Toward the end of 4B, knowing the school is undergoing many changes, many of the student teams and labs would soon be moved to the new E5 building. I really wanted to capture the different parts of university life of 2009. There was something lacking with digital camera, too much focus on aspects such as sharpness, color, and noise of the photo and miss the true objectives.
Perhaps it is the suspense with using film. In the end I decided to use the Yashica Mat-124G for the job. Fully Manual. Click.
John from the Student Machine Shop. Thanks for putting up with all our last minute projects.
Don Fraser at the Kick-off Sports Bar. I still remember the 0/10 he gave me for the C++ assignment. :)
Professor Huissoon during class prof hour.
Aaron, doing what he does best, nothing.
Paul proudly showing off his opinion regarding PDEng in the exit survey.
The lovely mural in POETS.
Andrew posing beside the Formula SAE frame he designed.
The Clean Snowmobile team. We were really scared the night they tried to start it beside the Robotics Lab.
Ben and his sexy ride trying to seduce ARGO team members…
DC Library. I distinctly remember thinking “I should be studying right now…”
Someone drew out the escape path out of MC. The key is not to look at the room numbers.
I guess it is quite fitting to be posting these photos now that we have graduated and got the paper! Hopefully these photos bring back some good memories or provide a glimpse into the 5 years that we spent in University of Waterloo.
I am officially finished all my undergraduate requirements and have moved back home! Similar to many of my friends, it still feels like we had just had just finished another school term but will see each other again in a few months.
No more exams in the sweaty, stuffy PAC, the makeshift exam hall converted from the school gym.
Below I will talk about some of the items that have accompanied me throughout the undergraduate degree.
[Left] My faithful backpack of 10 years. Many years ago my mom had made a promise she would keep mending it till the end of my university degree. Everytime I come home there would be some work to be done on the backpack…..
[Right] My 10-speed bike with its curvy fenders for daily commuting. It is from the 60’s, dark maroon, and have rust on the pedals. I never had to worry about people stealing it.
My 4 years old Toshiba Tecra M2 that is full of battle scars but still going strong.
1) Loose connections in the screen that causes a random colored vertical bar
2) Broken hinge that can lead to the screen slapping onto keyboard or tabletop. Can increase the severeness of item #1.
3) Missing “[” key. Though functional, it can be a great pain when programming. Jamming on the key can cause item #1,2 to occur.
Of course I have to give credit to the super basic, 2-week battery life cellphone and ridiculously large keychains that I have been lugging around.
So for my last elective, I chose to try Art and Technology, a mixture of engineering and fine arts. The teams consist of both fine arts and engineering students that worked to create kinetic sculptures, interactive or expressive art piece. For the last project my group decided to create a visual display that corresponds with the heartbeat of the participant. The blue and red colors each correspond to a sensor input and when both the inputs are active the piece generate another motion.
Technical Detail: Taken with the K20D burst mode and then compiled into a flash movie.
For 3 days we worked together in the machine shop during the day and at night worked on the assembly, prototyping, electrical, and programming. This was by far the most last-minute project I have ever done. Much thanks for the Robotics Team for letting us use their space and tools.
[Left] Homemade heartbeat monitors; [Right] The swash-plate mechanism with the LEDs mounted.
6AM: Testing servo assembly with the Audrino microprocessor. The servo would inject so much noise into the system and trigger all the heartbeat monitors.
10AM and we started to assemble the final pieces, the center shaft is in place. [Right] Brandon is taping the commutators for the LEDs.
11AM Installing the fins to the shell. Due to the swash plate design, everything had to be assembled in a very specific order.
We got the piece installed in the Student Life Center and it looked beautiful when we powered it on. Here Brandon is demonstrating to another classmate the idea behind the project. Half way through the show the gearbox blew out so the next day we were back in the machine shop putting in a belt driven system in there…
True to tradition we met up at Pat’s house and enjoyed some pancakes, bacon, and some alcoholic beverages the day before we get our rings. We also had a costume making party in the basement
The theme of the costumes were, naturally, ROBOTS. We picked up a bunch of cardboard boxes, rolls of aluminum foil, duct tape, and misc stuff lying around our rooms.
Some like shiny stuff…..
Awesome-O vs Walking DVD player box.
[Left] Jolivet with his bling necklace and quick detectable head [Right] I sported a more nimble suit so I can keep on taking pictures.
We wanted to attend our multi-variable controls lecture so we all walked together down Columbia. We got quite a few stares from the passing by drivers.
The robots with more girth kept running into doorways and poles in the school…
We finally made it to class, the robots sat respectfully in the back without blocking the views of other students.
Can’t resist the temptations….
Pat dressed as Bender (I don’t think he remembers being at the BBQ though).
How on earth did Aaron morph from a chicken to a cow in a matter of 8hrs?
Terminator and Super-charged Optimus Prime with backpack powered 12in speakers
Another one of those crazy weeks: 1 exam, 1 lab+report, 1 design report, and 2 projects due. See ya!
