♥ The Sri Aman Ecobots!

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♥ Ecobots Cutting Process

Plastic! They come in all shape and sizes, in every colour of the rainbow. We needed kinds of plastic of different shapes and sizes for the parts of our robot. Thus, we scavenged around our houses to see what bottles or buckets that were to be thrown away that we could use. Our search came up with dustbin covers, old buckets, as well as several soft drink bottles made of hard plastic. Thus, we headed back to the 'bengkel' to cut the plastic materials into the desired shape.

Cutting process: Ultimately took two hours

Items used: Mesin gergaji jig, saw, cutters

Carried out in: SMK (P) Sri Aman's 'Bengkel Kemahiran Hidup'.

Using the saw to cut the pipes!

Cutting it carefully, don't worry (:

Now, we use the mesin gergaji jig!

Cutting holes in the dustbin cover

Holding it steady...

Cutting the bucket with the Bosch Jig!

Using the Jig machine to cut holes in the bottles

♥ Ecobots Dismantling Process: Computers!

For the base and head of our robot, we decided to use computer casings as they were the most suitable items for our robot. We were lucky enough to find three old, rusty and dusty computers from the computer lab. In order to get its casing, which is made from pliable plastic, we embarked on our mission to dismantle the three computers. Using wits and brawn, we managed to dismantle them with relative ease! The casings were still sturdy and made of good-quality plastic. Below are step-by-step pictures of the dismantling process. :)

Dismantling process : 20 minutes each

Items used: Screwdrivers, scissors, hammers, rubber mallets

Carried out in: SMK (P) Sri Aman's 'Bengkel Kemahiran Hidup'.

An old, dysfunctional computer from the computer lab 

Left: Un'opened' computer, Right: Computer casing :D

Navina and Aini working hard to unscrew the screws 

Unscrewing the computer from its back casing 

Success!

Back view of an opened computer

Side view of the opened computer

The inner casing of a computer

The motherboard of a computer! Pretty :D

Dismantling the back of the computer

These pretty knobs cannot be wasted!

Its back casing is completely seperated!

Tadah! Complete dissemination of a computer to get its casing :)

The computers; fully dismantled.

Once the work's all done, its time to pose for the camera! 

♥ Robotics Made Easy

This video is such a great source of information! It describes the robotic process in an easy-to-understand manner, without confusing us less informed people. :P Click on video to understand more about robotics!

♥ Green Robotics

♥ Environmental Message Song: Drip Drop (Parody of Ke$ha's Tik Tok)

This song comes with an important message; 

Make an effort, and do your part to help the earth thrive!

The lyrics and voices belong to to Danee Jord and Friend.

DRIP DROP ORIGINAL LYRICS

Wake up in the morning staring at a park

Where glaciers used to be, but then they did embark.

Before they left, they did melt without any warning

Because of all the selfish people who caused global warming.

Im talkin bout: glaciers being too small.

Better say bye bye to them all.

Cause of climate change, theyd fall.

Now, now, this change will kill the fish, wildlife, trees, and *@%^&.

The world needs to prevent this

Lets stop all this flop.

Burning fossil fuels aint hot.

Tonight cut the lights.

Use alternatives tonight.

Drip drop! Ice will pop.

You cant clean it with a mop. No!

Carpool or ride a bike.

Stop that driving. Take a hike.

Reduce and recycle and reuse, if you would like.

Plant trees, wont you please?

To absorb carbon dioxide. Oh!

Today the climate is too warm.

We gotta cool that #*@& up.

These glaciers might just disappear,

So we better giddy up!

Since time has gone by

You know its just getting warming.

Is it impacting animals?

Well just look around the corner.

Im talkin bout: ducks losing their homes.

From just the drought alone.

Cause of us depleting their ozone.

Now, now their habitats will suffer.

Their lives will now just shutter.

Lets help them one another.

Lets stop all this flop.

Burning fossil fuels aint hot.

Tonight cut the lights.

Use alternatives tonight.

Drip drop! Ice will pop.

You cant clean it with a mop. No!

Carpool or ride a bike.

Stop that driving. Take a hike.

Reduce and recycle and reuse, if you would like.

Plant trees, wont you please?

To absorb carbon dioxide. Oh!

Those grizzly bears,

They dont got food.

The fish will die.

Yeah, you got me?

All of these parks,

Theyre looking bad.

Weve got to just do something.

The government is telling us

To calm down with that fire.

Just change our ways

To save the earth and animals.

Now weve got to save the national parks.

GLOBAL TEMPERATURE DROPPING!

ECOSYSTEMS!

EPA STUDIES!

AL GORE AND GIZZLY BEARS!

Climate change, ozone layer, greenhouse gases.

Polar icecaps, snowglobes, suspended particulate matter.

Organic compounds.

Hazardous air pollutants are bad.

♥ Ecobots: Bringing Recycling to New Heights

♥ Ecobots Drilling Process

In order to drill holes in the various plastic materials that was collected, we used the gerudi tangan and gerudi lantai. After which, we cut them using mesin gergaji jig in the ♥ Ecobots Cutting Process here. Below is the pictures of the drilling process (:

Drilling process : 2 hours overall

Items used: Gerudi tangan, gerudi lantai

Carried out in: SMK (P) Sri Aman's 'Bengkel Kemahiran Hidup'.

Gerudi lantai

Drilling a hole into the computer casing

Yasmin making a hole in the computer casing with a gerudi tangan

Closer view!

Amirah, cutting the dustbin cover with the gerudi tangan 

Navina and Aini drilling the other computer casing

♥ The Actroid Female Robot at the Akiba Robot Festival

Amazing, isn't it! 

She looks just like a breathing, living human--as real as you and me. I wonder how technological advances in the future can change the world and make it a better place for all of us. Perhaps a work-free life with robots to do necessities for humans isn't so far from our grasp, as seen from the video above!

♥ Teenagers' Guide to Go Green!

Today's teens are more wired up, plugged in, worldly and savvy than ever. Many care deeply about the threats facing our environment, and are committed to making difference. But it's not always easy to know exactly what to do. Here are 15 easy ways to go green!


1. Once you're done with the computer, turn it off. If you shut your machine off before bedtime, you'll save an average of $90 worth of electricity a year — tell your parents that, and ask for a raise in your allowance! If you must leave your computer on, tell it to go into "sleep" or "hibernate" mode, which saves power. Save even more juice by unplugging your computer (or flip the switch on a surge protector) to stop the "phantom load" problem.


2. Put Together a Cool Vintage Outfit. Impress your friends with your fab style sense when you show up to a party in a vintage Betsey Johnson number (you can find gently used clothing for a steal at thrift stores and garage sales). Go glam by raiding your parents' closet for 1970s and '80s pants, vests and jackets.


3. Instead of Insisting on Driving, Catch the School Bus. No, it may not be as cool as driving yourself, but it is a lot safer, according to the National Academies of Science and Engineering. Buses are also much more fuel efficient than cars, saving gas and lowering emissions that cause global warming.


4. Get Involved! Most schools have environment or Earth Day clubs, so give them a chance! It's a great way to meet nice people, and you can learn so much from your peers. Many clubs convince their schools to recycle, start a garden or hold an Earth Day fair.


5. Turn Off the Lights Behind You. Remember that riddle about the tree falling in the forest when no one is around? Well, why leave a light on when no one is around? It's just plain waste. Your parents may even bug you about it because they have to pay the energy bills, and they know lighting accounts for an average of 11% of that total.


6. Earn Great Grades (Mother Nature Needs Smart People to Help Protect Her). Sure, you've heard it a million times before: it pays to stay in school. Here's one more reason: human population, and consumption rates, continue to swell, while habitat for wildlife shrinks. Global warming, ozone damage and acid rain are scary stuff. Humankind can right a lot of our wrongs and invent new technology to live lighter on the Earth, but it will take a lot of smarts.


7. Help Lose the Litter. Littering is a blight on our landscape that chokes wildlife and releases toxic chemicals when it breaks down. Plus it's just plain ugly! Many neighborhoods hold regular cleanups, so volunteer! It's an easy way to get some exercise while making a difference and meeting new people.


8. Go Veggie Once Per Week. The commercial meat industry takes a huge toll on our environment. It takes 4.8 pounds of grain (fed to cattle) to produce one pound of beef, as opposed to serving those grains directly to hungry people. One pound of wheat can be grown with 60 pounds of water, but a pound of red meat requires 2,500 to 6,000 pounds of water. In a world where water, land and energy are premiums, making a small cutback in the meat you eat is healthy for the planet, as well as your body.


9. Instead of Buying Bottled Water, Get a Refill. Ever see an empty water bottle tossed by the side of the road? Less than 20% of those single-use containers make it to the recycling bin. They also waste fuel for shipping — water is heavy! Get a cool metal bottle instead and fill it up when you're thirsty, and cut down on the expense and waste.


10. Get a New Shampoo — and Make It Natural! Typical drugstore shampoos can have some pretty scary-sounding chemicals in them (just look at the labels!), but why take the risk of putting all those lab compounds on your sensitive scalp? Lots of companies make more natural shampoos from plant extracts and even organically certified ingredients. They smell great, and are less toxic to make.


11. Download (Legally!) the Latest Album from an Eco-friendly Star. John Mayer. KT Tunstall. Dave Matthews Band. Kanye West. A number of today's hottest musicians are also going green in big ways, by running tour buses on clean-burning biodiesel and recycling all their show waste. Do your part by buying music online, which cuts out waste from shipping and all those CDs and cases.


12. Ask Potential Colleges About Their Eco-Practices and/or Check Out a "Green Collar Career." College can be the best time of your life, but you don't want to be dragged down by a school that doesn't get your green values. Fortunately, many colleges are leading the way with exciting recycling and reuse programs and even eco-friendly dorms! Whether you seek higher ed or not, think about a career that makes a positive difference: not just park rangers, but also teachers, government workers, organizers and media.


