Friday, April 8, 2022

Critical Reflection

 Module Learning:

At the start of the course, I set a goal to work on my weakness which is not being fluent in my English language and being long winded when trying to communicate.

 

With the Paul-Elder critical thinking framework, I learned how to be direct and make sure the topics I want to talk about is relevant and that it provides depth into the discussion. This helped me to speak succinctly and maintain a clear mind of what I want to achieve. Furthermore, I improved by taking small steps such as learning from my mistakes whenever I get corrected. I took notes on what went wrong and practiced the words or phrases repeatedly in conversation or in writing. Through these small steps, my aim is to be fluent in English by practicing using the new words and speaking confidently. 

 

To build on my communication and critical thinking skills, I have been reading more news articles and even picking up new words when conversing with my friends. With the new words or phrase that I learned, I would try to initiate conversation and using them when relevant. Even if I made a mistake, such as using the words in a non-relevant context, I will learn from it and when I want to use it again, I would re-visit the experience I had before and learn from my mistakes.

 

I believe that this is the start of my learning journey, and I would want to further improve these skills. I plan to do so by building up my vocabulary through reading more news articles, books and watching more English movies. In doing so, I hope that my communication skills and fluency in speaking English would be enhanced.  



Project Learning:


For the group project, when we formed the team initially, I was worried that we would have a hard time working together. We were often struggling with collating the ideas together and having to decide which idea is the best to work on. Eventually after having done much research and discussion, we settled with the idea on airport baggage conveyor system called U-Lugg.

 

Personally, I thought that presenting was my forte and I was confident in doing it. However, I was wrong, and this module allowed me to learn so much more about improving my presentation skills. In the past, I often say: “I will now pass my time to” during the transition and I have learnt that this was incorrect. I also managed to practice my presentation skills, such as speaking with passion and grabbing the attention of the audience. Another interesting thing that I have learned was that point forms in the slides should be parallel.

 

Writing has never been an easy task for me and even more so, when four different members are writing together. There were times when points were repeated, and the content became incoherent. Thus, I learned that it was important to not only focus on my part but to ensure my members’ work and mine were synthesised. Furthermore, I also learned that summarising the information accurately and succinctly was very important for others to understand easily. Lastly, an important point that I have learned is doing citation and referencing appropriately and correctly. 

 

Overall, I learned that being patient and understanding is important when we are working as a team. Additionally, it is important to accept constructive feedback and not put other members’ ideas down immediately. One should be confident but also be humble.

 

I would also like to use this opportunity to thank Professor Brad Blackstone for making this English module a fruitful and enjoyable one for me. I hope to have the opportunity to learn more from you when we cross-paths in future.

Tuesday, March 1, 2022

Summary Reader's Response Final (Astrobee)

In the article “Astrobee Will Find Astronauts' Lost Socks” (Ackerman, 2021), NASA intends to establish a permanent space station called Gateway. Gateway will serve as a transiting point for astronauts who are heading towards Mars. As Gateway is expected to be unoccupied for long periods of time, robots will be utilized to maintain and ensure the viability of Gateway for astronauts. This includes keeping Gateway clean and safe. To do so, NASA has included a battery of tests for prototype robots such as testing their capacity to identify and remove obstacles via signals from computer vision, discern localized areas of the station and engineering communication between them. These tests are part of NASA’s long-term goal to integrate prevailing autonomous systems of the space station and robots to be fully functional without human interventions. In essence, the robots have to effectively respond and react to the signals sent out by the autonomous systems. One such robot that was tested - Bumble, poses a problem for maneuvering around the station due to its limited mobility. 


With NASA utilizing robots to maintain Gateway, the size of Astrobee and its battery lifespan has significant impacts on both the efficacy of the work and the safety regulations that are required for unmanned robots in space. 


The main design of Astrobee was to be small-sized so that it can maneuver around the space station easily to complete housekeeping tasks and take videos of crew activities (Ackerman, 2017). A small robot with a smaller battery is correlated with a shorter battery lifespan and there are potential problems with this. For instance, when the battery capacity is small, there may be disruptions to its ability to complete a task in one attempt or producing segmented data which may require more human hours to configure. These problems would render astrobee to have a lower efficiency rate. According to Mian (2018), the size of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) is relative to its power capacity. If the UAV is small, the duration of working hours will be shorter than if the UAV is big. Similarly, small robots like Astrobee will also have to spend more time re-charging due to its small battery capacity. 


