Heads Down

This is it.... the final push for SSP 2011! We just finished the second full team project day. How to describe a team project.... it is an all-out, intense, frenetic, energetic period that lasts roughly 3 weeks. In teams of 40, we are trying to assemble a 100-page document with corresponding letter of intent and executive summary to address a given topic. Once again, this is our mission statement:

It is the mission of the Cooperation of Humans and Robots for Mars (CHARM) team to propose a model for effective human-robot cooperation and apply it to Mars exploration scenarios for the time frame between 2015 and 2035.

We have accomplished an incredible amount of work these past 2 days. Our team is really starting to gel and we have so many amazing people. Of course, we have put in close to 400 hours in the 2 days as well. We have completed all the background research and are well on our way with developing the model.

I just wanted to get a quick post out because I can't promise you'll hear from me again before this is over.

There isn't much time to come up for air!

I am on the internal review presentation team, the executive summary team, and I'll be helping the editing team. Here is a quick look at our tight schedule:

• Aug 26 - internal review, last cultural night
  
• Aug 27-28 - weekend trip to see my friend in Hungary!
• Aug 29 - cover art due
• Aug 30 - last day to generate new content - editing begins
• Aug 31 - get my cast off!!
  
• Sept 3 - final report due
• Sept 5 - executive summary due
• Sept 8 - final presentations
• Sept 9 - closing ceremony
• Sept 10 - fly home to my very patient husband!

Meanwhile, little by little, our TP room is turning into a little slice of heaven. We have 2 white couches with pink pillows, smooth jazz music, and a fireplace video loop. We also have glorious air conditioning, which is completely necessary since it is hotter than the surface of the sun outside.

Hopefully this won't be my last post, but I'm not making any promises!


The Robo Team Equation for a cozy, stress-free work room:

This:

Plus this:


Equals this: