Monthly Meeting Recap – 9/18/11
Robot Show & Tell:
- Mike Dvorsky showed us the progress he’s made on his new new Mini Sumo robot. Mike is planning to have this robot ready for the ChiBotica competition at the iHobby Expo. Mike also brought some of the scrap FR-4 glass-reinforced epoxy laminate fiberglass sheets that he commonly uses for the structure of his custom robots. Mike described how this material is very easy to work with and cheap.
- Peter Campbell demonstrated a custom program he made to aid in solving word search puzzles. The program allows the user the view the line of characters in all directions from any one selected letter making it much easier to locate and identify the hidden words.
- Dan Toborowski demonstrated his arduino-based photo tach sensor “computer” which reads the output from a common photo switch and calculates RPM based on a user-selectable number of pulses per revolution.
- Curt Boirum demonstrated Blender, a free open-source 3D modeling tool which incorporates many other features for physics modeling, animation, advanced simulations, and more. Curt is in the process of getting Blender to control a robotics arm so that the actual arm will match the 3D model in real-time.
Event Recap:
- 2011 Illini Boy Scout Jamboree (9/10) – Champaign, IL
- Big thanks to Matt Underwood and Joshua Whitley for volunteering at the event!
- Thanks to Len Shelton and Mike Dvorsky for letting us borrow some of their robots and equipment for the event!
- Photo Album from the event
Announcement/Upcoming Events:
- iHobby Expo (10/22-10/23) Rosemont, IL
- ChiBots ChiBotica
- Mecha-Mayhem
- ChiBots is looking for anyone interested in displaying their robotic creations at the ChiBots booth. They have plenty of table space available and all volunteers will be given “exhibitor” badges which allow free entry to the event. The full event runs from October 20th to 23rd but they will accept volunteers on any of these days and for as long as individuals are available. If you plan to compete or volunteer with their display please contact sidrobot77@gmail.com before September 20th!
Club Business:
- Bi-Weekly build sessions are cancelled until further notice. It was decided that club member availability was too limited during the summer months causing attendance at these meeting to be low.
- 2012 Central Illinois Bot Brawl Update
- Club officers are in the process of locking down the location and date of our 2012 Bot Brawl competition. Look for an announcement very soon!
September 18, 2011 at 11:54 am | Monthly Meeting Recaps | No comment
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