Another problem of having a short battery lifespan may result in Astrobee failing to return to its charging dock in time which will require astronauts to be deployed to assist the robot (Ackerman, 2019). It was reported that during its trial, Astrobee was often caught in obstacles like tangled cables which required the robot to identify and solve the problem (Ackerman, 2021). These higher-level tasks like identifying and solving technical issues are unprecedented problems that will consume the limited power capacity that Astrobee has. In such cases, the limited battery lifespan would be disadvantageous and decrease the efficiency of the robot. 


Increasing the battery size of Astrobee would not be a viable solution for a robot that was designed to be compact and robust. To counter this problem, a possible solution is to replace the current lithium-ion batteries with Graphene Aluminum-Ion [GAI] batteries. According to Taylor (2021), GAI batteries are able to “charge up to 60 times faster than the best lithium ion cells and hold three times the energy of the best aluminum based cells” (para. 2). Thus, using GAI batteries will provide Astrobee with a three times longer lifespan to maneuver around the space station and complete its tasks. Furthermore, lithium-ion batteries were found to be flammable when overused due to the organic solvents present in these batteries. This would pose a safety issue for unmanned robots functioning in space stations. On the other hand, GAI batteries are less prone to overheating when used frequently and will therefore be a safer option than lithium-ion batteries (Jhaveri, 2020). In light of this, GAI batteries can offer a plausible solution to the limited capacity of Astrobee currently whilst maintaining its functionality and design.  


However, Astrobee still has the potential of easing the workload of astronauts in space. According to Kanis (2022), Astrobee has the ability to take over regular chores to help free up time for astronauts to work on issues that require human intervention. Furthermore, the dynamic and common system created amongst the robots may also be a helpful tool in allowing them to work more effectively and maintain the unmanned space station steadfastly (Figliozzi, 2019). This is because Astrobee’s functionality and system allows it to work with other robots by sharing information with other robots promptly and even splitting the workload amongst them. Thus, Astrobee may still be able to assist astronauts when the task at hand is compatible and the time required for each task is accurately calculated. 


In conclusion, I have shown the limitations of Astrobee based on its size and battery lifespan and the potential problems the robot may face. I believe that Astrobee’s potential can be maximized by improving its battery lifespan and one plausible method would be to change the type of battery used by Astrobee which will ultimately increase its efficiency and safety levels. 


Word Count: 833 Words


References

Ackerman, E. (2017). How NASA’s Astrobee robot is bringing useful autonomy to the ISS. IEEE Spectrum. https://spectrum.ieee.org/how-nasa-astrobee-robot-is-bringing-
Useful-autonomy-to-the-iss

Ackerman, E. (2019). NASA launching Astrobee robots to space station. IEEE Spectrum. https://spectrum.ieee.org/nasa-launching-astrobee-robots-to-iss-tomorrow


Ackerman, E. (2021). Astrobee will find astronaut’s lost socks. IEEE Spectrum. https://spectrum.ieee.org/astrobee-nasa-gateway

Figliozzi, G. (2019). Hi Honey! NASA’s Second Astrobee Wakes Up in Space. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/ames/hi-honey-nasa-s-second-astrobee-wakes-up-in-space

Jhaveri, J. (2020). Battery safety: Top 5 reasons why lithium-ion batteries catch fire. ION Energy Inc. https://www.ionenergy.co/resources/blogs/battery-safety/


Kanis, S. (2022). What is Astrobee?. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. 

https://www.nasa.gov/astrobee

Mian, S. (2018). A novel battery management & charging solution for autonomous UAV systems (Publication No.: 10790304) [Master’s Thesis, Arizona State University]. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing

Taylor, M. (2021). Developer of aluminum-ion battery claims it charges 60 times faster than lithium-ion, offering EV range breakthrough. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltaylor/2021/05/13/ev-range-breakthrough-as-new-aluminum-ion-battery-charges-60-times-faster-than-lithium-ion/?sh=f9e21986d287



Wednesday, February 16, 2022

Reader's Response Draft 2 (Astrobee)

In the article “Astrobee Will Find Astronauts' Lost Socks” (Ackerman, 2021), NASA intends to establish a permanent space station called Gateway. Gateway will serve as a transiting point for astronauts who are heading towards Mars. As Gateway is expected to be unoccupied for long periods of time, robots will be utilized to maintain and ensure the viability of Gateway for astronauts. This includes keeping Gateway clean and safe. To do so, NASA has included a battery of tests for prototype robots such as testing their capacity to identify and remove obstacles via signals from computer vision, discern localized areas of the station and engineering communication between them. These tests are part of NASA’s long-term goal to integrate prevailing autonomous systems of the space station and robots to be fully functional without human interventions. In essence, the robots have to effectively respond and react to the signals sent out by the autonomous systems. One such robot that was tested - Bumble, poses a problem for maneuvering around the station due to its limited mobility. Nevertheless, NASA is considering other commissioned robots such as Robonaut 2 and GITAI’s arm to go aboard Gateway.


