December meeting date moved to the 18th
We moved the December meeting date to the third Wednesday, 12/18/19. It will still start at 5:00 PM and be held at River City Labs, 7916 N.Hale Ave., Peoria, IL. The new twist we will add to the meeting is to have a build session after the meeting. This means that our general meeting agenda will be
- Show & Tell
- Tech Talk
- Business
- Build Session
Hope to see you there.
December 8, 2019 at 7:50 pm | Uncategorized | No comment
Bot Boogaloo Fall 2019 Results
Our Bot Boogaloo was a lot of fun this Fall. We had some new faces along with all the contestants from last Spring. Some of the old rivalries got to go at it again to settle scores and some new rivalries were surely started. Plenty of us had sensor and/or program logic issues to give us more humble pie then we wanted. Still, we all had a great time competing and talking robotics.
When the competitions were over, a group sat down to have a build session and talk more robotics. This worked out well and we will make it more of a part of our next Boogaloo in the Spring 2020.
Sumo Results:
Timed event results with times:
November 9, 2019 at 7:00 pm | Brawls & Boogaloos | No comment
Harper Experience Day Bot Brawl 19
CIRC hosted their second Bot Brawl of the year! Harper Experience Day Bot Brawl 19 was held on Saturday, October 5, 2019 at Harper College in Palatine, IL. We were located in the cafeteria located on the first floor of building A. This event was held as part of Harper Experience Day and Harper Maker Fest. This was the first time that CIRC hosted a Bot Brawl as a part of these events and it was a great time for all. There were maker demonstrations and maker exhibits going on all day long in addition to the Bot Brawl.
The only event with an award was Antweight (1 lb) RC Combat. We also had fun and exhibition matches based on what contestants brought.
Rules: RC Combat Rules
Competition Schedule:
Combat Results: We ran a round robin bracket where robots were scored 1 for a win, 0 for a loss, and 0.5 for a tie. Ties were decided by the judges. For the rumble, Shenzou was the last robot standing. Great job everyone.
August 28, 2019 at 1:11 pm | Announcements, Brawls & Boogaloos | No comment
September Meeting 9/4/19
We have moved the September meeting 1 week forward to Wednesday, September 4, 2019. Same time. Same place. 5:00 PM at River City Labs, 7916 N.Hale Ave., Peoria, IL 61615. Use the white door on the North, or left, side of the building. Members and non-members are welcome to attend. We will have our show & tell where participants share their progress on different projects, a technical talk where Mike will present the 2nd half of “Using Zumo Line Sensors”, the update on Wheel-E progress, and then everyone’s favorite – Business. If you have questions, contact Bruce at president@circpeoria.org
August 24, 2019 at 9:57 pm | Monthly Meeting Recaps | No comment
Bot Boogaloo Fall 2019 Announcement
We will host our second Boogaloo of the year, Bot Boogaloo Fall 2019!! It will be similar to our Spring event with the addition of a RoboMagellan contest. The date is set for Saturday, November 9, 2019. We will have it at Illinois Central College in East Peoria, Illinois, in room 212/213 of the Academic Building, same place as last Spring. Parking will be in Lot V. If it is full, Lot C will work well. Note that College Drive is a one way road going counter clockwise.
The competition will start around 10:00 AM and finish in the early afternoon. People can arrive as early as 8:30 AM. Contestant check in is from 9:00 AM to 9:40 AM. The order of events will be weather dependent. We will have the indoor events when rain and/or snow is most expected and the RoboMagellan outdoors when rain and/or snow is least expected. If there is snow, we’ll shovel or get clever or go inside. The final decision will be made Saturday morning.
What is a Bot Boogaloo? Last Spring it was a lot of fun and with the addition of RoboMagellan, it should be better. The events with links to their respective rules are listed below. Two of the events are of our own making.
We will accept mail-in entries. If you are mailing in an entry, email me so we can anticipate your robot(s).
Registration via BuildersDB is closed. Walk ins are welcome Saturday morning during the check in time. Please email me if you plan on entering Saturday morning. It’s not mandatory, but will help us plan and get better organized. president@circpeoria.org
Events
Sumo: Autonomous sumo bots (example video):
Mini Sumo (500 g)
Mega Sumo (3 kg)
Line Course: Autonomous line following bots (example video):
Line Following
Line Maze
Cone Stalking: Autonomous indoor cone touching bots Cone Stalking rules
Art Bot: Something fun and free form. Art Bot rules
RoboMagellan: We’ll use Seattle Robotics Society’s RoboMagellan rules
Schedule This schedule is approximate.
August 19, 2019 at 4:32 pm | Brawls & Boogaloos, Uncategorized | No comment
Bot Brawl 19 Results & Videos
Bot Brawl 19 was another great time!! Ignite Peoria and the Midwest MakerFest were loads of fun, again and as usual. We want to thank the Ingnite Peoria, Midwest MakerFest, competitors and sponsors. You make if fun and easy to work together. This year we saw lots of old faces, some new faces and a lot of true brawls! It was great fun. The day is long, but always worth the effort. We look forward to next year. Pencil in the date of Saturday, August 9, 2020. That is our guess of when it will be held.
