Monotony in Elisa’s life Essay Example for Free

Monotony in Elisa’s life Essay Many people in our modern society lead monotonous lives; in other words they follow a routine and have little or no excitement in their lives. Sometimes we fool ourselves by believing that a monotonous life is happy life, but it does not work the same way for every person. Leading a monotonous life can be very harmful to one’s well being and those around us. In the short story â€Å"The Chrysanthemums† by John Steinbeck we see a person who finds herself in this situation, following a daily routine without much change in it. When a person realizes that they have been living a boring life they start to feel dissatisfied with what they have accomplished, act on impulse and even resort to different activities in an attempt to escape from reality. It often happens that people neglect themselves and do not do anything to satisfy their inner desires which later turn into regret. Regret is the effect that comes from not doing that which you want to do, not realizing your dreams or even from making the wrong decision. If a person strictly follows a routine it happens that they refuse to relax or have fun because it can affect their work or lives. These people are followed by a feeling of unaccomplishment which can lead to sorrow and sadness. The problem is that you start repeating this cycle that does not really benefit your health, it may benefit others and improve your work or studies but you always have to take into consideration your well being. Regret is a very powerful emotion and can carry on for years if a person is not careful it can gravely affect their state of mind and create many complexes. In â€Å"The Chrysanthemums† the character of Elisa is a perfect example of someone who leads a monotonous life. Elisa is tired of her life because she feels tired of the same issues every day, caring for her garden being a wife and even dealing with an awkward husband. Elisa regrets not living a more exciting life. In the story, the traveling handyman when talking with Elisa asks her for some chrysanthemums seeds and a very interesting conversation comes up. Elisa tries to explain to him how to care for the chrysanthemums by explaining the feeling of how you do it, but they interpret the explanation as something sexual. Elisa gets aroused by the conversation and tries to touch the man’s leg in the heat, but resists herself in the end. This leaves me to think that maybe she feels unsatisfied in her marriage, she desires something, regrets not having this exciting life. By using the same example we can also relate the situation to how living in this monotony can make a person act on impulse. To act on impulse is to give in to your deepest desires, to follow your urges; it is the drive for what we do. This impulsive behavior surfaces from the situation, since Elisa cannot hold her desire she breaks down and almost does something she might have regretted later on. Jane Atkinson states, When a man youve never met before suddenly gives you flowers dont be alarmed hes only acting on Impulse (Atkinson). What I’m trying to say is that acting on impulse is like taking a risk. What we have in the quote is basically that, the man is probably nervous and thinking that the woman will not accept them or feel harassed, but he takes a risk, acts on impulse, without completely thinking about the consequences of his actions. Many people live an entire life by acting on impulse without thinking about the consequences, but it is a fact that sometimes you could end up with a very complicated situation. Sometimes acting on impulse is not bad, but you cannot go over the top, there needs to be a balance between the two. Elisa, for a single moment, acted according to what her body wanted, but at the last moment realized that what she was going to do might have caused big problems later on. Basically acting on impulse is not exactly a bad thing, but in Elisa’s case, where the impulses come out of regret, it is a very severe problem. If you act on impulse you will not just cause harm to yourself, but to those around you too. The human being when cornered in a situation tends to look for an easy way to get out of this situation; this is the meaning of escaping from reality. The easy way out may be an efficient one, but in the long run may end up being the worst since it is the most dangerous for your health. Elisa’s monotonous live creates the perfect situation to make a person desire to escape. To escape from reality one uses an activity or an object which aids the person to create a more comfortable scenario. Many people use drugs to escape from reality, alcohol is one of the most common since it makes you see everything in a different way. Elisa is already mentally affected due to her dull, monotonous life and to make it worst the traveling handyman reminds her that her life will probably be the same until her death. By analyzing Elisa’s behavior from the story we can infer that she has been using the chrysanthemums garden as a way to bury in all her feelings and hide all her sadness, but nearing the end of the story when Elisa and her husband are on their way to the restaurant she asks if they could buy some wine, her second attempt to escape from reality. Elisa wants to use alcohol to escape from the sadness she was feeling; we can also assume that from this point on Elisa might develop a drinking problem due to the constant use of alcohol to alleviate the sadness. Escaping from reality might ease the pain inside one’s heart, but it cannot resolve any problems. Also there is also the fact that Elisa is living in a rather sexist society. Ott, Jim states, â€Å"Its the enigmatic tale of a woman named Elisa who loves her husband, but is fenced in by geography and circumstances in a mans world†. In the quote we basically have a summary of the story, but we mainly focus in the part where it says â€Å"in a man’s world† meaning that Elisa is being seen as weak and defenseless and treated as inferior. If a person constantly escapes from reality and never confronts his problems they will just make things worst since the problems will pile up and become even more complicated. In the end it just goes back to the same saying that everything in excess can be deadly. Leading a monotonous life can be harmful to a person’s well being. Monotony makes people feel dissatisfied, makes them act illogically and can even throw them into a deep depression. But there are also people who believe that it does not cause harm and that it can even be good for your health. Leading a monotonous life does not physically injure anyone and as long as a person does not take it to extreme measures then it does not cause any harm. There is also the fact that nobody has died because of monotony and it is not even a disease. However there are many factors that can make this seemingly normal way of life a deadly one. Even if it is not a disease it acts like one by obstructing your way of thinking, affect your judgment and more. It is true that as long as you do not do anything extreme then it will not cause much harm, but the problem is that not everyone understands this, most people just take it to the extreme or just do not do anything at all. Of course monotony cannot kill a person, but it can drive one into suicide easily since there are many people with weak minds and hearts who get overtaken