Defender Mk I

This is my very first NXT project, and the idea was to build an automatic defence gun as a proof of concept and also to get myself familiar with building with the NXT and programming it.

I named my creation the Defender Mk I. This project is built on the premise of exploring how to build an elastic-powered gun using rubber bands instead of building a gun using the supplied parts in the NXT 2.0 box.


The Defender will scan using the ultrasonic sensor to the front of itself 50cm, with a coverage of 60 degrees for any objects that come within. If an object is within this threshold, it will engage it with its gun. The coverage parameters can be tuned in the code.


The rotating platform uses one servo motor, and the gun mechanism uses two. There were several design considerations and observations made when I built the gun:

1. The weight of the gun with the two servos at the rear made the gun rather unbalanced and I had to mount the gun further to the front to keep it balanced.
   
   
2. A rail system had to be built and integrated into the barrel for the rubber band powered 'firing pin' to move back and forward smoothly.
   
   
3. I had to use a rubber link for the two shafts that makes up the arm that holds back the 'firing pin' so that the arm would not slip and release the 'firing pin' prematurely as the rubber bands has quite a considerable amount of elastic power pulling the 'firing pin' forward.

My Girlfriend Shrank Me: Accelerato

My Girlfriend Shrank Me!

Ok, I'm gonna stop writing about my life stories (too damn lazy to do it anyway), I can keep them to myself...

Instead, I have decided to play around with photo editing, and post my pictures here!

Here is my very first one...

An Update

Hello, I just realised my blog is rotting as I haven't touched it for a super long time... so now better shake it up a little bit, wipe off the dust.

Finished my FYP in early July, then off to ICT for 2 weeks, then started looking for a job. Looked around for awhile, then managed to get a job at ST Electronics (Info-Software) as a Software Engineer. It has been 3 weeks since I started working there, and I'm really lucky to have great colleagues around me, to help and guide me. Really fun and friendly folks, happy to be in the team!

Got my FYP result, and got only a credit grade... quite disappointed, as I thought it would be a definite distinction. Really put in quite alot of hard work, together with my team. I feel responsible as I led them in the project... a bit sad. But good thing is all my team members have already found a job before the results got out, and I would say I'm happy for all of them. Haven't got time to meetup with them for a meal, should have one before Beng and Guowei fly off to japan to work...














My dear sweetheart celebrated my birthday with me by surprising me with a steamboat feast on the actual day after work. Needless to say, the both of us had a great time stuffing ourselves with all the delicious mushrooms, shabu shabu, prawns, veg in miso soup goodness!

In the weekend, she bought me a super yummy piece of Tiramisu from Galbiatti's in Rail Mall as my birthday cake. It seems to be our favourite cake as I bought this cake for her as her birthday cake too.

Thank you, honey! I really enjoyed the birthday treats, and the super weekend spent with you. I love you! =)

Icekimo

Tucked away in a quiet corner in Sin Ming, off Upper Thomson road is a little, cool ice cream parlour called Icekimo.

All too often, we see the overrated and overly expensive ice cream brands in our shopping centres, and sometimes it is just too much to spend for a small, nice little cup of ice cream. What's more, Icekimo closes at 11pm! This is really great, for Singaporeans that go around finding food at this time of the night.













Plus, Icekimo sells a variety of local flavours like Durian and Champedak (like Jackfruit), my personal favourite. I have never in my life tasted Champedak ice cream until I found Icekimo. The first time I stepped into Icekimo, the name on the small plastic label struck me, and immediately I wanted to find out what it tasted like. It was heavenly! I personally recommend this.













There is nothing like a trip to Icekimo to end a day, and best to share this joy of eating wonderful ice cream with your loved one. Today marks 9 months together since I first met Eunice, and the reason I want to write about this place today is because this was where I brought her on our first date. A wonderful first date that will remain forever in our memories, only to be etched even stronger by the taste of ice cream and that magical twinkle in her eyes... I love you honey :)

Rating: 9/10
Hunt Date: 25 Sep 08
Location: 8 Sin Ming Road, #01-03 Sin Ming Centre

Geylang Lor 17 Dim Sum

On outings to Geylang area, parking is always a problem, especially when its during the peak hours and also even during supper time. However, a little bit of frustration is always worth it when you know you will be having some great Dim Sum very soon!!!