With NASA utilizing robots to maintain Gateway, the size of Astrobee and its battery lifespan has a significant impact on the efficacy of the work that it can complete. 


In the article ‘Astrobee Will Find Astronauts Lost Socks’ (Ackerman, 2021), it was detailed that the robot, Bumble, was designed to be small-sized for it to maneuver around the space station easily. According to Mian (2018), the size of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) is relative to its power capacity. This would mean that small robots will have a shorter-spanned battery lifespan due to the size of the battery installed in the robot. With the shorter battery lifespan, there are potential problems that may arise entailing disruptions to its intended missions. 


According to Ackerman (2017), the performance of Astrobee will be affected if it is required to return to the charging dock often whilst engaging in certain tasks. For instance, Astrobee is required to complete tasks like taking videos of the crew activities and other housekeeping tasks like surveying the sensors in the space station (Ackerman, 2017). The short battery lifespan may result in the robot not being able to complete a task in one attempt or even producing segmented data which may require more human hours to configure. 


Another problem of having a short battery lifespan may result in Astrobee failing to return to its charging dock in time. It was reported that during its trial, Astrobee was often caught in obstacles like tangled cables which required the robot to identify and solve the problem. These higher-level tasks like identifying and solving technical issues are unprecedented problems that will consume the limited power capacity that Astrobee has. In such cases, Ackerman (2019) reckons that astronauts will have to be deployed to assist the robot. Hence, the battery lifespan of Astrobee may diminish its efficiency in the long term. 


According to Main (2018), power problems are usually solved by installing a bigger battery unit into the robots. However, this would defeat the purpose of Bumble’s design as a compact and robust robot. To counter this problem, a possible solution is to replace the current lithium-ion batteries with Graphene Aluminum-Ion [GAI] batteries (Ackerman, 2019). According to Taylor (2021), GAI batteries are able to “charge up to 60 times faster than the best lithium ion cells and hold three times the energy of the best aluminum based cells” (para. 2). Using GAI batteries will not only provide Astrobee with three times longer lifespan to maneuver around the space station and complete its tasks but also reduce the safety issues posed by using lithium-ion batteries which are flammable when overused (Jhaveri, 2020).  


However, Astrobee still has the potential of easing the job of astronauts in space. According to Kanis (2022), Astrobee has the ability to take over regular chores to help free up time for astronauts to work on issues that require human intervention. Allowing multiple robots cohesively working together in a common system, it enables them to share the information. With that, the robots would be able to work more effectively on the tasks and maintaining the unmanned space station (Figliozzi, 2019).


In conclusion, I have shown the limitations of Astrobee based on its size and battery lifespan and the potential problems the robot may face. I I believe that Astrobee’s potential can be maximized by improving its battery lifespan and one plausible method would be to change the type of battery used by Astrobee which will ultimately increase its efficiency. 


Word Count: 767 Words

References

Ackerman, E. (2017). How NASA’s Astrobee robot is bringing useful autonomy to the ISS. IEEE
Spectrum. https://spectrum.ieee.org/how-nasa-astrobee-robot-is-bringing-
useful-autonomy-to-the-iss

Ackerman, E. (2019). NASA launching Astrobee robots to space station. IEEE Spectrum.

https://spectrum.ieee.org/nasa-launching-astrobee-robots-to-iss-tomorrow

Ackerman, E. (2021). Astrobee will find astronaut’s lost socks. IEEE Spectrum.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/astrobee-nasa-gateway

Figliozzi, G. (2019). Hi Honey! NASA’s Second Astrobee Wakes Up in Space. National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/ames/hi-honey-nasa-s-second-astrobee-wakes-up-in-space

Jhaveri, J. (2020). Battery safety: Top 5 reasons why lithium-ion batteries catch fire. ION
Energy Inc. https://www.ionenergy.co/resources/blogs/battery-safety/

Kanis, S. (2022). What is Astrobee?. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. 

https://www.nasa.gov/astrobee

Mian, S. (2018). A novel battery management & charging solution for autonomous UAV
systems (Publication No.: 10790304) [Master’s Thesis, Arizona State University].
ProQuest Dissertations Publishing

Schnaps, I., & Rimon, E. (2016). Online coverage of planar environments by a battery
powered autonomous mobile robot. IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and
Engineering, 13(2), p. 425-436. doi: 10.1109/TASE.2016.2515165 

