Punk for a month

1.- Appearance should not indicate the personality a person have, but in the world we live today, stereotypes are everywhere and makes us judge a person just by looking at him, without even speaking or knowing him.  Still appearance show some of the personality characteristics of persons but they should not be judge before talking to them, as this could lead to misleading situations. It is appropiate sometimes for your own safety. Most of the time it is inappropriate to judge people, because their appearance does not show their true personality or their foughts, so judging a person without knowing them is a huge mislead.

2.- Julie was not fair with her friends because before she even`t  see them at school, Julie was already thinking that her friends would not accept her change and they will alienate her, so when she comes to their table, she stood there angrily and bitterly, starting up the discussion and broking with her friends. Julie could have try to be more tolerant and try to explain her friends why did she make that change.

3.- The problems Julie could have with her new friends is that she very recently change her appearance so she maybe is just getting new friends because of her new physical appearance, without taking into consideration his real personality. Also Julie is experimenting with being a Punk, but her personality seemingly does not fit with the Punk style, so although she may look as a punk in the outside, she is not in the inside, wich may lead to trouble with her new friends, because they might want to do things that Julie will not do, because she things they are wrong.

4.- Julie has just change her physical appearance to look as a Punk, so I think that although she have changed externally, she have not change in the interior because it have not pass a long time and she still is kind of the same girl in the inside, although if she is still a Punk after some time, she may change internally. I thing that it depend on the case, there are certain people that are influenced by the way they dressed, because changing their normal dresses may give them a moral boost and an something to identify with, thus giving them an identity. Still, many people is not influenced by the way they dress as there are people that can act very differently to how they look like, and they should not be fitted into a stereotype.

Personal response

“The Akanksha clinic is at the forefront of India’s booming trade in so-called reproductive tourism — foreigners coming to the country for infertility treatments such as in vitro fertilization. The clinic’s main draw, however, is its success using local women to have foreigners’ babies. Surrogacy costs about $12,000 in India, including all medical expenses and the surrogate’s fee. In the U.S., the same procedure can cost up to $70,000.”

Our modern day society have develop up to a point where the problem it`s not that things can`t be done; the problem is wether things should be done or not. In the case of surrogacy, The benefits from "reproductive tourism" may be very obvious for the surrogate indian mother and for the U.S parents that are paying for the service, but if you start to analyse the situation deeper, may be it is not as a very good practice as it looks. 

Why women have to rent their uterus to get enough money to get decent life? Pregnancy is a very important and difficult process for women and should not be taken slightly, surrogacy have many risk that involve the practice, like infertilization and other diseases due to this practice. Many women from poor countries like India, are left with no other choice than renting their womb to get a decent life, wich of course is unethical and should be avoided. “Reproductive tourism” is just the perfect excuse for this explotation to happen and also helps to increase the health and social differences between a develop country and one with lots of poverty. 

I think that women should not be pay for renting their womb, because it`s giving a price to not only a female body part and process, but also making this women exchange their freedom, their opportunies, for the job of developing a baby inside theirselfs; besides there are other ways like adoption, wich is much less harmful for others, also let parents get a kid and parents are giving the adopted kid an opportunity to have a better future. Women can`t be treated as objects or products, and society should realize their other more viable options for infertile women to have a kid, like adoption.

Individual oral presentation

"Robots can also have a softer side. My Baby 2, a simulated childcare robot, was created by a former NASA engineer and reacts when treated badly. It can be used in childcare training and instruction. "

Voicethread for the oral presentation: http://voicethread.com/?#u4005736.b4955826.i25148476

-The caption shows a robotic baby being fitted with an artificial bottle.

-It shows a different and innovative way to use robots for the benefit of humans.

-It shows robots as a more friendly tool for humans to use and have benefits from it.

-My baby 2 might be a great help for future parents to prepare them for their future role as parents.

-It may show wich couples are ready to have a real baby and wich don´t, so that good parents can decided to have one.

- It can be used as a tester for couples trying to adopt a baby. For example 136.000 people were adopted in the U.S in 2008.

-Couples can try  to see if they really want to take the decision of having a real baby and being parents.

- It can be used to teach in a more innovative way, the cares a baby need for a health develop.

-Finally, the caption make us thing that maybe in the future robotic babies will look and act identical to real ones, so people would not actually see any difference.

Biofuel presentations

Before  doing the robot activity, I was tasked along with Mingi Park to present about Biogas. Although we could not present on friday due to the schedule and lack of time, we could see all the oter presentations of our classmates.

 Overall I think the presentations were all good and also, they were a huge support for understanding better the benefits and issues about the use of Biofuels, because every group face the problem from a different point of view.

When analysing each presentation separately, I think all the peer did a nice job presenting their respective subjects . Some topic were more complicated specially the one about the biofuel production process but Mr Nuñez and Mr Ugarte managed to present it in a good and understandable way although they could have speak a little more louder. 

Mr Oporto and Mr Gastó presented about the Economical Effects, wich I find a really interesting topic, because of the contrast between the comercial benefits of Biofuels and the problem about the impact of biofuels on food prices. 

Finally the last presentation I could listen to was the one from Thomas Reynolds and Sebastian Barriga who did a really good presentation and show of their topic about

 producing biofuels on land used for food or cattle.

 Robot design

Last week, along with Rafael Labra as my partner, we were tasked with designing  a robot to solve an actual problem. The result of this was the "Librarius 2.0", a robot whose characteristics will  be described below.