The shop is air-conditioned, although many still sit outside. And the crowd tells the story of the food. Dim Sum for 2 comes up to about 20 plus, close to 30. Well, that's for us, we food gurus are really big eaters, and once we opened the pages of the menu, I had to stop Eunice from ordering too much hehe...

That night, we ordered Siew Mai, Prawn rolled in cripsy strips (not too sure of the name... look at the pictures OK? write a comment for us if you know the name!), Deep Fried Fish (the one with the mayo), Cripsy Crab Legs, Fried Dumplings.













I give the Dim Sum a rating of 7.5/10.
Hunt Date: 20 Sep 08
Location: Geylang Lorong 17

Round Island #2 Trip Log, 29 Dec 08

Hmm... yeah, I forgot to log this down. And time really flies... the trip took place in December!!! And now its already almost May.

See photos of the trip here. The photos are arranged in chronological order, for ease of reading and viewing.

This trip wasn't planned thoroughly, though we had thought of having this ride for quite some weeks before it happened. The setup for the ride was simple: Because Dean and I live near each other, I rode to his place and we proceeded down to town, where we will meet Ivan. As Ivan live in Tampines, he rode down to town alone to meet us.

I really have to apologise to my fellow brothers for losing the trip log... I really couldn't find it. Luckily we still have photos haha... next time somebody else should do the logging... everything I do meh? Log, blog... tedious leh! (Hmm... I shouldn't KB so much for now, after losing the thing.)

Dean and I reached Dhoby Ghaut MRT on time, at noon. We had to wait an hour before Ivan reached... hmm nothing new haha. Then Dean and I decided to go wait for him at our favourite Parklane Zha Yun Tun Mee shop. We had our noodles after Ivan arrived.

Next, we cycled up the hill and reached Mount Emily park. A small park, but lots of shade from the huge trees there. Goofed around a bit before we descended the hill, and went to the Rochor beancurd shop, our favourite Dao Hwae shop. It was here that we made our impromptu decision to ride into Sentosa.

After finishing our Dao Hwae, we then proceeded on through the Chinatown area, and reached Capitol Tower. Took some interesting photos there, and one with Dean trying to swim in the drain... hehe... Next we went on Keppel Road and carried on to Sentosa.

We stopped at the gateway just before the admission toll gates, and took some photos. We were thinking... will we actually get to enter Sentosa FOC since we were on bikes? Yeah right! Like there is ever a free lunch. We cycled past the toll booths, but there was still a booth at the side of the road further down the road, and the guy inside was like waving us to stop. I at one point felt like making a run for it... but then thought, nah... we were on bikes, too easy to catch us on the way in. So we paid our entrance fees dutily.

We made our way to Siloso beach, and took some photos at the rocky shore near the car park. It was near sunset time then, and I must say, it felt really good to enjoy such a wonderful day, riding with my buddies again. We proceeded in-land to find a trail, but failed... any trails we found were only fit for walking. We then proceeded out of Sentosa. Took some more photos on the gateway bridge, then stopped again at Vivocity as it started to rain. After doing the necessary water proofing, we simply headed to Seah Imm Road FC to have our dinner.

After a sumptous meal, we then headed back to Dean's place by taking the long West Coast Highway route, but taking a shortcut by cutting in hong leong gardens and crossing the AYE overhead bridge to clementi side. This is where I split from the two of them, heading home for a comfortable hot shower before joining them at Dean's again. That night was really great, Dean drove us out to have supper at Boon Lay place FC, just next to Boon Lay shopping centre. We had the famous nasi lemak. I was surprised because the stall attracted long queues even though it was a weekday night! We then went back to Dean's and watched Tropic Thunder before crashing into deep sleep...

Always great to ride along side my fellow musketeers, looking forward to our next one!