1. An overview of the project (including a brief description of StarLogo TNG)
The Symmetry in (Programmed) Motion project was a project we did in Dr. Drew's math class. It involved making a kaleidoscope on the programming program "StarLogo TNG". StarLogo is used for beginner programmers to get a grasp of what it takes to program something. The program is based around blocks, whereas in a regular coding platform it requires you to know all of the words to make something happen. Also on StarLogo you can preview your program in real time using the space land.
2. The process used to create your finished kaleidoscope.
The process used to create my finished kaleidoscope was actually a lot of work. I never understood StarLogo in the first place, so there was a pretty big learning curve at first. We had a lot of lessons so eventually it became easy. First you had to program into the first quadrant (upper right) what you wanted the agents to do.
I added breeds for each quadrant that I wanted agents to move in. I named them so I could find them easily after creation. I used a scheme "MTL circle" for "middle top left circle" which meant I wanted to put a circle in the 4th quadrant in the top left. After I created all of the breeds I had to program to do the opposite as the first quadrant. A lot of the time it was as easy as setting in the opposite coordinates for the agents to rotate around.
3. An explanation of symmetry and how your finished kaleidoscope exhibits symmetry.
My finished kaleidoscope exhibits symmetry by having all of the agents reflecting off of the first quadrant. All of the agents are mirrored with the corresponding coordinates from the first quadrant.
For example, if i want a point at (30,30) to reflect into the 4th quadrant, I would make the coordinates of the 2nd point (-30,30). I used this approach for all of my agents, as you can see in the picture. For other agents to reflect I had to make their heading 180 degrees too.
4. An example of rigid motion and how your finished kaleidoscope exhibits the three types of rigid motion (translation, rotation, and reflection)
An example of rigid motion is translation. My kaleidoscope exhibits the three types of rigid motion in many ways. It exhibits translation by translating the circles from one quadrant to the next. It exhibits rotation by having symmetry in the motion of the circles rotating and making different colors. It exhibits reflection by reflecting all agents off the Y axis and the 1st quadrant.
5. Two or more screen shots of your kaleidoscope (Spaceland only) showing your kaleidoscope
In my kaleidoscope I have 8 circles all reflecting off the 1st quadrant (top right). I then have a circle in the middle rotating. I then have a square, a diamond, and then a bigger square. The squares and diamond change colors every time they turn the corner.
6. A reflection on your experience with the project. Your reflection must elaborate on at least two challenged you faced and how you overcame them; your reflection must also elaborate on at least two successes you had.
This project was really confusing and I didn't really understand a lot of it. 2 challenges I faced were the learning curve and getting agents to reflect on each other. I think Starlogo had a lot of bugs that made it difficult to create my kaleidoscope. The learning curve was really hard and it put me off from starlogo. I think we should have done it in geogebra like previous years. Getting agents to reflect was hard, and the bugs in starlogo didn't help. The bugs made it so I couldn't really get the reflections perfect. Sometimes it would work with opposite values and sometimes it wouldn't. 2 successes I had were finishing my kaleidoscope and getting Starlogo to work. I worked really hard on my kaleidoscope and I think it turned out very good. Getting starlogo to work was a big success too. A lot of the time the coordinates wouldn't work and I would have to start over or the blocks wouldn't fit together.