13. Buy a Comfy Organic Cotton T-Shirt. Cotton is one of the most pesticide-intensive crops, and millions of gallons of toxic residue runs off cotton fields into rivers and lakes, poisoning wildlife. Plus, why put something that had been treated in harsh chemicals so near your skin? Organic cotton is now widely available (from H&M to Wal-Mart to boutiques), in the cutest styles and graphics.


14. Take Friends and/or Family to See The 11th Hour. Leonardo DiCaprio's recent doc is a heavy hitter, but it's also inspiring and gorgeous. It just may be the push to get your dad to start recycling his papers, or your friend to stop littering. And it's pretty entertaining.


15. Make Your Next Cup of Coffee Organic and Fair Trade. Coffee may pep you up, but it may have been grown under chemical-intensive conditions that destroy rainforest and poison poor workers. Organic means no industrial chemicals are used, and fair trade means growers are given incentives to protect local forest and tend plots sustainably. They are paid a decent living wage, so you can feel proud about what you're buying.


Read more here and remember to go green! ♥

♥ Ecobots Obtaining Materials Process

We used recyclable materials to create our eco-friendly robot! Most of the materials used are found either in our homes or in SMK(P) Sri Aman. Our sincere gratitude goes to our school for giving us the green light to use the three dysfunctional computers, as well as the piping.We'd also like to thank the school canteen for giving us their plastic bottles and supporting us(: Below are the materials that we found! 

Dustbin covers from the Kemahiran Hidup bengkel

Bottles from the school canteen!

Piping found in Block E

Computer from the computer lab

Wall light covers!

♥ Earth Song by the late Micheal Jackson

Earth Song, by the late Micheal Jackson, has never failed to touch people's hearts by the clear message that it brings. The environmental message that it emits is beautifully conveyed through melodious music and breathtaking factual visuals. This song has broken barriers of language, brought nations together and brought tears to thousands of people who realize that this world is theirs to take care of, and not the other way round. I hope that this video touches the hearts of Malaysians and reminds us that the world is changing at an incredibly fast rate--It's time to step up and take responsibility for our actions. 

Before it's too late.

♥ Ecobots Planning Process

Our planning process! Ahh, it wasn't easy, but we finally came up with the blueprints (literally) for the Ecobots. This is just the rough draft, though. The robot's going to turn out much better than my less-than-average drawings. (: Below are the planning process pictures with the rest of the Ecobots members! 

Umm. No comment. :P

Navina drew the robot on the board, really.

Looking on in amusement at the drawings :)

Aini copying the details on the board

Checking the materials available for the building process

♥ Environment Trivia!

Down To Earth - Part 1

1. When was the first Earth Day celebrated?
A. March 21, 1970
B. April 22, 1970
C. May 21, 1970
D. June 22, 1970

A. March 21, 1970
QQ: First celebrated in the U.S. on this date, it has been celebrated each year thereafter at the United Nations, bringing attention to its original purpose: peace, justice and the care of Earth.

2. The world's first national park was started in 1872 in which country?
A. Corbett National Park in India
B. Kruger National Park in South Africa
C. Ordesa National Park in Spain
D. Yellowstone National Park in U.S.

D. Yellowstone National Park in U.S.
QQ: Yellowstone becomes the world's first national park in 1872. Since then countries around the world have established more than 4000 national parks and preserves.

3. Where was the first major international conference on environmental issues?
A. America
B. Britain
C. China
D. Sweden

D. Sweden
QQ: The first major international conference on environmental issues was held in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1972 and was sponsored by the United Nations.

4. Where was the first wildlife refuge formed in 1903?
A. Mai Po Marsh Reserve in Hong Kong
B. Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge in Florida, US
C. Elk Island National Park in Alberta, Canada
D. Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

B. Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge in Florida, US
QQ: Founded in 1925 Virunga National Park is the oldest wildlife park in Africa and Elk Island National Park was founded in 1913.

5. Why did founder John McConnell choose March 21 as Earth Day?
A. March Vernal Equinox
B. His birthday
C. It was the only date free at the party house
D. March needed more holidays

A. March Vernal Equinox
QQ: He though using the first day of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere to be a good date to celebrate the earth.

6. Who is the patron saint of ecologists?
A. Saint Francis
B. Saint Patrick
C. Saint Valentine
D. Saint Nick

A. Saint Francis
QQ: In 1980, Pope John Paul II proclaimed him the patron saint of ecologists. In art, the emblems of St. Francis are the wolf, the lamb, the fish, birds, and the stigmata.

♥ Robot fish--Showcasing technological progress

Breathtaking! It sure is an innovative idea. :D The video above shows a robotic fish developed by scientists from Essex University is put through its paces in a special tank at the London Aquarium. It works via sensors and has autonomous navigational control.

♥ The world's first Robot Violinist

Incredible, a robot that can play the violin! 

I'm sure that most of us here, sadly, can't play the stringed instrument as well as the robot above. The Robot Violinist is part of a demonstration to show how consumer robots can be used in homes, factories or public places in the near future.