by the feeling and do rash things without taking everything into account. In other words although monotony is not a deadly disease it can be harmful because it works it affects the weakest part of the body which is the mind. To live on a routine may sound like a completely normal and healthy activity, but, like everything, if you surpass a certain limit it can have the exact opposite meaning and effects on a person’s life. Once you put the facts in monotony can cause great harm like in Elisa’s case, but it can have the exact opposite effect too. Gregory J. Palmerino states, â€Å"In the end, both husband and wife bear responsibility and suffer for their seemingly childless and sexless marriage; the punishment, however, appears to be meted out unfairly† (Palmerino). This one quote basically sums up everything I want say about the story. Elisa and her husband are only making their problems worst and have many regrets and secrets or rather untold opinions of one another that are yet to be said aloud. The only real problem in all of this is the fact that their punishment really is being meted out unfairly since Elisa is getting the short end of the stick because she is being oppressed by her status as a woman and because of the fact that even though she is extremely unhappy she cannot do anything about it. The thing about Elisa’s lifestyle is that one thing leads to another, since she is living a monotonous life she regrets not doing many things and thus tends to act on impulse to try and accomplish these unfulfilled desires and lastly since she cannot fulfill these desires she resorts to the use of other objects to ease the pain in her heart. The saddest part of everything that is happening to Elisa is that she herself is making things worse for her and her husband. Works Cited Atkinson, Jane. Policeman just cant Help Acting on Impulse. News of the World: 53. May 23 2010. ProQuest Central. Web. 19 Oct. 2012 . Ott, Jim. This Valley Life: Livermore to Read and Celebrate Steinbeck. Oakland TribuneJan 07 2010. ProQuest Central. Web. 19 Oct. 2012 . Palmerino, Gregory J. Steinbecks THE CHRYSANTHEMUMS. The Explicator 62.3 (2004): 164-7. ProQuest Central. Web. 19 Oct. 2012.

The history of robotics

The history of robotics Abstract: The project gives a brief introduction to the history of robotics while going on to explain the various types of robots that are built and their classification. A detailed description of the various mechanical platforms and driving mechanisms has been provided. The commonly used robotic designs have also been looked into and their characteristics have been explained. Finally, the fabrication process of the robotic gripper has been studied and explained. Grippers are key components in robotized assembly system. 1. Introduction The design and construction of highly dexterous robot hands has been a major research and development objective for at least the past two decades. Many of the above robot hands have the general objective of achieving a high degree of dexterity in a wide variety of situations, and this generality in their objective may sometimes lessen their effectiveness in specific classes of applications. This project focuses on the development of a universal robot gripper. The gripper utilizes a2minimal amount of hardware, and can be employed in a wide variety of pick-and-place applications with minimal changes to the mechanical and control program configurations. The gripper is the mechanical interface between the robot and its environment. The robot performs the pick-and-place functions needed for assembly tasks. As with other peripheral equipment, grippers should have sufficient versatility to deal with the variety of parts an assembly robot has to handle. This project focuses on strategies for fabrication of an effective gripping device. The main section of the project covers the introduction for fabrication of grippers. 2. History Machines and mechanization are the ancestors of todays robots. The ancients started with things like water clocks and irrigation equipment. Later, windmills and water wheels turned gears and equipment to help produce a product. These ancient machines did tasks with or without human help. Industrialization made use of heavy mechanization to mass produce merchandise. In the 20th century, machines took some form of intelligence. They were able to work independently, solve problems and execute solutions. Cybernetics involved improving robot intelligence. Today, robots explore sea floors, wander inside caves, explore and study other planets and build cars. Leonardo da Vinci created many robot-like sketches and designs in the 1500s. The word robot first appeared in print in the 1920 play R.U.R. (Rossums Universal Robots) by Karl Kapek, a Czechoslovakian playwright. Robota is Czechoslovakian for worker or serf (peasant). Typical of early science fiction, the robots take over and exterminate the human race. 1954: The first programmable robot is designed by George Devol, who coins the term Universal Automation. He later shortens this to Unimation, which becomes the name of the first robot company (1962). Isaac Asimov popularized the term robotics through many science-fiction novels and short stories. Asimov is a visionary who envisioned in the 1930s the positronic brain for controlling robots; this pre-dated digital computers by a couple of decades. Unlike earlier robots in science fiction, robots do not threaten humans since Asimov invented the three laws of robotics: A robot may not harm a human or, through inaction, allow a human to come to harm. A robot must obey the orders given by human beings, except when such orders conflict with the First Law. A robot must protect its own existence as long as it does not conflict with the First or Second Laws. Joseph Engleberger and George Devoe were the fathers of industrial robots. Their company, Unimation, built the first industrial robot, the PUMA (Programmable Universal Manipulator Arm, a later version shown below), in 1961. 1980s: The robot industry enters a phase of rapid growth. Many institutions introduce programs and courses in robotics. Robotics courses are spread across mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and computer science departments. 3. Types and classification of robots. Industrial robots are available commercially in a wide range of sizes, shapes, and configurations. They are designed and fabricated with different design configurations and a different number of axes or degrees of freedom. These factors of a robots design influence its working envelope 4. Common Robot Designs 4.1. Cartesian Robots which have three linear (prismatic joints P, as opposed to rotational R joints) axes of movement (X, Y, Z). Used for pick and place tasks and to move heavy loads. They can trace out rectangular volumes in 3D space. 4.2. Cylindrical The positions of these robots are controlled by a height, an angle, and a radius (that is, two P joints and one R joint). These robots are commonly used in assembly tasks and can trace out concentric cylinders in 3D space. 4.3. Spherical Spherical robots have two rotational R axes and one translational P (radius) axis. The robots end-effectors can trace out concentric spheres in 3D space. 4.4. Articulated The positions of articulated robots are controlled by three angles, via R joints. These robots resemble the human arm (they are anthropomorphic). They are the most versatile robots, but also the most difficult to program. 