Taylor, M. (2021). Developer of aluminum-ion battery claims it charges 60 times faster than
lithium-ion, offering EV range breakthrough. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/
michaeltaylor/2021/05/13/ev-range-breakthrough-as-new-aluminum-ion-
battery-charges-60-times-faster-than-lithium-ion/?sh=f9e21986d287


Monday, February 7, 2022

Reader's Response Draft 1 (Astrobee)

The size of Astrobee and its battery lifespan has a significant impact on the efficacy of the work that it can complete. In this paper, I will first explain how the battery lifespan is correlated to the size of the robot. Next, I will explicate the potential problems Astrobee may face with a short battery lifespan. Lastly, a possible solution of using a different type of battery in the market will be discussed. With regards to battery lifespan of robots in space, two main factors to consider in terms of tasks required of robots to complete without human presence are [i] when engaging in required tasks, robots have to ensure that they have sufficient battery to return back to the charging dock and [ii] robots have to be efficient in completing tasks before their battery life is depleted (Schnaps & Rimon, 2016). In the article ‘Astrobee Will Find Astronauts Lost Socks’ (Ackerman, 2021), it was detailed that the robot, Bumble, was designed to be small-sized for it to maneuver around the space station easily. According to Mian (2018), the size of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) is relative to its power capacity. This would mean that small robots will have a shorter-spanned battery lifespan due to the size of the battery installed in the robot. 


With the shorter battery lifespan, there are potential problems that may arise entailing disruptions to its intended missions. Firstly, the performance of Astrobee will be affected if it is required to return to the charging dock often whilst engaging in certain tasks. For instance, Astrobee is required to complete tasks like taking videos of the crew activities and other housekeeping tasks like surveying the sensors in the space station (Ackerman, 2017). The short battery lifespan may result in the robot not being able to complete a task in one attempt or even producing segmented data which may require more human hours to configure. Secondly, a short battery lifespan may result in Astrobee failing to return to its charging dock in time. It was reported that during its trial, Astrobee was often caught in obstacles like tangled cables which required the robot to identify and solve the problem. These higher-level tasks like identifying and solving technical issues are unprecedented problems that will consume the limited power capacity that Astrobee has. In such cases, Ackerman (2019) reckons that astronauts will have to be deployed to assist the robot. Hence, the battery lifespan of Astrobee may diminish its efficiency in the long term. 


Power problems are usually solved by installing a bigger battery unit into the robots (Mian, 2018). However, this would defeat the purpose of Bumble’s design as a compact and robust robot. To counter this problem, a possible solution is to replace the current lithium-ion batteries with Graphene Aluminum-Ion [GAI] batteries (Ackerman, 2019). According to Taylor (2021), GAI batteries are able to “charge up to 60 times faster than the best lithium ion cells and hold three times the energy of the best aluminum based cells” (para. 2). Using GAI batteries will not only provide Astrobee with three times longer lifespan to maneuver around the space station and complete its tasks but also reduce the safety issues posed by using lithium-ion batteries which are flammable when overused (Jhaveri, 2020).  


In conclusion, I have shown the limitations of Astrobee based on its size and battery lifespan and the potential problems the robot may face. I I believe that Astrobee’s potential can be maximized by improving its battery lifespan and one plausible method would be to change the type of battery used by Astrobee which will ultimately increase its efficiency. 


Word Count: 600 Words

References

Ackerman, E. (2017). How NASA’s Astrobee robot is bringing useful autonomy to the ISS. IEEE
Spectrum. https://spectrum.ieee.org/how-nasa-astrobee-robot-is-bringing-
useful-autonomy-to-the-iss

Ackerman, E. (2019). NASA launching Astrobee robots to space station. IEEE Spectrum.

https://spectrum.ieee.org/nasa-launching-astrobee-robots-to-iss-tomorrow

Ackerman, E. (2021). Astrobee will find astronaut’s lost socks. IEEE Spectrum.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/astrobee-nasa-gateway

Jhaveri, J. (2020). Battery safety: Top 5 reasons why lithium-ion batteries catch fire. ION
Energy Inc. https://www.ionenergy.co/resources/blogs/battery-safety/

Mian, S. (2018). A novel battery management & charging solution for autonomous UAV
systems (Publication No.: 10790304) [Master’s Thesis, Arizona State University].
ProQuest Dissertations Publishing

Schnaps, I., & Rimon, E. (2016). Online coverage of planar environments by a battery
powered autonomous mobile robot. IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and
Engineering, 13(2), p. 425-436. doi: 10.1109/TASE.2016.2515165 

