HET225 (Electrical Machines) and HET228 (Electrical Actuators and Sensors) Notes

I’m doing Electrical Actuators and Sensors again this semester after very sensibly deciding to fail last time.

As the lecturer has been saying that he’ll try to put something up on blackboard for at least 3 years I don’t hold a lot of hope. As a result I am publishing the notes that I take in class so that any students who miss a class for whatever reason can catch up.

I should add that I’m a much better student now than I was 3 years ago when I failed. My notes will be accurate to what is on the board and also contain annotations from what is said in class 🙂

You can find these notes by clicking on the HET225 & HET228 Notes tab.  I will try to stay as up to date as possible.

A New Direction In Life

IBL has taught me many things, most importantly that I’m kinda heading in the wrong direction with all of this automotive engineering stuff. I love cars but its just not my thing. So, in an attempt to figure out what is ‘my thing’, I sat down and had a little think about what I’m good at, what I enjoy, what I’m interested in and suchlike. The upshot of all this is that I’ve decided to take a slightly different direction to my original intended one.

During my pondering I noted that almost without exception my best marks every Semester have been in my software subjects. I also noted that I really like programming. Programming is one of the few things that I can just sit down and do. My ADD seems to go into hiding as soon as I get into the swing of a bit of coding. So at this point I’m thinking ‘aha, perhaps something relating to software could be a good plan.’

I then considered what I’m interested in and, looking back on all the information I used to devour I realise that neurobiology seems to be more heavily represented in my bookcase than any other subject. I’ve also always been fascinated by automation. Not boring manufacturing style automation but proper intelligent automation, like cars that drive themselves for example.

By now you can probably see where I’m going with this. I have decided that after I finish my Bachelor degree I will do a Master of Software Systems Engineering specialising in AI. I do of course recognise that I may not be able to work in AI straight away which is fine because everything I’m doing up to and including the Masters degree will give me enough generic programming skills to get me by for a bit. In the mean time I shall try my hand at programming little web apps and suchlike. Got to do something with all the spare time that my remaining years at uni will provide.

Uni Marks

I am feeling rather justifiably smug (or at least I think so) today.

Machine Design (learn all about cogs, and gears, and levers etc) – 77% (Distinction)
Machine Dynamics 2 (force analysis of moving things) – 99%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (High Distinction)
Control and Automation (do some silly maths to figure out how to control stuff) – 65% (Credit)
Object-Oriented Programming in C++ (self-explanatory) – 85% (High Distinction)

Woot!!!

Apparently studying really does pay off 🙂

Exams, IBL, Costumes and Snow

Three of my four exams are over so I’m in a fairly good mood. The exam period has been pretty up and down. The first exam was fantastic and I’m pretty sure I got an HD, the second was Satan in exam form and if they don’t normalise the marks the entire course will fail, and the third was pretty good although a bit long so I rushed through a couple of questions. That said at least I finished it. Most didn’t. All I have left is a nice, friendly, open-book programming exam. Piece of cake 🙂

In other news I got the IBL position I was after. They offered me the job right there in the interview. Didn’t even have to sweat it out waiting to find out whether I was in. I’m going to be starting in a couple of weeks so soon I’ll be a very busy girl.

I’ve been thinking about costumes lately (I know what you’re thinking Cam and I have a perfectly good excuse – I’m going to a fancy dress party) and the real question is: would I make a better Sailor Moon, or French Maid. I already have access to the Sailor Moon costume although I’d need to hunt down a blond wig, and I’d need to get a French Maid outfit if I went for that but my hair won’t be an issue. Choices, choices. I guess I could also probably russle up a pretty good Catwoman outfit if I really wanted but I don’t really think its my style.

I’m going to be away in Bright for the long weekend so if anyone wants to contact me they’ll have to do it by phone because I won’t have internet access. I should have lots of spare time trying to avoid all the wives whilst the boys are gallivanting about the countryside on dirtbikes so I’ll probably do a bit of photography while I’m there. Last year I took some pretty cool shots of a frozen lake but it was with a 2 mega-pixie cameraphone so they were all a bit on the grainy side.