Regular Meeting Minutes
Feb 4, 2006, 10:30AM
1. Welcome and Announcements
2. May Enthusiast Event
3. Presentations:
a. Instant OOP for HW Geeks (Roger Ray)
4. News Reports
a. Show-and-tell
5. RoboMagellan Scrimmage
1. The RoboMagellan Scrimmage planned for todays meeting will be delayed to the March Meeting
2. Renewal of membership dues:
a. All memberships are up for renewal this month.
b. Renewal Fees are $12 for current members
c. New Members can purchase pro-rated membership fees that decrease by $1 per month
1. Proposed (placeholder) event name: RoboTilt A reference to landing a blow in Jousting.
3. Expectations:
a. RoboTILT is not PDXBot 06 %G–%@
i. no sponsors, enhibitors, logo, T-shirts, raffle, etc.
b. RoboTILT is:
i. A well-run competitive event
ii. Good opportunity to introduce a new event.
iii. Robo Sub Magellan?
4. Venue options
a. Portland Parks: $60 - $80 per hour. Various community centers with gymnasiums, auditoriums, etc.
b. Other suggestions are welcome.
5. Events
a. Sumo: Nano, Mirco, mini, Japan
b. Line Following: Beginning, Advanced
c. Walker
d. RoboMagellan
e. Talent show.
6. Events at other shows %G–%@ possibilities for RoboTilt
a. Soccer
b. Fire-fighting
c. Balancer race
d. Looking for suggestions
7. Funding:
a. Suggested donation from competitors: $8
b. Club member competitions
8. Discussion Notes
a. Lack of exhibitors: Exhibitors are attractive for club members. Lack of exhibitors reduces funding for the events, and (possibly) requires participant fees. Perhaps we can allow vendors to participate on a voluntary basis, but be clear that we will be doing less promotion.
b. Soccer competition: May require teams; some preference expressed for individual-competitor events. One-on-one soccer may be a good introductory event (good potential to reuse a sumo bot).
c. Balancing robots are gaining popularity at other competitions.
9. Call to action:
a. We need volunteers for the organizing team.
b. Immediate goals:
i. Events
ii. Date
iii. Venue
iv. Web Promotion
c. Organizing Team meeting
i. Proposed for Tues, 9PM.
d. E-mail to Mark Moore: markleemoore@yahoo.com
Slides for this presentation are available on the web at: http://sulfur.vancouver.wsu.edu/cs471 (java section)
Bob Greenley & group %G–%@ first time here, attending after visiting the PARTS booth at the Lego competition
Lego Tournament Report: One competitor earned a perfect score of 400 points! The competition requires the robot to complete 10 tasks in 2 minutes. Robot builders are age 8 to 14.
Tim recommended Surplus Gismos (on of Cornelius Pass road, North of HWY 26). The local IEEE robotics group is working on a vision-based navigation project. (Roger Moore also has more info on this.) Tim is presenting an Eagle PCB seminar for a rocketry club this month. He will announce it to the PARTS yahoo list.
Greg: Recommends Make magazine for info on electronic hobbyist projects.
Rocko attended with a large display of robot designs based on amphibious animals.
Mark Moore discussed conversion to an OOPIC controller for his RoboMagellan bot.
Mike Carter (owner of Surplus Gismos) recommends http://www.robotmag.net. He brought some surplus parts from his shop. Mike discussed his start-up experience with the Eagle PCB design tools.
Jonathan Fant brought photos of his commercial robot product, a mobile humanoid design. He discussed his experience at CES. Interest in his robot included law enforcement, security, health care.
Paul recommends www.freeRTOS.org for information about real-time operating systems.
Stuart Caruk discussed his experiences in automating his machining shop. He held a door-prize drawing for a small robot arm. He also demonstrated the BipodRobot he is a distributor for. His web site (registered, but not up yet) is RoboNovaUsa. The robot performed rolls, headstands, and one-leg balance. Truly impressive was the cartwheel roll. The robot includes an Atmel controller board and 16 servos. Retail price is about $1000; less in kit form. Future enhancements may include a gyroscope balancing board and impact sensors.
Mark Medonis brought his animatronic head, Maxwell. Maxwell was a big hit with the kids at the Lego League competition. Mark discussed his mini-ITX controller and 12V (PicoPSU) power supply for Maxwell. Mark gave away 2 books on Imbedded Linux. Mark recommends the book, Building Power Supplies available from Radio Shack.