Journal Entry One 07/08/24:

My phone has 64 gigabytes of internal memory. The difference between memory and storage is that memory is ​where one’s data is stored temporarily while memory storage saves files and data permanently. When giving ​directions to someone to the dining commons, one must be specific in order for the person to be able to successfully ​reach their destination. Similarly when writing code, one gives intricate and detailed instructions in order for the ​computer to successfully fulfill its tasks. The person reaching their destination to the dinging hall corresponds to the ​the computer executing the event we would like to occur. After the first day at COSMOS, I think that this is going ​to be a very fun experience. I have met a lot of people from our cluster and they are really nice and fun to talk ​to. I love interacting with them, and getting to know them in and outside of class. I also really enjoyed the ​beginning of the lab we did today. It was a nice sneak peek into what we would be doing in the future. ​Something that I found challenging is the walk to get from one place on campus to another. It is very far and the ​weather is not doing us a favor. But that’s isn’t too much of a problem when we are walking and talking with ​other people.

Journal Entry Two 07/09/24:

Having a physical robot also means having forces from the real world affecting the robots actions. Different factors ​like the surface the robot is on, air resistance, and friction all affect the movement and abilities of the robot. These ​physical attributes causes the need for the program to be more specific and precise. There is also a need for ​different trials to be constant in location and environment. I found LINUX to be highly trial and error based and ​going back and forth in between different data sets in order to get the perfect balance to complete the tasks at ​hand. Something that really made using LINUX easier is our access to sample code. Since i don’t have very much ​experience to using this platform, having a foundation to start was highly beneficial. I do think that I have been ​balancing the classwork and having fun! I have been talking to other members of our cluster and to my roomate and ​I have been participating many of the afternoon activities in order to get to know people from other clusters has ​well. This experience has thought me the work can also be an outlet to also grow one’s social exposure and that ​one’s social life and work life are not mutually exclusive.

Journal Entry Three 07/10/24:

One main concept that I would want to talk about in my college essay is about my different passions and how they ​all connect together even though they seem to be unrelated. I would talk about my strong interests in math and ​science and how that lead to my view of school and different topics. But another one of my great passions is music. ​I would like to talk about what skills and lessons music has thought me and how I was able to apply that to ​academics. While working with the robots in class today, there were some moments when the testing got very ​intricate and required many small alterations in order to be successful. When these moments occurred and I felt ​myself getting frustrated, I just tried to remember that there is a solution to this puzzle and it isn’t impossible so ​at one point in time, I will eventually get there. It was also very reassuring to have many teachers and cluster ​mates to ask questions to when I had some doubts.

Flow Chart Representing the Robot Challenges:

Journal Entry Four 07/11/24:

I think that the different challenges in the robotics lab were really useful. It gave me an idea of all the different ​commands and aspects of the robot. I would say these challenges were super easy but they weren’t very difficult ​either. They required a lot of trial and error which made it tedious but it was beneficial to go through the testing ​process in order to get a feel of the way the robot reacts to the instructions we give it. I think the Biophysics ​labs were more challenging for me because I am very inexperienced with coding. But I think the pace of the class ​was perfect because we were able to cover a lot of content but I didn’t feel like we were rushing the topics. I ​have been trying to deal with the frustration by just reminding myself that there is a correct answer and that I ​will get there eventually. This lead to me just wracking my brain a lot trying to figure out different ways to alter ​the code. Talking to other people after class has been very helpful too because knowing that I wasn’t the only one ​struggling with something was very reassuring. A more productive way to deal with my frustration would have ​been to ask for help. I need to ask questions and ask for assistance more frequently.

Journal Entry Five 07/12/24:

Some technical challenges that we will have while building our robot is how to make the initial book retrieving ​robot properly place the book in on the page turning robot so that it would function without issue. I think the ​harder part it going to be the book retrieving robot because I think it is going to require more specific features like ​detecting where the book is, picking up the book effectively, and successfully bringing it over to the page turning ​robot. Python has a lot less finicky syntax features to worry about. You don’t need the curly braces or a semi colon ​at the end of every phrase like in C. I think python is easier to understand than c but I also like c because it is ​easy to envision the outputs of the code because the outputs translate to the robot. It also really helpful to have the ​ability to see all of the error at the bottom of the page and how to fix them with c. Some interpersonal challenges ​I think we will face is staying positive even when we face difficulties while building our robot. It’s very important ​to persevere and not focus on the negative aspects while working on project. It’s important to keep trying to find ​solutions. I think its also important that we don’t hesitate to ask for help or ideas when we face a road block.

Journal Entry Six 07/15/24:

I think I understand the basic ideas and concepts involving the use of random outcomes in modeling. Applying this ​concept to calculate the values of pi really helped me envision how randomness is used in code. It cleared my ​confusion from he lectures as well. Randomness is such a crucial aspect of biology and incorporating this concept into ​code highlights its importance. This weekend I spent a lot of time with my roommate. We got to know each other ​better and we bonded over some of our interests. She is not in the same cluster has me so I was also able to ​learn about what she was learning about. I was able to spend some of my time this weekend working on some ​school work and I talked to my family back home. Even though I did do some work this weekend I still made sure ​to spend some time relaxing and doing a craft. I went on a bike ride with a friend from our cluster and got to ​look around the cluster which was really nice. I think I had a good work life balance this weekend.

Journal Entry Seven 07/16/24:

I think that the Gambler’s Ruin was a really good starting exercise. It exemplifies the importance of random ​outcomes and probability which were concepts we went over in the previous lecture. Even though it was covering ​such an important topic, it wasn’t so complicated that I felt overwhelmed. I think we started with the program ​because it involved the basics of python while also incorporating the concepts of randomness and probability from ​Biophysics. While eating in he dining commons I try to make sure that I’m not eating too much of any one food ​group. I try to include protein and calcium throughout the day in some form. Something I have been working on is ​trying to drink more water. Especially with the heat I think it’s important to stay hydrated even though I tend to ​forget to drink water sometimes. In terms of exercise, me and my cluster mates have been biking to and from ​dining commons and classes which has been my main form of exercise. I also have been doing some exercises with ​my roommate before nightly announcements.