Meeting
Minutes for Sat.Jun. 4, 2005
===============================================================================Pittsburgh Robotics Society
Meeting Minutes
Sat.Jun.4.2005 12:00pm - 3:00pm (3hrs)
Location: Northland Public Library, 300 Cumberland Rd, McCandless Twp
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I. Order of Business
No
business items were discussed today
We have two new visitors at this meeting.
One of which has decided already to become a member, Ismenio Sousa
We also have an additional member from Williamsport, PA -- Nigel Emms
We have two new visitors at this meeting.
One of which has decided already to become a member, Ismenio Sousa
We also have an additional member from Williamsport, PA -- Nigel Emms
Summer
is here...........
Due
to the summer vacation schedule between most of us, the following meetings are canceled:
Another meeting will be held
before SciTech in Sept., either on Sep.10 or Sep
24 to let us check everything on the exhibit.
This will be announced in the near future.
There will be impromptu meetings scheduled between now and SciTech about arranging the materials for the SciTech Exhibit.
However, the meeting place for these will be announced as it will not be held at the Library.
Sat.July
4.
Sat.Aug.6.
Sat.Sep.3.
The next Meeting is tentatively
scheduled for :Sat.Aug.6.
Sat.Sep.3.
Sat
Aug.27.
This will be announced in the near future.
There will be impromptu meetings scheduled between now and SciTech about arranging the materials for the SciTech Exhibit.
However, the meeting place for these will be announced as it will not be held at the Library.
Highlights:
At
the meeting we had some new people visiting our robotics corner of
Pittsburgh. Bob Greene and I
did our best to welcome them and make them feel at home. We also had our first trial run of the
Robot Sumo demonstration. Mike
had left his NanoBot with me to showoff at the meeting too--with it's
own nano arena. This time we
have
videotaped the robots running around. This will be on the website soon. We showed our new guests what our exhibit
will have and what w're working on to complete this. Bob also had a preview of the Promo Video
for our exhibit at SciTech this fall.
One
of the guests was from Wilkes-Barre Univ and they also have a robotics
club which he managed to get started. He was here during a semester break so we
might not be seeing him too often. Another guy from the local area was at the
meeting and actually collects Chess machines. Something which has a similarity to robots
in a way as some complex chess machines can actually move the pieces
themselves. We showed the new
guests the layout of our exhibit and our work in progress.
The
Sumo robot trial run proved to be very interesting. Bob and I ad built the SumoBots which were
donated by Parallax. The demo
code which was included with the robot looks as if it was robust enough. Bob had only downloaded the demo code into
his SumoBot. I had modified
the code to solve another problem, which Bob's version had too. For some reason, the Sumobot runs off the
ring sporadically without detecting the white stripe. But in turn it's robustness was weakened. It was apparent given how Bob's sumobot
beat mine more often than I did.
Mike's Nanobot was a crowd pleaser as usual. This was programmed in Follower mode using the IR proximty sensors. I made a quick and simple little playground cut from a circle of cardboard painted white for it to roam around. One of the new guys found it a constant thrill to see the Nanobot run after his hand.
Bob picked up enough 1"x 4"s for the mouse maze so we can finish the construction in due time. He also picked up the wood dowels so we can cut them into pegs to let us make the walls modular. We'll have an impromptu meeting to sort out the pieces for the mouse maze. I'll make an anoucement for anyone who likes to stop by.
Bob Greene gave us a preview of the Promo video for the exhibit. The video displayed a cross section of different robots from research projects to the hobbyiest. This was a good production with a soundtrack to go along. There will be some additional footage and narration to add later on too. Bob will go back to add some final touches to the video. We also watched video from the Grand Challenge team from CMU, Red Team from the 2004 race. Bob also brought in video from the CMU Mobot contest which was held in April this year.
See you next time !
Dan Roganti
Mike's Nanobot was a crowd pleaser as usual. This was programmed in Follower mode using the IR proximty sensors. I made a quick and simple little playground cut from a circle of cardboard painted white for it to roam around. One of the new guys found it a constant thrill to see the Nanobot run after his hand.
Bob picked up enough 1"x 4"s for the mouse maze so we can finish the construction in due time. He also picked up the wood dowels so we can cut them into pegs to let us make the walls modular. We'll have an impromptu meeting to sort out the pieces for the mouse maze. I'll make an anoucement for anyone who likes to stop by.
Bob Greene gave us a preview of the Promo video for the exhibit. The video displayed a cross section of different robots from research projects to the hobbyiest. This was a good production with a soundtrack to go along. There will be some additional footage and narration to add later on too. Bob will go back to add some final touches to the video. We also watched video from the Grand Challenge team from CMU, Red Team from the 2004 race. Bob also brought in video from the CMU Mobot contest which was held in April this year.
See you next time !
Dan Roganti
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Copyright © 2005 Pittsburgh Robotics Society - All Rights Reserved
