Robotics: The Blog of Spirit

A white German shepherd puppy.

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Well, as you can guess, the darkness darkened.

It all started last night.  When the normal child is sleeping, I was awake in my bed, pulling the covers to my chin.  Darkness swept into my room, because…. Well because I have a nightlight.  And it broke.

Oh the horror, the horror.

But wait! I am buying a puppy today! A white German shepherd puppy! It shall be mine

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  Hello my name is Spirit I am a rover that was sent up to Mars. I thought it was going to be very hard and all but actullay it was not. When I got up there I was scared and all because I thought I was going to see Marsions.

  My Friend was supposed to be up here with me but he was not ready or they just messed up on the launch. I got up there and the first thing that I observed is that the planet was really red because of the storm The Great Red Spot. I was sent to send pictures back to the astronomers that did not come up. They were to scared to come up. The scariest expierence up there was when I saw Aliens so I took a picture of that and the astronomers were scared. After this experience I was really amazed but scared at the same time.

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Martian Leader:

It was January 4, 2004 and Spirit landed. That was the day Mars stood still. We all knew why he had come. We have seen those creatures (humans) in space ships before. Now they have come for us. Constantly we have seen different rovers landing on our planet, but this time they came for us! Everyone scurried around trying to hide, but there were to many of us! We hid in craters and under rocks. We knew if the humans found us we would be taken back to Earth with them. In order for that not to happen we must stay hidden.

Spirit:

I just landed today and I am so glad to be on solid ground. I am on a mission to find out more about what is inside the craters and the rocks. I glide over to the nearest crater and drive down in it. Nothing in there! Everything that was in the craters i have searched before is still there. I want to find something interesting and exciting – something life changing.

Martian Leader:

See they already know we are here the are searching in the craters for us. If we dont go to drastic measures we will be found. Everyone needs to split up! Go hide where ever you can! If you see it coming towards you make a break for it and RUN!

Spirit:

There was a hole on the wall of the crater and my foot got stuck on it! I tugged and tugged but i wouldnt come loose. With one hard tugg it snapped in half dangling by a little bit of plastic. I crawled out of the crater dragging my foot on the floor of Mars. I examend my foot very closely. I saw this little thing the size of a roach shivering  with fear on the tip of my foot.

Martains Leader:

It was time for a head count. We have 347 martains in the city of Marstania. But we only counted 346. We counted and re counted and counted again and over and over again the number was 346. OH no who is missing does anyone know who is missing??? Oh no… where is Octavius?? Has anyone seen Octavius?

Spirit: Whats your name?

Octavius: My name is Octavius. Why are you here??

Spirit: Im here to explore the craters and rocks. Do you live here? I thought there was no life on mars!

Octavius: Oh well me and my people all thought you were here to find us and take us to earth. There are 347 of us.

Spirit: Oh well im sorry if i frightend you. If the humans find out that there is life on mars, we could help you have a better life! We could give you a better home.

Octavius: Thats ok. I know our leader, Exvartus doesnt want to move. He doesnt understand how your people live. I should probably get back to he rest of martania before Exvartus gets suspicious of me being gone.

Spirit: OK it was nice chatting with you, please tell Exvartus that i am only here for research im not here to harm you or your people. I guess ill see you around! Bye!

Octavius: Ok ill tell him, and maybe you could tell the humans about us, because i really do want a better life like you and the humans! Bye!

The End

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Spirit is working on the Maze challenge but is having some slight difficulties. Another person working on our robot has deleted our file. With that file, we made it to number 5. Now, we have to start from scratch. I am very upset about this unfortunate circumstance. Also, someone who will not be named has taken the back wheel off of Spirit and so now we are spending the whole class period putting the wheel back on. Actually, J.J. is, while I am sitting to her talking about what a hard life she has and how mad she is at the person who took the wheel off just to make us mad. She has just informed me that she wants to eat someone now. Oh, joy. She said that she is mental with grief I am not lying, these are her exact words. She has just finished the wheel and is putting it on Spirit. Yay! ttyl!!!

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In my opinion, programming can be used in many different places or situations on Mars. I have also learned a lot from programming. In fact, if i had not have programed so much i would not be able to answer this question. I have learned that multiple tests is the only way to excel in programing a robot. I have also learned that where the robot starts makes a big difference in the results.

I  think that a Mars rover can be programed in familiar places. Which means where the programmer knows the terrain and obstacles. As in our class obstacle, we know the challenges so we know how to program it. The Mars rovers can also be programmed with sensors which would work well in unfamiliar parts of Mars. For example, if the programmer doesn’t know the area where his bot will be traveling, he can program the bot to use its sensors. The programmer can activate the touch sensor so when it hits an object it makes an immediate turn. Or a light sensor so when it gets dark the bot will turn around and so on. That is when and where it is appropriate to program a bot on Mars.

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‘Ello, mate.  I am an alien.  My name is Lime.  If you continue to search this sight, you will find a picture of me and meh crony, Spirit.

Well, Mars is the color you Earthlings call ‘red.’  Mars has frozen ice caps of…Carbon?  Hehe, there might be water, too, because there are numerous valleys and grooves in Mar’s surface. I can tell you.  It is a secret only us aliens know, and humans don’t often come into contact.  Well, there was Billy who played in the movie E.T., but later he ate ate the director and co star’s brains.  So therefore no one knows.

Mars is similar in temperature to your… ‘Earth’…. But is a little colder.

Anyway, yesterday when I was playing Frisbee with one of my friends, it hit a rover.  The rover happened to be Spirit’s sister, Opportunity.  However, pretty soon my friends and I got hungry.  Although Spirit was later angry at us, we could not resist eating his sister.

I feel bad now.

Tonight, I will try and see Earth from Mars.  It is easy, because the lack of precipitation makes no clouds.  Mars’ atmosphere is different from Earth’s, as well.

Oh well.  Time to go and watch cable.

See ya!

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FEAR-

–noun

–verb (used with object)

Does that not say it all? Fear is something that haunts you. Fear is what washes over you at night when your night-light broke or the blinds are shut.

Fear is the little space of black that becomes bigger and bigger till it swallows you. But why I am writing about such a dreadful topic? I am writing about this topic because; believe it or not, my robot Spirit has fears. When Venus is lined right under the moon, it is so bright that its light over takes th light of the stars. But believe it or not, fear fills Spirit’s mechanical heart every time he sees that. Why, you may ask?

It is time you have learned about Rover.  Spirit’s long-lost brother, rover was sent to Venus to, well rove. But the pressure and the intense heat killed Rover, who lost connection with the Earthlings and died.  Spirit was heart broken.   And therefore Venus fills him with fear.  A cheesy end to a not so great beginning.  You may stop reading this.  Bye.

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Spirit was made with tender care by J.J. and her colleague, C.P. on a cloudy January day, January 9, 2008. Although the cloudy weather and cold, nipping air filled them with slight despair; they knew that Spirit would soon rise above all, earn his own fate by day-to-day programming and challenges. Spirit was barely a blob of legos when we started, but grew to much more.

When the time comes to take apart Spirit, I know my fingers will hesitate at touching each lego, at putting his precious remains into a box for future sixth graders to tinkle with in an effort to bring Spirit back in his glory.

Maybe Spirit will break down tomorow, or next week or even next month. But it doesn’t matter.

It doesn’t matter because while fear and sorrow look down and around, Spirit looks up. He looks up with hope.

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