Engineering notebook

My notebook

Pages you saved with Make a notebook page on any tool. They're kept in this browser only: nothing is uploaded, and clearing site data removes them. Use Export notebook to keep a copy or move it to another device.

Start a page by hand

Not every page comes from a calculator. These open the same editor with the same sections, ready for your own words, photos and sketches.

On a phone, Quick page from a photo opens the camera: take the picture, write a line about it, and finish the page later on a computer.

Saved pages

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      What the colors mean
      • Identify the problem
      • Brainstorm
      • Select a solution
      • Build and program
      • Test
      • Reflect and iterate
      • Game strategy
      • Code and programming
      • Team meeting
      • Our original idea

      While you are working

      A note takes a few seconds now and saves an evening later. Pick the page it belongs to, type the line, and it joins that page's Session log with the time it was taken. The clock is ours; every word is yours. Press N anywhere on this page to start a note.

      Tap Something broke the moment it happens and the clock is marked at that minute. Type what happened once the robot is off the field; the note keeps the marked time, not the time you finished typing. Press B to mark one.

      Off. Nothing is timed until you start it.

      Dates and gaps

      What the dates on your saved pages say about the habit. It reports the gaps; it never fills one in. A page written days after the day it describes is named here because that is worth knowing, not because it is against any rule.

        Keep a copy, or move to another device

        The export file holds every saved page, with photos, plus your team list. Open this page on the other device and import it. Pages already there are kept if they were changed more recently.

        Room for more photos

        The pages taking the most room, with their photos. Shrinking a page’s photos makes them smaller on the device and keeps the ones you had in that page’s history, so nothing is lost.

        The web pages are a folder: a contents page, one page for each entry, and the photos as real picture files. OneNote and Google Sites both import a folder like that; a single file often comes in as one long page.

        The one file is a web page holding every entry, its photos and a contents list that jumps to each page. It opens on any computer with no internet and nothing installed. The export file is the one to import back into this site.

        Notebook page

        More
        Open My notebook

          This page

          Our own layouts

          A layout remembers how a page is set up: its type, its system, which parts print and which of your tables it uses. It never remembers a word, a number or a photo.

          Your team kept on this device
          Add someone to the team list
          Your words never written for you

          These are the parts a judge or teacher reads to see your thinking, so the page leaves them to you. Leave a box empty to get lined space for writing by hand. Start lines with "- " for a list. The notes under each box only count and point things out; they never change what you wrote.

          Rough notes

          Rough notes

          Rough notes

          Rough notes

          Rough notes

          Rough notes

          Rough notes

          Rough notes

          Rough notes

          The word counts can be measured against a target your team sets on My notebook. The reading level is Flesch-Kincaid grade level = 0.39 × (words ÷ sentences) + 11.8 × (syllables ÷ words) − 15.59. Syllables are counted by vowel groups, so the grade is an estimate of the school year the writing reads at. It says nothing about whether the writing is any good.

          One part at a time, with a clock. At the end of practice, while you remember it.
          How you tested your details

          Fill in what applies. These print as a small table under the method.

          Before and after

          Compare this calculation with a run you saved earlier on this tool (under “Saved runs”). The page shows what changed and by how much.

          A line through the data from your recorded table

          Pick two measured columns from the same table. The page plots them and draws the least-squares line, only across the range you measured.

          Robot log a CSV from the robot's SD card

          Load a CSV your robot saved. Pick the time column and up to three columns to plot, and type their units. Only those columns go on the page; the file stays on this device.

          Two versions' trials your data, compared

          Pick a column of recorded trials for each version, from this page or another saved page. The page shows both averages and a 95% range for the difference. The numbers are copied in when you pick them, so later changes to the other page don't change this one.

          Options compared your scores

          Score each option 1 to 5 on each criterion, and weight each criterion 1 to 5 by how much it matters. The page only multiplies and adds.

          Photos and sketches stay on this device

          Up to 4. Paste a screenshot with Ctrl+V, drop pictures here, or pick them. Photos are shrunk before they’re kept, and an unsaved page keeps them in its draft. Use Mark up to draw arrows, labels, dimensions and numbered callouts on a photo. Mark one photo Before and one After to print them side by side.

            Test plan written before testing

            Write this before you test: the question, what you expect with a number, and what result would make you drop the idea.

              Build steps our build

              One row per step, in order, so someone could rebuild from this page.

                Parts used our parts list

                Lengths in holes are also shown in inches between the end holes. Weights are only added up where you type them.

                  Plan the cuts: packs every piece of one part (sizes in holes, or inches on the hole grid) onto whole sticks of the stock length you type.

                  Ways it could fail our scores

                  List the ways this could fail. Score how likely (1 to 5) and how bad (1 to 5); the page multiplies them and puts the biggest risks first.

                    Designed against built our measurements

                    What the CAD or the plan said, and what you measured on the robot. The tolerance is yours.

                      Changes from the last version our changes

                      What changed since the last version, why, and which result it was meant to move.

                        That page’s settings, results and first photo are copied in and set beside this page’s. The result each change should move is looked up on both pages.