4.5 SCARA (Selective Compliance Articulated Robot Arm) SCARA robots are a blend of the articulated and cylindrical robots, providing the benefits of each. The robot arm unit can move up and down, and at an angle around the axis of the cylinder just as in a cylindrical robot, but the arm itself is jointed like a revolute coordinate robot to allow precise and rapid positioning. The robot consists of three R and one P joints; an example is shown below. We will mostly deal with robotic arms; some other interesting types of robots are mobile robots, humanoid robots, and parallel robots. 4.6. Mobile robots Mobile robots have wheels, legs, or other means to navigate around the workspace under control. Mobile robots are applied as hospital helpmates and lawn mowers, among other possibilities. These robots require good sensors to see the workspace, avoid collisions, and get the job done. 4.7. Parallel robots Most of the robots discussed so far are serial robots, where joints and links are constructed in a serial fashion from the base, with one path leading out to the end-effector. In contrast, parallel robots have many legs with active and passive joints and links, supporting the load in parallel. Parallel robots can handle higher loads with greater accuracy, higher speeds, and lighter robot weight; however, a major drawback is that the workspace of parallel robots is severely restricted compared to equivalent serial robots. Parallel robots are used in expensive flight simulators, as machining tools, and can be used for high-accuracy, high-repeatability, high-precision robotic surgery. 5. Mechanical platforms the hardware base A robot consists of two main parts: the robot body and some form of artificial intelligence (AI) system. Many different body parts can be called a robot. Articulated arms are used in welding and painting; gantry and conveyor systems move parts in factories; and giant robotic machines move earth deep inside mines. One of the most interesting aspects of robots in general is their behavior, which requires a form of intelligence. The simplest behavior of a robot is locomotion. Typically, wheels are used as the underlying mechanism to make a robot move from one point to the next. And some force such as electricity is required to make the wheels turn under command. 5.1. Motors A variety of electric motors provide power to robots, allowing them to move material, parts, tools, or specialized devices with various programmed motions. The efficiency rating of a motor describes how much of the electricity consumed is converted to mechanical energy. Lets take a look at some of the mechanical devices that are currently being used in modern robotics technology. DC motor: Permanent-magnet, direct-current (PMDC) motors require only two leads, and use an arrangement of fixed- and electro-magnets (stator and rotor) and switches. These form a commutator to create motion through a spinning magnetic field. AC motor: AC motors cycle the power at the input-leads, to continuously move the field. Given a signal, AC and DC motors perform their action to the best of their ability. Stepper motor: Stepper motors are like a brushless DC or AC motor. They move the rotor by applying power to different magnets in the motor in sequence (stepped). Steppers are designed for fine control and will not only spin on command, but can spin at any number of steps-per-second (up to their maximum speed). Servomotors: Servomotors are closed-loop devices. Given a signal, they adjust themselves until they match the signal. Servos are used in radio control airplanes and cars. They are simple DC motors with gearing and a feedback control system. 5.2 Driving mechanisms Gears and chains: Gears and chains are mechanical platforms that provide a strong and accurate way to transmit rotary motion from one place to another, possibly changing it along the way. The speed change between two gears depends upon the number of teeth on each gear. When a powered gear goes through a full rotation, it pulls the chain by the number of teeth on that gear. Gears are most often used in transmissions to convert an electric motors or in this case the drive shafts high speed and low torque to a shafts requirements for low speed high torque. Gears essentially allow positive engagement between teeth so high forces can be transmitted while still undergoing essentially rolling contact. The basic law of gearing says that a common normal (the line of action) to the tooth profiles at their point of contact must in all positions of the contacting teeth; pass through a fixed point on the line-of-centers called the pitch point. As such any two curves or profiles engaging each other and satisfying the law of gearing are conjugate curves, and the relative rotation speed of the gears will be constant. A gear train is a set or system of gears arranged to transfer rotational torque from one part of a mechanical system to another. Gear trains consists Driving gears it is attached to the input shaft Driven gears or Motor gears it is attached to the output shaft Idler gears it is interposed between the driving and driven gear in order to maintain the direction of the output shaft the same as the input shaft or to increase the distance between the drive and driven gears. A compound gear train refers to two or more gears that are used to transmit motion. Alternatively pinion is the smaller of the two gears (typically on the motor) drives a gear on the output shaft. A gear or wheel is the larger of the two gears. Gears are generally used for one of four different reasons: To reverse the direction of rotation To increase or decrease the speed of rotation To move rotational motion to a different axis To keep the rotation of two axis synchronized Pulleys and belts: Pulleys and belts, two other types of mechanical platforms used in robots, work the same way as gears and chains. Pulleys are wheels with a groove around the edge, and belts are the rubber loops that fit in that groove. Gearboxes: A gearbox operates on the same principles as the gear and chain, without the chain. Gearboxes require closer tolerances, since instead of using a large loose chain to transfer force and adjust for misalignments, the gears mesh directly with each other. Examples of gearboxes can be found on the transmission in a car, the timing mechanism in a grandfather clock, and the paper-feed of your printer. Power supplies Power supplies are generally provided by two types of battery. Primary batteries are used once and then discarded; secondary batteries operate from a (mostly) reversible chemical reaction and can be recharged several times. Primary batteries have higher density and a lower self-discharge rate. Secondary (rechargeable) batteries have less energy than primary batteries, but can be recharged up to a thousand times depending on their chemistry and environment. Typically the first use of a rechargeable battery gives 4 hours of continuous operation in an application or robot. There are literally hundreds of types and styles of batteries available for use in robots. Batteries are categorized by their chemistry and size, and rated by their voltage and capacity. The voltage of a battery is determined by the chemistry of the cell, and the capacity by both the chemistry and size. 6. Degrees of freedom The term