Looking back on the project that I have now completed, I feel a great sense of accomplishment and achievement. I had never before complete such a complex, and time consuming project on my own without getting at least a little help from someone else. I am very good at helping with projects on a team, but this project showed me that I am capable of great things even working alone. My initial motivation for choosing this particular project was the fact that I believed it would help me become a better engineer, and teach me more about robotics. I think that the project more than fulfilled my original motivation, and taught me much more than I had though.

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            There was quite a few step that I needed to take in order to complete the project. The first step I took was to decide what the robot was going to look like. I didn’t originally have the idea to make a robot out of a model R2D2. I originally just wanted to make a robot, but around the time I was think about this project, the new Star Wars movie was close to being released. This publicity from Star Wars lead me to the idea of making an R2D2 robot. The next step I took was to make a good plan for the project, and set some goals that would help me grow. After that I need to get started on the project which was probably the toughest step of all, because as simple as it may seem putting all your thoughts and dreams together are not as easy as it seems. The final step I took was to test R2D2 and make sure everything worked. I had to find and fix any errors or bug that I may have over looked. In the end there was only a few fairly simple things to fix.

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            In the beginning of this project I had two main goals. The first one was, to create a R2D2 robot that can be accessed and controlled from anywhere with an internet connection. The second one was to learn electronic skills that will help me become a successful electronic engineer. I was able to complete both of these goals. Both goals I felt were achievable, but not easy enough that I wouldn’t be sufficiently challenged. If I would not have set any goals at all, I don’t think I would have gotten near as much accomplished. I have seen great outcome from my accomplishments already. I have had several people ask me for help on similar projects, and because of the knowledge I now have I am a great help to these other students. As my name gets spread around more and more, I feel that I make a difference in the robotics world.

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            During the project I needed to use skills that I know I had and some that I needed to have. I have always been good with electronics, so skills of finding the correct parts and putting them together were not an issues. The issues that I was faced with was the programming language that I needed to use was not really on me skills list at all. The fact is you can’t just learn a programming language in a few days. It takes quite a bit of time, and practice to get it all down. This was a skill that I had to learn and grow throughout the project. I needed to study worked hard at it to understand it in order to complete the project.  

 

            I think that SUU has decided to put an experiential learning requirement in place, because in the work force nothing is ever going to be easy and fall into place for us. We are going to need to be professionals, and understand than in today’s fast changing world knowledge, creativity, and professionalism comes out on top. I believe that SUU is very wise by giving us this opportunity to do a professional type project for our learning and achievement.

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            The metaphor "EDGE" in the name "EDGE Program", has now developed quite the meaning in my mind. Before I started the program it had little to no meaning in my mind, but now the meanings race through my head like a race car. I understand now the edge that I will have in the professional world after school. I can see how each assignment I was given increased the edge I now have over students at other schools. From writing a good resume to creating a portfolio, and even a social media post, everything points to a professional experience that will give me a professional EDGE for the rest of my life.