Week Four: In Over View

In week four, the group began the construction of the original design of the SeaPerch. By lab, the chassis of the SeaPerch was built, and the only thing that needed to be added were the motors and propellers. The goal was to have the SeaPerch finished and timed by the end of this week, and utilizing the lab period allowed the group to come closer to this goal. Since the SeaPerch is far along in construction, the group volunteered to bring the SeaPerch to Clark Park on Sunday, April 29th, to show children how it moves under water. This pressured the group to complete the goal of finishing the construction of the original SeaPerch design in week four, and helps the group stay on track.

Research of Biomimicry

Biomimicry is a new discipline that studies the best of nature’s ideas and imitates them to solve human problems. Some examples of biomimicry are the study of a leaf to develop solar cells. Our idea for our seaperch is to use the ideas of biomimicry to make the perch more hydrodynamic and efficient while underwater. This involves studying different types of fish and other creatures that live most of their lives in the ocean or other bodies of water.

The creature that we are currently researching and attempting to mimic is the penguin because a penguin spends about half of its life in the water. Their bodies are shaped to be very efficient underwater allowing them to swim vast distances without using a lot of energy to get there. The main part of the penguin’s body that we are attempting to duplicate is the head and beak aspect. Our idea is that this shape will be able to cut through the water significantly better than the current clunky box design of the original SeaPerch. Other ideas involve the “wings” of the penguins that adapts themselves to become flippers underwater. These would be used to direct the perch if properly implemented.  

Week Three

During week three, the team was still hindered by the fact that a SeaPerch kit was not assigned to the group, and the construction still could not commence. The group did receive the SeaPerch in week three lab, which is on Friday afternoons. However, the group drafted the project overview, and set weekly goals to accomplish in order to stay on track. The project goal, which is to make the SeaPerch more hydrodynamic, was finalized, and the test to determine if the group was successful in meeting the goal was planned. In order to test if the new design is more hydrodynamic, the group is going to construct the original SeaPerch design and time how long it takes for the SeaPerch to move the length of the Drexel University pool. Once the newly designed SeaPerch is constructed and finished, this model will also be tested and timed to see how long it takes to cross the pool. If the newly designed SeaPerch moves across the pool faster, than it is more hydrodynamic.

Week Two

Thus far, it has been decided on what the group wants to accomplish, how the tasks will be completed, and what team member will perform which job throughout the entire project and other minor details. All of these things are outlined on the Project Proposal page that was also created this week. The construction of the SeaPerch still has not been started because the team still did not get the kit yet.  

Week One

During week one, the group set up the blog, creating a Team Member bio page as well as an Avisors page. The team also designated responsibilities. The team was not yet assigned a SeaPerch kit, so the construction of the SeaPerch could not begin, but everything was to be planned out for when the team did receive the kit.