What problem or challenge does the robot solve? What are some of the functions you will program your robot to carry out? 

The robot is designed to solve the problem of reaching high shelves from libraries and ordering books. It´s main function is the ability to distinguish books by topic and ordering them in the proper shelve, no matter how high it is due to its large robotic arm.

What materials will it be made out of? Why?

It will move by the use of special wheels designed for little objects made from rubber and aluminum.  Its main body and the robotic arm will be made mainly from steel and cooper to ensure the proper and efficient use of energy and the main terminal will be directed by the new generation of microprocessors.  All these materials ensure the correct functioning of the robot and make it capable of doing its work without problems.

 How will the robot sense its surroundings?

It will have 5 sensors. The first four will allow the robot to move in all directions by detecting possible obstacles and avoiding them. The fifth one and most important, will be locate in the top of the robotic arm and will be in charge of distinguishing the books by topic and selecting which books goes to each shelve.

 How will it move and respond to the environment? 

It will have small wheels, which will aloud the robot to move through the library without problems. Also it will avoid any possible obstacle in the way and will only stop to select and leaves books in their proper shelve.

How or why is a robot better equipped to handle this challenge than a human? 

Mainly because the robot will get the job done efficiently and correctly, whatever a human might do it wrong or don´t do it at all. Basically, the robot reduces in almost a 100% the human mistake.

What specific functions will the robot carry out?

It will distinguish books by topic and ordering them in the proper shelves. This will be possible because of the front sensor, which will recognize the books by topic using an international database.

 What components will the robot include that help it carry out these tasks?

It will include mainly the wheels to move freely around the library, accompanied by the movement sensor that will determine the best way to move. It´s main task will be achieved with the help of a special sensor to detect books by topic and a pincer that will grab the book and left it in the appropriate shelve after the sensor have determined what type of book is it.

 What will the robot look like?

The robot will look like a small construction crane, but with wheels to move, a main terminal which will look like a box unite to the wheels and the upper part, which is basically a large robotic arm with a sensor to distinguish books, and a sort of pincer that will take books from a basket attached to the robot and deposit it in the appropriate shelve

 Will it look humanlike? 

No, it won´t look like a human as it is more like the concepts of a crane and a toy car, much like Wall-E but instead of the head it will have this large robotic arm with it the only thing of the robot that can be considered “humanlike”

Why or why not? 

It does not need to look like a human because it is not necessary, apart from that it would not be practical because if made like a human it will have limitation to reach high shelves, which is exactly why the robot have the large flexible robotic arm.

How will the robot’s appearance influence how people interact with it? What limitations does the robot have?

People won´t have any problem interacting with the robot, since it does not present any possible harm, actually the robot when encountering with a human blocking the way will turn around and find another way to where it is going.. It will be designed to be very user friendly so that anyone can use it, and it will go slowly and silently enough for a library. The only robot limitation is that to start working it needs to be turn on by a human and you need to left the books in the basket so the robot can order them.

Stem cells breakthrough and seeds of hope

I will answer some questions based on a video we saw in class, this time about stem cells in order to understand better the topic of study.

1) Why are stem cells considered so valuable for medical research?

Because stem cells can be the cure for many diseases.


2) Why did the researchers have to narrow the spectrum of genes within stem cells? (video 1)

Because they need to find the specific genes for stem cells from wich they could revert the biological clock and produce new stem cells.


3) What are the sources of stem cells and the advantages and disadvantages associated with using each?

The stem cells that are used are the one from embryos. The advantages of this is that stem cells can create and heal any organ because they can specialize and regenerate any organ damage. The disadvantages is that in order to produce this, apparently you need to create life and then take the stem cells from embryos, but the problem is that they do not survive wihout them.
4) What are the three cases presented at the beginning of the second video?

We see a hockey player with spinal cord damage do to an injury.  then we see a young man with diabetes and finally a baby with a disease called taysachs, wich cause the inhability to produce enzymes vital for brain cells survival.


5) How might a stem cell be used to treat spinal cord injuries?

Stem cells can replace the damage cells by adding a scaffold filled with stem cells that replace the damaged area, Stem cells react and reproduce spinal cord cells repairing the damage.

6)Explain the outcome of the experiment with injured rats presented in the second video?

The outcome was incredible because  within 2 months of treatment, rats with spinal cord damage that should not walk, were walking almost normally.

7) What issues surround the debate over of stem cell research?

Mainly Ethic issues, because the stem cells retrieve from a embryo does not survive.


8) What issue do you think needs to be debated as we make decisions about stem cell research?

One of the most important issues to be debate, is about manipulating life and taking away one life for the benefits of another being.

Genetic Tool kit

 As in the last posts, I will answer some questions based on a video, this time about the genetic tool kit.

1)How has evolution tinkered with genes of animals?

The evolution  altered the genes of animal  to adequate animals to the changing condition of the evironment they  are living in.
2) What role has embryos played in the study of evolution?
All animals come from similar types of cells. By studying the embryos, we can analyse how this cells specialize to make a particular function.
3) What did the experiment with fruit flies and mice show?
It shows that they share some same genes because they have a common ancestor. Beside this, it is important to notice that there are many different different factors that make the gene produce a specific kind of eye, arm, leg, etc.. to a specific animal.
4) What does the presence packages of information suggest about evolution?

It suggests that all animals come from a common ancestor that passes the package of genes, wich show why they have similar genes. Finally, although they share the same genes, other factors like the evironment, food and weather determine the evolution path each race follows.