Monthly Meeting Recap – 1/13/13
Robot Show & Tell:
- Dan Toborowski brought some components he recently acquired from SparkFun for planned upgrades to the combat arena including interior LED lighting and an integrated timer system. Dan also showed the latest progress on his custom IR controller designed to communicate with stock LEGO power modules. Lastly, Dan brought a Kobalt Double Drive screwdriver set which features a unique mechanism that allows the tip to rotate in the same direction regardless of which way the handle is twisted.
- Peter Campbell showed us pictures of a wire game he built as a holiday gift for his niece. The game involves moving a wand with a metal loop along an irregularly bent wire without touching the wire. Contact causes a buzzer to sound. Most of the components were 3D printed on a MakerBot Replicator and the game runs off a Teensy dev Board. Peter also showed us a cool video of a mechanical LEGO axle sorter.
- Mike Dvorsky brought his Printrbot 3D printer which he received for backing a Kickstarter project last year. The machine was not yet fully assembled due to limited documentation and a few problems with parts that didn’t function correctly. Mike hope’s to have it fully operational by our next meeting.
- Joshua Whitley showed us a few crowdfunding projects he thought was interesting including the RUMBA Board; a flexible all-in-one 3D printer controller board, StickNFind; a super small bluetooth device that helps you locate items and get automatic notifications when the items get too far away or close to you, and Pocket Monkey; a useful multitool that is only 1mm thick and fits in your wallet. Josh mentioned that he learns about many of these clever projects on Reddit: Shut Up and Take My Money.
Announcements:
- Bi-Weekly Build Session
- We have not yet selected a date for when build sessions will resume in 2013
- SolidWorks 2013
- We’ve received installation discs for SolidWorks 2013 student edition! These are available to full club members through the club library.
Upcoming Events:
- Peoria Riverfront Museum National Engineers Day – 2/17 (1:00PM-4:00PM)
- This event will take the place of our Feb. monthly club meeting
- ChiBots Spring Chibotica/Dupage Area Engineers Week – 2/23
- This event will take place at Illinois Institute of Technology Rice Campus in Wheaton, IL
- Events will include the usual line following, line maze, and sumo events
- CIRC 2013 Bot Brawl – April 13th
- Illinois State University RedBird Arena
- Event will take place during ISU Family Science Day
- Registration is now open on Builders Database
Club Business:
- Community Event Opportunities:
- Peoria Riverfront Museum National Engineers Week Event – 2/17 (1:00PM-4:00PM)
- CIRC has participated in this event for the past few years when it was held at the Lakeview Museum
- All club members are encouraged to come and bring robotic projects for display/demonstration
- More information will be provided closer to the event
- Boy Scouts Spring Rendezvous – May/18-20
- CIRC will not participate due to long distance from Peoria and outdoor setting
- Peoria Riverfront Museum National Engineers Week Event – 2/17 (1:00PM-4:00PM)
- Federal Non-Profit Status Discussion
- Josh will look into this further and update us at future meeting
- Updated Club Bylaws
- Josh is updating bylaws to make sure it addresses all required details for non-profit status in state and national
- Bot Brawl 2013
- Dan will begin contacting potential sponsors soon
- We need to define our layout and sort out details related to how video will be handled and how we can elevate the sumo rings for better visibility
- Representative from Central Illinois 4H groups has contacted our club interested in collaborating on display plans
- Local FRC teams Argos and Icarus have accepted our invitation to participate in the event
- Dan will take lead up repairing/updating combat arena as needed
- Mike Dvorsky will take the lead on repairing/building a new 3kg Sumo ring
- Dan will send out individual emails to members to confirm roles and responsibilities for competition
January 13, 2013 at 4:58 pm | Monthly Meeting Recaps | No comment
No Comments Yet
You can be the first to comment!
Sorry, comments for this entry are closed at this time.