Monthly Meeting Recap – 8/11/13
Robot Show & Tell:
- Dan Toborowski brought a copy of the TIME magazine special issue; Rise of the Robots which will be donated to the club library. Dan also talked about his Nest programmable thermostat which automatically creates temperature schedules by “learning” from user inputs. The Nest is also able to determine when the homeowners are away using built-in infrared sensors maximizing the opportunities for energy savings. The Nest features an attractive glass and brushed metal case which rotates and depresses for making changes and selections and can also be controlled remotely using a web browser or mobile app. Dan was not yet able to comment on the amount of energy savings made possible with the Nest.
- Mike Dvorsky attended the August 3rd ChiBots RoboMagellan competition and provided a recap for the group. Mike told us about the various robots in attendance, the common issues most competitors encountered, unique strategies employed, and any new equipment such as sensors or other hardware.
- Peter Campbell demonstrated a graphical display he built in ROS that shows GPS waypoints and representation of the robot’s location and heading in relation to the waypoints. Peter envisions using this to follow the robot’s progress during competition runs and to virtually test nodes without the physical robot.
- Brian showed us a video from Supa Robot Attack, a Youtube channel that will be featuring a new humanoid robot match each week. The matches feature commentators and exciting twists such as special “perk” upgrades and celebrity guest opponents. These series of videos were announced during Youtube’s Geek Week.
Announcements:
- Next monthly meeting is September 8th
Upcoming Events:
- Urbana-Champaign Mini Maker Faire – September 21st
- Location – Independent Media Center, Urbana-Champaign, IL
- Call for makers open, deadline September 6th
- OSMOCES (Open Source Mechatronics Outreach & Creative Exchange Symposium) – October 5th
- IIT Rice Campus, Wheaton, IL
- Event focused on robotics, Arduino, Raspberry Pi, 3D printing, CAD/CAM, and more…
- Looking for volunteer exhibitors and speakers
- Possible RoboGames successor – Late October?
- Dupage Community College?
- Details still be sorting out, this is a tentative date and location
- Event is planned to include combat robotics, autonomous robotics, UAVs, Mech Warfare, and more…
Club Business:
- Community Event Opportunities
- FIRST LEGO League
- Peoria-area FLL season kicks off in late August
- Practice scrimmages will take place in October / November and regional tournaments scheduled for December
- If you’re interested in volunteering as a judge contact dan.toborowski@gmail.com
- FIRST LEGO League
- 2014 Bot Brawl
- ISU event organizers are preparing to lock down schedule
- Saturday, April 5th, Redbird Arena
- Planning for 11AM-4PM (5-hour event) with Bot Brawl starting an hour earlier (10AM) to provide us enough time
- RoboMagellan:
- Brian Oleson & newcomer Ben Daniels expressed interest in joining Wheel-E development team
- We discussed getting in contact directly with MaxBotix engineers for assistance with ultrasonic sensor issues
- Nothing official but rumors of an October/November fall ChiBots competition
- RoboMagellan build sessions expected to start again in coming weeks if fall event is confirmed
August 11, 2013 at 3:07 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.