Full videos.
Ant Rumble. It’s nuts.
Beetle Rumble. Great fun.
The final results have been added to the rankings on SPARC’s BotRank.com. Individual robot rankings can be found at this page of BotRank.com One thing to note is that if you type in www.botrank.com you will be taken to a listing that is no longer updated, which is something I always forget. Just one of those internet things. Here is the table for our final results.
Thanks again to our sponsors!!!
And last but definitely not least, SPECIAL THANKS to Ricky for taking the video and streaming it online!!!
August 18, 2019 at 1:16 pm | Brawls & Boogaloos | No comment
August Meeting Canceled
The August meeting is canceled. We will resume our monthly meetings on Wednesday, September 9th, 2019 at 5:00 PM at River City Labs.
August 11, 2019 at 6:10 pm | Monthly Meeting Recaps, Uncategorized | No comment
Bot Brawl 19
Bot Brawl 19 will be held on August 10, 2019 at the Peoria Civic Center in Peoria, IL. This event will once again be part of Ignite Peoria and the Midwest MakerFest. This is our fourth year of teaming up with these great groups and we are excited to be a part of it. The Midwest MakerFest is the largest MakerFest in the Midwest, and the Bot Brawl is one of the premier RC combat contests in the Midwest! There will be art & craft exhibits, dance performances, maker demonstrations, and maker exhibits going on all day long in addition to the Bot Brawl. This event is a great blend of all sorts of creative energies. Entry is free.
As of May 6th, registration is full for Bot Brawl 19. We will not be expanding the number of robots to compete. If you would like to be on our notification list, please contact Bruce Stott at president@circpeoria.org. I will notify people on the list if I notice any changes to registration. We can’t reserve spots. People drop out at all times of the day. I suggest that you monitor the registration at Builders Database. The filling of the vacant spots will be on a first come first served basis. Three spots are open for Beetleweight!!
Bot Brawl 19 will feature the following events:
- Antweight (1 lb) RC Combat
- Beetleweight (3 lb) RC Combat
Each event class is limited to 24 bots.
Rules for the events are available on our website, here. We encourage all competitors to ask questions beforehand that they have on the rules. This prevents competitors having to make rushed repairs on the day of the competition and/or getting disqualified. It is the competitors responsibility to know the rules. We will do our best to apprise people of changes made to rules, but we do not guarantee it. IMPORTANT: The rules were tweaked already this year regarding the size limit.
Maps and directions. Parking information is available here. We will be in Exhibit Hall C. Fulton parking lot works well. The Marquee parking lot works well also with a little bit more walking.
Competition Schedule: Once the competition starts, we will do our best to maintain this schedule, but flexibility may be required. It is all competitors responsibility to monitor the competition and be ready when it is their time to compete.
A BIG thanks to this year’s sponsors helping us to make Bot Brawl 19 more fun than it should be humanly possible!!
May 4, 2019 at 9:20 am | Brawls & Boogaloos, Uncategorized | No comment
Bot Boogaloo Spring 2019
CIRC hosted a NEW robotics contest, Bot Boogaloo 19. It was held on Saturday, April 6, 2019 at Illinois Central College in East Peoria, Illinois, in room 212/213 of the Academic Building. This was our first Bot Boogaloo. Here is a link to a map of the Academic Building. On this map, the room we used is marked 213b. There were signs directing people to the best way to get from parking to the room. Here is a link to parking. People used Lot V. Note that College Avenue is a one way road.
Currently we have a video of the entire event with no editing via our YouTube page. Highlight video of all events.
We served a light lunch to competitors and non-competitors. Snacks and drinks were available from vending machines. The campus cafeteria was closed.
We offered the opportunity for competitors to mail in entries for events, though no one took advantage of it. Here is a link to the form with details on how to mail in entries along with contact information if you have questions. Mail in entry form.
What was the Bot Boogaloo you ask? Well, it was a lot of fun and these were the events. Also listed are their respective rules. Two of the events were brand new.
Sumo (example video):
Mini Sumo (500 g)
Mega Sumo (3 kg)
Line Course (example video):
Line Following
Line Maze
Cone Stalking: A new event. Cone Stalking rules
Art Bot: A new event. Art Bot rules
Thanks to our sponsors for this event!! Pololu and JSumo.
January 24, 2019 at 9:26 pm | Brawls & Boogaloos, Uncategorized | No comment
January’s meeting will be at RCL
Our January monthly meeting will be held on January 9th at the River City Labs. RCL’s NEW location is 7916 N Hale Ave, Peoria. Use the white door on the north side of building. The meeting will start one hour earlier than normal, 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM. All people interested in hobby robotics are welcome to attend.
January 4, 2019 at 9:59 pm | Monthly Meeting Recaps, Uncategorized | No comment
