Zero Robotics - The End

It's been a lot of work put into programming a bot for the zero robotics competition, but it came to an end today.  We placed 14th among teams from all over the world in the semifinals, and cannot advance to the finals (11th among the U.S competitors.  We had to be within top 9 among the U.S. alliances to advance.)  It's been fun, and although I am sorely disappointed, I'm glad we made it this far!  I wish I had known about this the year before.  It was hard to find time to work on this competition with rigorous schoolwork, so few of us who were able to work on it.  I'm sad, but I have to be happy with what I've earned.

So, congratulations to the finalists and best of luck to you!

Zero Robotics Update

So, with new shipment going to the International Space Station, the deadline for the semifinals have been moved back by a week.  Instead of a final code, they decided to make an optional code due last week to see how every team is doing.  17 out of 24 alliances, including our team, participated.

The Pirate Squad (our team) came in 6th, having scored 247 points (the leader scored 266 points).  Not bad, but we still have plenty of work to do before I can feel reasonably confident that we have a shot at making it to the finals.

As always, I will keep you updated as the results for the semifinals are released!

Job with the Mayor of Hartsville

A couple days ago, my friend Mike L. (the same guy who's part of the zero robotics team with me) and I were contacted by the mayor of Hartsville, South Carolina.  He asked if we could develop an iPhone app for a funeral home. 

I have never developed an iPhone app before, but the mayor's going to sponsor us with the money to get us started, so we said, "Why not?"

This seems like a great opportunity.  I'll be doing my best to get him the app he needs.  I'll keep you updated!

Pterodactyl Love Song

Here's something interesting that I've dug up from my hard drive.

This song, humorously entitled "Pterodactyl Love Song", is a goth(?)-techno-themed song composed and put together by me on FL Studio when I was in 10th grade.  I did this over two hour and half class periods at my old high school (before moving to SCGSSM).  I won the best song of the class award and a $10 gift card for iTunes!  The song contains an analog drum set, a wide variety of synthesizers, and a few white and pink noises for effect.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy this little piece from the past!

Music Supplement

This post contains recordings of my performances for my music supplement.


Guitar:

Drums:

 

 (Really a bit of everything):

Videos

For the past two days, I've been working hard to get the videos up and running!  I was updating all my videos from its horrible quality to a version streamed directly from YouTube.  That means you should be able to see all my videos in pretty good quality!

Big Blue Guitar Cover

One day during the summer vacation before my senior year, I was really bored and also felt like rocking out, so I decided hook my amp up to my computer and start jamming on my electric guitar.

On top of that, I also felt like making a video and putting it up on YouTube.  I couldn't see an easier way of doing that other than putting together a video of me playing my guitar.  This video was the result.

The song is Big Blue, one of great songs from the video game series, F-Zero.  I really love this music and because I grew up playing F-Zero, gives me a wave of nostalgia every time I play it.  It's quite lovely.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy my performance and the music!  All instruments (guitar and drums) were recorded and programmed, respectively, by me.