degree of freedom relates to locating or positioning of a body in space. A body in space has six degree of freedom since it can translate linearly along three mutually perpendicular axis and rotational movements about the same three axes. Three linear movements allow the body on the end effectors of the robot to move a desired position in space and three rotational movements allow the body to be oriented about that position. The term degree of movements relates to the number of axis in which the robot may move in one particular robot configuration. Regardless of the configuration of a robot, movement along each axis will result in either a rotational or a translational movement. The number of axes of movement (degrees of freedom) and their arrangement, along with their sequence of operation and structure, will permit movement of the robot to any point within its envelope. Robots have three arm movements (up-down, in-out, side-to-side). In addition, they can have as many as three additional wrist movements on the end of the robots arm: yaw (side to side), pitch (up and down), and rotational (clockwise and counterclockwise). 7. Mechanical design of the Gripper 7.1. General Design Description The mechanical design of the robotic gripper needed to address the required interaction between the robot and the environment in order to grasp and hold the object securely and to execute the operation. When objects to be grasped are of different shape and size the friction method is normally used whereby the part is restricted from moving by the friction present between the fingers and the object. In this way the fingers exert sufficient force to hold the part against gravity, acceleration and any other force that might arise during the holding portion of the work cycle. This is achieved through a mechanical design that incorporates multiple fingers and multiple joints per finger, through the installation of proximity and force sensors on the gripper, and through the employment of innovative and practical control system architecture for the gripper components. The gripper is installed on a standard six degree-of-freedom industrial robot, and the gripper and robot control programs are integrated in a manner that allows easy application of the gripper in an industrial pick-and-place operation. The gripper or the end effector constitutes the end of the kinematic chain of an industrial robot and makes possible the interactions with the work environment. Although universal grippers with wide clamping ranges can be used for varied object shapes, in many cases they must be adapted to specific work-pieces shapes. A robotic end effector is the hand of the robots arm. By attaching a tool to the robot flange (wrist), the robotic arm can then perform designated tasks. Examples of robotic end-effector include robotic grippers, robotic tool changers, robotic collision sensors etc. In many case, the robotic end effector requires additional power supplies to operate. It depends on the type of functions the end-effector perform, the popular one is the pneumatic, because it is easier to supply air to the end of a robot arm and. The only disadvantages of pneumatics are that it has a slightly lower power to weight ratio than hydraulics and it is not as controllable or easy to feed as electricity. For certain applications some degree of sensory feedback from the gripper is necessary. For examples, the insertion or gripping forces measurement, proximity sensor to detect the presence of objects between the jaws of the gripper, collision detection unit which attaches between the robot flange and the end effector so that if excessive force is applied to the tool the robot arm will stop. 7.2 Robot -End Effectors: End Effectors is the part that is connected to the last joint of a manipulator which generally handles objects, makes connection to other machines or performs the required tasks. Robot manufacturer generally do not design or sell end effectors. The hand of the robot has provision for connecting special end effectors that are specifically designed for a purpose. The robot end-effector or end-of-arm tooling is the bridge between the robot arm and the environment around it. Depending on the task, the actions of the gripper vary. A robotic end-effector which is attached to the wrist of the robot arm is a device that enables the general-purpose robot to grip materials, parts and tools to perform a specific task. The end-effectors are also called the grippers. There are various types of end-effectors to perform the different work functions. The various types of grippers can be divided into the following major categories. Mechanical grippers Hooking or lifting grippers Grippers for scooping or ladling powders or molten metal or plastics Vacuum cups Magnetic grippers Others: Adhesive or Electrostatic Grippers The grippers can be classified into, Part handling grippers Tools handling grippers Special grippers The part handling grippers are used to grasp and hold objects that are required to be transported from one point to another placed for some assembly operations. The part handling applications include machine loading and unloading, picking parts from a conveyor and moving parts, etc. There are grippers to hold tools like welding gun or spray painting gun to perform a specific task. The robot hand may hold a deburring tool. The grippers of the robot may be specialized device like remote center compliance (RCC) to insert an external mating component into an internal member, viz. inserting a plug into a hole. The other type of end-effectors employs some physical principal like magnetism or vacuum technology to hold the object securely. 7.2.1 Classification of End-effectors: An end effector of a robot can be designated to have several fingers, joints and degrees of freedom. Any combination of these factors gives different grasping modalities to the end-effector. The general end-effectors can be grouped according to the type of grasping modality as follows, Mechanical fingers Special tools Universal fingers 7.2.1.1 Mechanical Fingers: They are used to perform some special tasks. Gripping by mechanical type fingers is less versatile and less dexterous than holding by universal fingers as the grippers with mechanical fingers have fewer numbers of joints and lesser flexibility. The grippers can be sub grouped according to finger classifications like two, three and five-finger types. The two-finger gripper is the most popular. Robot end-effectors can be classified on the basis of the mode of gripping as external and internal gripping. The internal gripping system grips the internal surface of objects with open fingers whereas the external gripper grips the exterior surface of the object with closed fingers. Robot end-effectors are also classified according to the number of degrees of freedom (DOF) incorporated in the gripper structures. Typical mechanical grippers belong to the class of 1 DOF. A few grippers can be found with more than 2 DOF. Using some special tooling action, robot grippers can be designed to retain objects by electromagnetic action or under the action of vacuum. Electromagnets and vacuum cups are typical devices in this class. Usually, if the objects to be handled are too large and ferromagnetic in nature, electromagnetic grippers may be employed. In some applications where the objects are too thin to be handled, they can be held by vacuum grippers. 