Taylor, M. (2021). Developer of aluminum-ion battery claims it charges 60 times faster than
lithium-ion, offering EV range breakthrough. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/
michaeltaylor/2021/05/13/ev-range-breakthrough-as-new-aluminum-ion-
battery-charges-60-times-faster-than-lithium-ion/?sh=f9e21986d287

Thursday, February 3, 2022

Summary Draft 2

 In the article “Astrobee Will Find Astronauts' Lost Socks” (Ackerman, 2021), NASA intends to establish a permanent space station called Gateway. Gateway will serve as a transiting point for astronauts who are heading towards Mars. As Gateway is expected to be unoccupied for long periods of time, robots will be utilised to maintain and ensure the viability of Gateway for astronauts. This includes keeping Gateway clean and safe. To do so, NASA has included a battery of tests for prototype robots such as testing their capacity to identify and remove obstacles via signals from computer vision, discern localised areas of the station and engineering communication between them. These tests are part of NASA’s long-term goal to integrate prevailing autonomous systems of the space station and robots to be fully functional without human interventions. In essence, the robots have to effectively respond and react to the signals sent out by the autonomous systems. One such robot that was tested - Bumble, poses a problem for manoeuvring around the station due to its limited mobility. Nevertheless, NASA is considering other commissioned robots such as Robonaut 2 and GITAI’s arm to go aboard Gateway.

References

Ackerman, E. (2021). Astrobee will find astronaut’s lost socks. IEEE Spectrum.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/astrobee-nasa-gateway


Thesis

The size of Astrobee and its battery lifespan has a significant impact on the efficacy of the work that it can complete.

Wednesday, February 2, 2022

Summary Draft 1 (Astrobee)

 In the article “Astrobee Will Find Astronauts Lost Socks” (Ackerman, 2021), NASA intends to establish a permanent space station called Gateway. Gateway will serve as a transiting point for astronauts who are heading towards Mars. As Gateway is expected to be unoccupied for long periods of time, robots will be utilised to maintain and ensure the viability of Gateway for astronauts. This includes keeping Gateway clean and safe. To do so, NASA has included a battery of tests for prototype robots such as testing their capacity to identify and remove obstacles via signals from computer vision, discern localised areas of the station and engineering communication between them. These tests are part of NASA’s long-term goal to integrate prevailing autonomous systems of the space station and robots to be fully functional without human interventions. In essence, the robots have to effectively respond and react to the signals sent out by the autonomous systems. One such robot that was tested - Bumble, poses a problem for manoeuvring around the station due to its limited mobility. Nevertheless, NASA is considering other commissioned robots such as Robonaut 2 and GITAI’s arm to go aboard Gateway.


190 words


Wednesday, January 19, 2022

Formal Letter

Subject: Benjamin Song’s Self-Introduction


Dear Professor Blackstone,


I am Benjamin Song Jian Ming, a student in your effective communication class and I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself.


My interest in the field of engineering stemmed from my experiences of hearing all about different types of aircrafts and machineries. I remember being greatly curious about fighter-jets in particular.  My interest in aircrafts was not about being able to fly it instead, I was eager to find out how fighter-jets work, how do the parts all work together in-sync. All through my growing up years, I often read up on the different types of components in the aircrafts. My curiosity then led me to pursue a diploma in Mechatronics Engineering with Temasek Polytechnic (TP). During my course of study in TP,  I realised that my interest leaned towards the mechanical aspects of engineering hence, I decided to take up Mechanical Engineering as my major in undergraduate studies with Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT). My aspiration upon graduation is to eventually be an aircraft engineer.


I would consider being confident as one of my strengths in communication. Going through National Service, I held the appointment as an officer and was often required to speak in front of many people. Having confidence in communication is important to me, as it gives my audience the assurance that I know what I am talking about and for them to trust my decisions. On the other hand, I would consider speaking long-windedly as one of my weaknesses in communication. As I am not fluent in my English language, I find myself having to use more words to explain my thoughts, often repeating the same point many times which might cause confusion.


Something special that sets me apart is that, when I set my decision on doing something I will go all the way until I achieve it. Taking my hobby as an example, I have a passion for water sports especially dragon boating. I am 8 years into the sports and have eventually became a coach for dragon boating. I hope to work on my clarity and give better feedback, this would ensure that others can fully understand me when communicating with them.


Thank you for taking your time to read my letter, I look forward to your classes.


Best Regards,

Benjamin Song


Edited on 26/01/2022


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Critical Reflection

  Module Learning: At the start of the course, I set a goal to work on my weakness which is not being fluent in my English language and bein...