethnic groups in the United States.

I believe that mobile technology has created "the digital divide," the economic and social inequality with regard to access to information and communication technologies. Digital communication has been enhanced, sure, but it has aggrandized the cultural, racial, and ethnic divide throughout the world. Our identities are no longer our own. And for proof of this, you can check out the election results.

11/2/16

This week is much slower, since we pretty much have the bulk of our presentation finished, yet we will be presenting November 2nd. We met with Ron, Dr. Furman, and Eric on Monday to get further guidance and help on our calculations.

From the meeting, it was decided that our prototype will basically be a paper model, in which we demonstrate new footings and methods to connect all the pieces together. We will attempt to fabricate a small section of the guideway as well, with columns (about four feet tall) and some sort of clamping mechanism, which hasn't been decided on yet.

Our group presents on Wednesday. I will be presenting the initial scope of our project, as well as our projected schedule and deliverables.

10/26/16

Following up on my task given to me by Claude a couple weeks ago, I was finally able to use his tape measure to go around downtown San Jose, measuring the widths of streets and sidewalks, to prepare for design of the space Spartan Superway could take up currently. Here are my results:

Jackson St. near 5th St.

N sidewalk 178, parallel (||) parking 99, street (two way) 275, diagonal parking 224, S sidewalk 182

4th near Washington

W sidewalk 161, parallel parking 94, bike lane 74, street (two way) 265, bike lane 101, || parking 101, E sidewalk 177

4th near St. John

W sidewalk 121, || parking 110, bike lane 134, street (one way, two lanes) 325, || parking 101, E sidewalk 177

2nd near San Fernando

E sidewalk 188, street (one way, two lanes) 289, midwalk area 186, lightrail 110, W sidewalk 177

San Carlos near Market

N sidewalk 118, N side of street 300, lightrail area 290, S side of street 259, S sidewalk 172

San Fernando near 6th

S sidewalk 205, || parking 85, bike lane 94, street (two way, with center turning lane) 407, bike lane 90, || parking 90, sidewalk 175

11th near San Fernando

E sidewalk 146, || parking 106, bike lane 75, street (one way, two lanes) 328, || parking 88, W sidewalk 176

Claude will use this information for his SolidWorks designs.

For this week, I am working with my group to formulate our Presentation 2. We've spent a lot of time working on this presentation, as we were lost with our direction last week and we are slowly regaining our plans. We've finished cutting out our laser-cut rapid prototype and just need to assemble it. The other members of the group are working on calculations. I'm focusing more on goals and deliverables, as well as problem statements, comparisons, and anything that is general to the presentation.

10/19/16

We didn't do too much this week since we are backlogged on gaining access to a working laser cutter to create our rapid prototype (interlocking column). Mainly we just met with Ron to discuss the information he found out in Europe about a project similar to Spartan Superway.

This week, I will be using a tape measure to measure the width of streets and sidewalks all across San Jose. I will also be researching anything else I can find about vibrations in railway systems. Furthermore, I'll be preparing the group for Presentation 2.

10/12/16

This week we focused on our rapid prototype and development of the interlocking column design. Basically, the pieces we will laser-cut look something like the picture on the left, and will resemble something like the picture on the right when assembled. We hope to gain access to the ME lab within this week so we can construct our prototype.

Furthermore, this week I turned in my first writing assignment, regarding Spartan Superway's implications involving global, local, environmental, social, and economic issues. This essay reflected on the project's potential difficulties in implementation with respect to the city of San Jose, including possible other cities to follow.

10/5/16

This week, we were supposed to present our group presentations, but there was insufficient time. We will present on 10/5 and it'll be so great and deserving of an A+.

Last week, my task was to design a rough sketch of what the new guideway would look like. Here are some screenshots of my designs:

We compiled our designs and decided to go with Claude's design with some renditions.

This week we will be working on designing new structure beams. It'll feature a design similar to the Solomon's knot, with interlocking steel pieces filled with concrete. We've been coordinating with a team located in South Africa regarding a design still in the works. We'll compare with Bengt's design and decide which we like better. Furthermore, we will work on a rapid prototype made out of cardstock or some similar material, using a laser cutter.