7.2.1.2 Universal Fingers: Usually comprise multipurpose grippers of more than three fingers and or more than one joint on each finger which provide the capacity to perform a wide variety of grasping and manipulating assignments. 7.2.1.3 Mechanical Gripper: A mechanical gripper is an end-effector that uses mechanical fingers actuated by a mechanism to grip an object. The fingers are the appendages of the gripper that actually makes contact with the object. The fingers are either attached to the mechanism or an integral part of mechanism. 7.3. Types Of Grippers 7.3.1. The Clapper The Clapper can be built using metal, plastic or wood. It consists of a wrist joint. Connected to the wrists are 2 plastic plates. The bottom plate is secured to the wrist and the top plate is hinged. A small spring-loaded solenoid is positioned between the two plates. When solenoid is active, the gripper is closed and when solenoid is not active, the gripper is open. The choice of solenoid is important. It must fit between the 2 flaps and should have a flat bottom to facilitate mounting. It must operate within the voltage used in your robot (usually 6V or 12 V). If solenoid doesnt have mounting flanges opposite the plunger, mount it in the center of the bottom flap using household cement 7.3.2. The Two Pincher Gripper The two-pincher gripper consists of two movable fingers, somewhat like the claw of a lobster. In todays industry the two-finger mechanical grippers with a single degree of freedom are the most usual used device. The fingers have symmetrical motions with respect to the gripper axis. A particular category of grippers for industrial robots has two degrees of freedom and a single driving motor. The relative positions of the component elements depend on the frictional coefficients between work piece and fingers and on the initial position of the work piece with respect to the grippers frame. 7.4 Development and Fabrication of the Two Pincher Gripper 8.Scope For Further Work 9. Conclusion: The Robotic Gripper is essentially a vital part of robot design. In its history it was simple and sometimes ineffective but day by day modern advances have been inputted to such robotic systems which have proved to be highly efficient, effective and versatile. A flurry of innovations and developments is on the agenda in context of robotics designs of the future. Major manufacturers are constantly striving to improve existing technology as RD divisions focus on figuring out ways and means to conjure up better and simpler forms of robots. Other such technologies that have been significantly improved in robotic designs are in: Agriculture Automobile Construction Entertainment Health care: hospitals, patient-care, surgery, research, etc. Laboratories: science, engineering, etc. Law enforcement: surveillance, patrol, etc. Manufacturing Military: demining, surveillance, attack, etc.1` Mining, excavation, and exploration Transportation: air, ground, rail, space, etc. Utilities: gas, water, and electricity With such advances in technology the future of robotics design seems promising. 10. References: Books: Stan Gibilisco, Concise encyclopedia of Robotics Klafter D Richard; Robotic Engineering An Integrated Approach, 1st Edition, 1989. Craig J John, Introduction to Robotics Mechanics and Control, 3rd Edition, Pearson Education, Inc, 2005. Schilling J Robert, Fundamentals of Robotics Analysis and Control, 1st Edition, Prentice Hall, 1990.

Harry Potter Book Review Essay

Harry Potter Book Review Essay The Harry Potter books are very successful upon their being published. The Harry Potter books describe us as muggles, non magical people who live our lives not knowing the existence of wizards. The books allow us to envision a magical world that we are unable to see. Wizards are usually tolerant and good toward muggles. The book thins the line between real life and fantasy. People love an unlikely hero who isnt supposed to succeed and one who is an underdog in life. Harry Potter with a scar on his forehead, usually broken glasses, his small skinny frame and lateness about learning the wizard world, is that underdog hero that everyone covets to see. He succeeds in his endeavors because he is enthusiastic, he has a significant amount of courage, and the best friends anyone person could hope to have. He is one of the most courageous characters you will ever read about in a fantasy novel. Its stunning how much more he cares about other people than he does himself. He and his friends would die for each other which is the trademark of a friendship that can go no higher. The book contains all the elements of adventure stories, coming of age, monsters, magic, sports, and miracles. Its like a snickers bar. Everyone loves chocolate, caramel, peanuts and nougat. Put them all together and you have one tasty concoction. There is also, for the first time, a magical town introduced called Hogsmade. According to the book, its the only all-magical town in Britain. Starting in the third year, the students are allowed to travel there, which is only a few miles away, on scheduled visits. CHARACTERS: Ron Weasley is the best friend of Harry Potter. His self esteem is as erratic as the stock market. Unlike Harry, he has no financial means. His father is a member of the Ministry of Magic and his family is backed by generations of pure blooded wizards, but Ron is often picked on by Malfoy for wearing tattered robes, for living in an old house, and for not having a rich father. Ron is deeply loyal to the people he loves as is evident in this book when he simply refuses to speak to Hermione for turning Harrys new broomstick into Professor McGonagall. He and Harry are inseparable. Ron tends to be perceived as a sidekick to Harry, which is not true at all. Ron feels valued by Harry and doesnt seem to mind this that much, but sometimes he seems to feel pushed to the side. He is adventurous and sometimes mischievous but usually with good intentions. In at nutshell, Hermione Granger is a know-it-all who is never shy to voice her opinion. In the same way that Harry represents courage and Ron represents loyalty, Hermione represents the only brain the trio seems to have. I honestly wonder what they would do without her. They always rely on her expert spell knowledge and quick thinking. Hermione was born to a muggle family, but she is the top student in her class. Her muggle blood makes hear a favorite target for the antagonist of the trio, Draco Malfoy. Although she disapproves of Ron and Harrys behavior (sometimes), she stands by them. When in doubt, she turns to books. She is a type of person that believes a book has the answer to almost any problem. In the book, shes stressed by work constant conflicting with Ron, so several times she snaps and lets loose of the rule breaking demon inside of her, once hitting Malfoy, and another time walking out on Divination class when the professor insulted her. It is her magic hourglass, called the time turner that allows her to go back in time to take extra classes, and helps her and Harry save Sirius and Buckbeak. Harry Potter is the thirteen-year-old protagonist of the story and the entire series. He is famous in the wizard community for being the boy who lived. When he was one year old, the most powerful dark wizard Lord Voldermort tried to kill him but the curse rebounded upon him and he nearly