                        Tasks our plan

                        What needs doing, who, and by when. Open tasks carry to the next meeting page until someone ticks them done.

                          The pages behind this idea our evidence

                          The pages in this notebook that show the idea being tried, measured or changed. A judge reading the claim can turn straight to them.

                            Time spent our hours

                            Who worked on this and for how long.

                              Session log what we did, as we did it

                              Notes taken during a session. The time comes from the clock when the note was taken; every word is yours.

                                Size limit does it fit?

                                Type the starting size limit from the current game manual, and the robot's size as designed or measured, in inches. The site doesn't store the limit, because it changes with the game.

                                What broke from your breakage log

                                The breakage log is on My notebook. Copy it onto this page as a table, as it stands now; later entries don't change this page.

                                CAD model which version this page is about

                                Paste a link to the model (Onshape, Fusion or anything else) and the name you use for this version. For Onshape, the page reads from the link whether it points at a saved version or a workspace that keeps changing. Nothing is fetched.

                                Your code
                                Comments notes for the team, not the page

                                A teammate or coach can leave a note here. Comments stay beside the page, travel with it in exports and links, and don't print unless you tick them under Include.

                                  Sources you used besides this tool

                                  Videos, other teams, manuals, people. The tool’s own sources are cited for you.

                                    Sign-off
                                    Include

                                    Press a ? to see what an option is for, or read them all on How the notebook tools work.

                                    What “The calculator’s figures” is for

                                    The calculator’s own diagrams and charts, numbered as figures and drawn from your numbers. Judges look for pictures that explain a design.

                                    What “How it was calculated” is for

                                    The formulas and steps the calculator used, so a reader can check the arithmetic for themselves.

                                    What “The calculator’s warnings” is for

                                    Things the calculator flagged, such as a motor near stall. They’re quoted and credited to the calculator, so they never read as your conclusion.

                                    What “The calculator’s notes” is for

                                    The calculator’s plain-language notes on the result. Off at first, because they read like conclusions, and the conclusions on a page should be yours.

                                    What “Lined space” is for

                                    Ruled lines under any part you haven’t written yet, so a printed page can be finished by hand.

                                    What “Writing space as” is for

                                    The blank space for handwriting as ruled lines, a dot grid or quarter-inch squares. Dots and squares suit sketches and hand-drawn graphs.

                                    What “A summary under recorded data” is for

                                    The number of readings, the average, the spread, the lowest and the highest under each table you recorded, worked out from your numbers. It shows every run counted, not just the best one.

                                    What “Words used” is for

                                    A small box with the site’s one-line definitions of glossary terms the calculator used, for readers who don’t know them. It never looks at your own writing.

                                    What “Robot at the time” is for

                                    The Robot Profile as it was when the page was first saved, so weeks later you can tell which version of the robot a test was run on.

                                    What “Long tables in full” is for

                                    Long calculated tables printed complete on an extra page, instead of every few rows on the page itself.

                                    What “Fit on one sheet” is for

                                    Smaller type and shorter tables, aiming for one printed sheet. Use it when every entry in your notebook should be a single page.

                                    What “Wider left margin” is for

                                    A wider left edge, so the page can be hole-punched or bound without losing any words.

                                    What “Larger type, for reading aloud” is for

                                    Bigger print with more room between lines, for the team member who reads the page to a judge. It overrides Fit on one sheet.

                                    What “Our rubric scores” is for

                                    Your own scores against the rubric, on a sheet of their own, for checking a page before a judge does.

                                    What “When this page was first saved” is for

                                    The day the page was first saved, printed beside its date. It shows the notebook was kept while the work happened.

                                    What “Teammates’ comments” is for

                                    Prints the comments teammates left on this page at the end, marked as not part of the page. Off at first, because comments are notes for the team, not for judges.

                                    What “Show every table and block” is for

                                    Shows every table and block in the editor, not only the ones this type of page usually uses. It changes the editor, not the printed page.

                                    Rubric check

                                      This checks what is on the page, not how good it is. Clear, specific writing in your own words is what earns the top marks.

                                      Preview, letter size

                                      Write it now

                                      Bring in a teammate's notebook

                                      These pages were changed both here and in the file. Choose which copy to keep for each. The other copy goes into the page's History, so a wrong choice can be undone.

                                        Number pages in order

                                        Pages are numbered by date, oldest first; pages with no date keep their place at the end. Links between pages follow the new numbers. Pages you have already printed keep the old number on paper, so check the printed copies before you do this.

                                        Earlier versions

                                        Every save keeps a copy of what the page looked like before, up to ten. Putting one back does not lose the version you have now: that becomes an earlier version too.

                                        Keyboard shortcuts

                                        Anywhere

                                        Ctrl K or /
                                        Search
                                        T
                                        Switch color theme
                                        B
                                        Bigger text, for a projector
                                        F
                                        Readable font, on or off
                                        ?
                                        This list

                                        On a tool

                                        S
                                        Star or unstar it
                                        C
                                        Copy the results
                                        L
                                        Copy a link to these exact numbers
                                        P
                                        Print or save as PDF

                                        Letter keys do nothing while you're typing in a box.