Monthly Meeting Recap 1/10/2018

Meeting notes from the first meeting of 2018.

Attendees:
- Peter
- Karl
- Bruce Stott
- Mike
- Manish – New member
Show & Tell:
- Peter had several items:
  - He recommended checking out the LG robot fails at CES 2018: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQMtbWwbduA
  - He received a communication from Jsumo regarding their latest product, the Xmotion robot controller on indiegogo. This is an arduino-compatible controller with integrated high-current H-bridges. Good for sumo and other small robots. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/xmotion-all-in-one-controller-for-robotics-robot-arduino#/
  - He reported that he installed ROS2 on Windows. Basically it works, but is arduous to install and limited compared with ROS for Linux.
  - He brought a 3d-printed container that opens only after being manipulated to solve a maze. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:201097
  - He brought a book he recently read called Invent It, Sell It, Bank It! by Lori Greiner from Shark Tank. It reminded him that he prefers product design over sales/marketing/business.
- Karl had made much progress on Wheel-E, which he demonstrated.
  - He had the Leddar mounted and communicating over CAN with the Raspberry Pi.
  - He had dead reckoning functioning based on encoders and a yaw rate gyro.
  - He drove Wheel-E around, showing the Leddar point cloud in Rviz. It could show Wheel-E moving in a fixed frame of reference (based on position from dead reckoning), or show Wheel-E as stationary and the point cloud moving around.
  - He demonstrated startup of the ROS system, which involves many steps in a particular order. During the meeting he created a launch file that automated some of the steps.
  - Here is a link to videos of the robot driving around and its Leddar output displayed on a laptop.
- Mike showed some 3d-printed filament cleaners/oilers that he printed to use up a couple meters of filament at the end of a spool. The interesting thing about them is that they are a hinged box with clasp that print as a single piece. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1692395
Presentation:
- We ended up talking a lot about Wheel-E, so we saved the technical talk till next time.

January 18, 2018 at 9:14 pm | Announcements, Monthly Meeting Recaps | No comment

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