died. As a result of the curse rebounding back at Voldermort, Harry was left with a small lightening shaped scar on his forehead. Harry doesnt remember these events, and because was orphaned by Voldemorts attack, he lives with his aunt, uncle, and cousin. His relatives do not tolerate any mention of magic in the house. They call it the M word. He was raised just short of constant abuse. He is humble and doesnt like to take credit for accomplishments so he stays away from special treatment and praise. He wants to live a normal life in the wizarding world. He always succeeds in his quests through a mix of skill and help from his friends and then some more help from his friends. Harry runs into Sirius Black because he entered the Whomping Willow in attempt to rescue his best friend Ron. Harry would do anything for his friends Ron and Hermione. Even though he is not the most powerful wizard, or the most skilled wizard, Harry bests more experienced and more talented wizards because he is brave, quick, and resourceful. THEMES: There are many themes in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. The author J.K. Rowling is very good with putting meaning behind her words. Some of it is subtle and some of it is easily noticeable. One of the themes that I noticed is that nothing may seem what it is, that everything has another side or is two-faced. This is evident in multiple instances. We first see it when the Defense against the Dark Arts Teacher, Professor Lupin, who spends much of his time being good professor that all the Gryffindors like, and then another part as a being werewolf. We now can concur that everything is capable of having another side. We see it once again when Sirius Black turns out to be innocent. Everyone thought he was a mass murder who killed 13 people, but he wasnt. Hermione, who normally abides by rules and follows them like the bible begins to break the rules. This one may be a stretch but Buckbeak the Hippogriffs execution was reversed through an intrusion in time with Hermiones time turner. Nothing in this story is ever what it seems like. Its such a page turner that keeps you guessing and guessing again. Everything stands in a pole position to surprise you. In  Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,  every story has two sides. Its like the Schrà ¶dingers cat thought experiment for Quantam Physics. We have to believe that the cat is both alive and dead at the same time. Its the same way with this book. We have to believe that both possibilities can happen. POINT OF VIEW: The point of view for the entire book is third person limited. Third person limited point of view is essentially living through only one character, usually the main character. In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the character you live through is, you guessed it, Harry Potter. We get a sense of Harrys thoughts and senses constantly. We always not what he is thinking and feeling. In this book, we never stray from Harrys mind. Every single part of the book we read through Harrys, eyes, ears, smell, touch, tastes, and thoughts.

Ancient Egypt Essay -- Egyptian History Essays

Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt is located along the Nile River of Northeastern Africa. More specifically, it is the territory where ancients Egyptians lived in the valley of the delta and the Nile. It was a thriving civilization for more than 3,000 years, from about the time of 3300 BC to 30BC. The culture of Ancient Egypt is identified and very well known for many aspects of their ways of life. Considering the time period, they were very technologically advanced. This can especially be seen through the great pyramids and hieroglyphs that elaborately decorate the walls of them. Pyramids were not small structures. In fact the largest one was over fifty stories high. In addition they were also built completely by manual labor. Labor consisted of moving limestone blocks that weighed on average 2.5 metric tons and could weigh up to 15 metric tons. In addition they had to form these blocks, move them, and sculpt them into the great structures known as the Pyramids. As you can imagine they took several decades of day in and day out work to complete these massive structures. The hieroglyphs were also an important part of not only the Ancient Egyptian culture but the pyramids especially. They provided pictorial descriptions for burial chambers, temples, jewelry, and important statu es. Ways to decipher them were unknown until the discovery of what is known as the Rosetta Stone. It was a stone that showed the same text in three different languages. Then early in the 19th century a French scholar name Jean Francois Champollion was able to decipher it and later on aid in learning the language of the dead language of hieroglyphs. Hieroglyphs are still being deciphered to this day. Ancient Egypt was able to prosper for such a long perio... ... November 2003 from http://www.greatscott.com/hiero. Iversen, Erik. The Myth of Egypt and Its Hierolyphs In European Tradition. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton Univeristy Press, 1993. Minnesota State University. "Hieroglyphs." Retrieved 21 November 2003 from http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/egypt/hieroglyphics/heiroglyphics.html. Park, Rosalind.The Scientific Invention of Hieroglyphs or Hurrah for Pliny! Great Britain: Azoth Publications, 1997. Silverman, David P. Language and Writing in Ancient Egypt. Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania: The Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 1990. "The Pyramids of Ancient Egypt." Intercity Oz Inc. 1999. Retrieved 15 November 2003 from http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/pyramids.htm. Winston, Alan. The Pyramids in Ancient Egypt. Retrieved 18 November 2003 from http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/pyramids.htm. Ancient Egypt Essay -- Egyptian History Essays Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt is located along the Nile River of Northeastern Africa. More specifically, it is the territory where ancients Egyptians lived in the valley of the delta and the Nile. It was a thriving civilization for more than 3,000 years, from about the time of 3300 BC to 30BC. The culture of Ancient Egypt is identified and very well known for many aspects of their ways of life. Considering the time period, they were very technologically advanced. This can especially be seen through the great pyramids and hieroglyphs that elaborately decorate the walls of them. Pyramids were not small structures. In fact the largest one was over fifty stories high. In addition they were also built completely by manual labor. Labor consisted of moving limestone blocks that weighed on average 2.5 metric tons and could weigh up to 15 metric tons. In addition they had to form these blocks, move them, and sculpt them into the great structures known as the Pyramids. As you can imagine they took several decades of day in and day out work to complete these massive structures. The hieroglyphs were also an important part of not only the Ancient Egyptian culture but the pyramids especially. They provided pictorial descriptions for burial chambers, temples, jewelry, and important statu es. Ways to decipher them were unknown until the discovery of what is known as the Rosetta Stone. It was a stone that showed the same text in three different languages. Then early in the 19th century a French scholar name Jean Francois Champollion was able to decipher it and later on aid in learning the language of the dead language of hieroglyphs. Hieroglyphs are still being deciphered to this day. Ancient Egypt was able to prosper for such a long perio... ... November 2003 from http://www.greatscott.com/hiero. Iversen, Erik. The Myth of Egypt and Its Hierolyphs In European Tradition. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton Univeristy Press, 1993. Minnesota State University. "Hieroglyphs." Retrieved 21 November 2003 from http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/egypt/hieroglyphics/heiroglyphics.html. Park, Rosalind.The Scientific Invention of Hieroglyphs or Hurrah for Pliny! Great Britain: Azoth Publications, 1997. Silverman, David P. Language and Writing in Ancient Egypt. Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania: The Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 1990. "The Pyramids of Ancient Egypt." Intercity Oz Inc. 1999. Retrieved 15 November 2003 from http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/pyramids.htm. Winston, Alan. The Pyramids in Ancient Egypt. Retrieved 18 November 2003 from http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/pyramids.htm.

Comparing The Buried Life and A Room Of Ones Own :: comparison compare contrast essays

Comparing The Buried Life and A Room Of One's Own      Ã‚  Ã‚   Victorian writers did ask difficult and unsettling questions, and the modern writers continued on with the quest to display these unsettling thoughts and feelings in their works even more so. You can see this continuing easy from "The Buried Life," to the ideas of "A Room Of One's Own."    In "The Buried Life," Arnold questions why men in society bury their emotions and innermost thoughts from one another like they are the only one's with these qualities, even though every man has them: "I knew the mass of men concealed their thoughts, for fear that if they revealed they would by other men be met with blank indifference, or with blame reproved; I knew they lived and moved tricked in disguises, alien to the rest of men, and alien to themselves--and yet the same heart beats in every human breast" (p.2021). He doesn't understand why this is the case, and believes humanity would be better if we let this buried life out of its cage to be free, freeing us to be our true selves. The way to reach this goal is through open love by a fellow human being: "When a beloved hand is placed on ours...the heart lies plain, and what we mean, we say" (p. 2201).    In "A Room Of One's Own," Woolf questions society's view on how geniuses of art are created. She shows that this is a natural gift, but it is one that can either be stifled or let prosper and grow, depending on how the members in society rule and treat the artist with the gift. She says that these artists need to be allowed to garner in knowledge in order to feed their ideas for their art, and they must be allowed to be free in mind and spirit so that they can create their masterpieces: "The mind of an artist, in order to achieve the prodigious effort of freeing whole and entire the work that is in him, must be incandescent...There must be no obstacle in it, no foreign matter unconsumed" (p. 2472).    As you can see, both of these works question society in the matter of chaining up it's members true feelings and ideas.

Stolen

Lauren Moore 0150 Ms Clevenger 21 November 2011 Stolen The book, Stolen, by Vivian Vande Velde was found for me at the John Vaughn NSU library. It is a mystery and adventurous book, to which I should mention that mystery, love, and adventurous are my favorite types of books so two out three isn’t bad at all. The author Vivian Vande Velde has written many other books. Most of her books are for children; a couple of them are in the age group of teen and adult. Like for example â€Å"The Conjurer Princess† and â€Å"The Changeling Prince† are both books for early teen and beginning adult ages.There are a lot of characters in my book. There is a little girl who goes by the name Ravyen she leaves with her grandparents which really their not her grandparents they adopted her. Avis and Browley, which are the grandparents of Ravyn. There is Ravyn’s friend Orsen who thinks he is smarter than everybody else and attempts to act tough and big around Rayvn but it never works out the way he had planned on it to. Then there is Isabelle, she is the girl in my book that is lost and wakes up in Ravyn’s grandparent’s house to notice that she remembers nothing including her own name.The main character is my book is the witch, now the witch is a mean old person who according to the village has been stealing everybody’s new born babies. The genre of my story is mystery, a little scary, and adventurous. It’s not to long of a story but it is just long enough that you can read it in one to two days. I’m the same way with my books as I am with my movies. I like my movies a little scary but to scary to where I have nightmares, more mystery then adventurous but to where I have to actually pay attention because if I don’t I’ll get lost really bad!Throughout my book you have to really pay attention to very single detail because if you don’t you will miss a step and then you will just be lost throughout the r est of the book. It starts out telling you about Isabella, she’s running through the woods in her long gown type of dress. She has no idea why she’s running, what she’s running from. Nor where she is running to. She begins to hear dogs barking and running toward her direction. She begins to climb up into a tree but realizes its way to high for the next branch to reach and if she jumps she will fall and who knows what the dogs could do to her.She ends up just laying there the owner of the dogs, Avis, finds her all covered in blood, he gentle picks her up and carries her back to the house where Ravyn, her new born puppies ,and Avis’s wife Browley are. As time goes on they realize that Isabella is blank, she know s nothing, but there is a family that hears about Isabella **You have introduced Rayven and Orson in the beginning paragraphs, but then start talking about Isabella; who is she? You need to introduce your characters.Is the witch really the main char acter or is Rayven, or Isabella? Use the terms protagonist and antagonist. Also, what is the theme? What is the main idea of the book? If you do not know, look it up on Google search. Conclusion goes here: what do you think of the book? How would you rate it? Would you recommend it to everyone? Works Cited Insert the List of Works Cited here. To create your list of Works Cited, use CiteWrite; click Start, Programs, DrPaper4, References – CiteWrite. For help using CiteWrite, click on the Help menu in CiteWrite.If you just have a few works to cite, you can use these examples to type them by hand: Anderson, Frank J. An Illustrated History of the Herbals. New York: Columbia University Press, 1977. Gardener, Edwin D. , Elizabeth Miner, and G. D. Royans. â€Å"Heretics. † 16th Century England. Ed. Samuel Nevins and Lisa Bointer. London: Methaneon, 1988. 327-84. â€Å"Get Fit in Seven Days. † Health and Medicine. 2006. Society of Heart Physicians. 26 Mar. 2006 . Myers, Bethany. â€Å"Public Ritual. † Citizen Forum 8 (1922): 221-29. Delete this text before you turn in your paper!

