Lights and Ranting

Almost finished with the first semester, and looking back it really hasn't been difficult. I think I need to just manage my time a little better and I'll get through it no problems.

Had my electronics exam today and had to hand in my digital systems development lab book. Thankfully I was on top of my DSD (for the most part at least,) so it only required a couple of hours of writing up this morning. Electronics wasn't nearly as bad as I'd imagined. I basically spent the weekend not revising when I shoud have been, but I think I managed over 50%, which I'll be ok with.

AI I got 80% on my first try, 70% on the second (I get the highest mark, so 80%)... something wrong there lol. I thought I understood the terminology used, but the way the questions were worded left me stuggling to answer them. Oh well...

Meh, I won't really be happy with any of the marks this semester. I need to knuckle down and get on with things. I have my electonics lab book to write up and hand in for Friday then I'm done for a couple of weeks. I'll likely spend the holidays getting a head-start on the next C assignment and studying for the DSD and DDI exams in Jan.

I did do one semi-productive thing for Tyler - made some flashing LED lights for his mini christmas tree. Two cables each containing 5 resistors and LEDs in parallel hooked up to a simple circuit of two transistors, two resistors and two capacitors. I taped the cables together so he has one cable with ten lights. Gotta hook it up to a battery and solder the circuit to finish the job, which I'll do once I get this lab book done then put a pic up or something...

PS. Sorry this entry was more of a rant about how unhappy I am with my performance than anything else. :)

Welcome!

It's been a few years since I have blogged anything at all, so I decided I would start a new one (Honestly, I can't remember where my old one is located.)

So first of all, I'm Daniel Davies, a 1st-year robotics undergraduate at the University of the West of England, Bristol. I've been interested in robotics and software development for several years, and decided I'd give it a go. Last year I completed an Access to HE diploma, which allowed for me to apply for a position at UWE this year. Originally I was going to study computer science, but after researching UWE's robotics lab and seeing it for myself, I changed my mind.

Well it's almost the end of the first semester, so once I have finished the assignments due in on Thursday, I will start posting a few entries about what I did, and any projects I decide to work on over the holidays. I'll start with a small write up on this little Lego Mindstorms NXT hexapod:

Thanks for visiting, and check back soon - you might see something of interest!