Angela’s Ashes Essay

â€Å"When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I survived at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood. † (McCourt, 1996). Angela’s Ashes was a memoir based on the life of Frank McCourt, which ranged in various anecdotes and stories of Frank’s childhood and pursuit to his dreams to live in America. Frank faced various struggles especially his drunken father, who spent his paycheck, if he even had a job to a pint of beer to show his friend’s the money he has earned. With this it causes Frank’s family to go through struggles as to broken shoes, harsh conditioned homes, poor sanitation, plumbing, heat, and hope that they’ll survive through the great depression in Limerick, Ireland. Frankie was a boy who seemed to have high potential to be a great independent man. He always had a mind of his own, his own opinions, great responsibility, and determination. During his childhood he saw his Mother’s suffering, with the fact that she had to rely on the Father of her children to help them survive the great depression but with only giving them false hope, which resulted into his father, Malachy leaving the family. As Frank reached the age of teenage maturity Frankie, went out of his way to get a job and help out the family. With the qualities that Frank McCourt posses and learns throughout the memoir he improves himself and ventures back to America to achieve greatness. During the final days of Frank McCourt after the suffering of the passing of his first love, who died from Typhoid, the great Frank McCourt at a young age had finally saved up his paychecks from his hard-work to venture of into America. While eating a celebratory dinner with his family, a lunar eclipse had seemed to appear at that night. So they quickly race outside to witness this outstanding, once in a lifetime scene of magnificent scenery, which his uncle had said it symbolizes good luck towards his ventures into America. After witnessing the lunar eclipse and his neighbors wishing him arewell to leaving Ireland. As the neighborhood emptied he saw a little boy, who was very unfamiliar to him, as he got closer he recognized it was him as a little boy. From there he sees how he has got to where he is today. As people grow older, facing various obstacles and challenges, people learn and grow from who they were as little as one day. In Buddhism we see the law of Impermanence come into play with everyone’s life, with this we tend to look back and see how much we have grown, how we have survived our lives whether it be physical, mental, or spiritual obstacles that we have faced in our lives. As teenagers we see have a mentality of wanting the independence and earning bigger responsibilities to prove ourselves to our parents, others, or even ourselves that we can achieve the goals we set for ourselves. Though, with this in mind we tend to still make many mistakes that we try to grow out from and strive for better. Though it is ironic the fact that when our mistakes show it is what others see and highlight among us and not the effort we have tried to become a better person. But this is what growing up is all about. As we grow older we see ourselves â€Å"fall in love† with that significant other, which you will never let go and even though they might not be present in our lives we still care about them. Regardless of how much you have changed or the other person has changed you know that deep down when you with them everything is still the same as it was. Not only do we just fall in love but also the love we show our friends. My memoir talks mostly about significant friendships and what I have learned from each and every one of them. We see that as grow a special bond with these friends you exchange mistakes or even experience mistakes together which you can conquer as a team and grow from them. Regardless of fights, obstacles that are put in front of the laps of many friendships, if it’s worth it you don’t give up. In my friendships, especially with Steven, even though he was mad due to the unaccepted friendship with Chris and the betrayal that he felt from it, I have never tried to not fix it, and to have communication with him to solve it. Though he chose to put his guard with his pride he refused to say nothing was wrong and that he didn’t care. As time passed, and took many messages to pass through a friend to show that I was willing to give up on my other friendship, which I truly miss; we have finally overcome that obstacle and have grown closer than ever before. After the feeling of every obstacle has been tackled, every fight has been fought, and you have claimed victorious over any problem that occurs you get the feeling that everything is smooth sailing from then. We look up and think positive that everything will be okay, but until we end our course through life there’s always a new challenge interrupting our trajectory. At this point in time I am satisfied to what I have achieved and where I have ended up, I see myself still constantly looking back at my old self, seeing what I could improve on, changed to reach higher satisfactory, and better myself from I have learned from the past. Even though I have felt that I have reached my goal, as Frankie has reached America to better his life. The act on looking back at yourself, depicts the scene of how Frankie saw himself as a child and how much obstacles he has gone through and achieved to pursue his dream to America, just like the goals we achieve we look back and see what we have gone through. With Impermanence constantly occurring in our lives we are introduced with new challenges and new chapters to open in our lives. Looking back at ourselves does help us learn, but we must apply these new found lessons and look forward to our future to not repeat our mistakes and misguided actions.