[chbot] Meeting Summary - 20 December

[Andrew Errington]

Hi all,

For the benefit of those who couldn't be there (and indeed the weather was 
foul, so thanks to those who did venture out!) here is a summary of what 
went on at the last meeting for 2006.

We had, I think, 8 people present, and two robots.  Mike brought some 
Christmas fare to nibble on, but sadly R2 could not be there as he was 
still on tour delighting fans at sold-out venues across the country.

As well as the usual geek-speak (which included a discussion of model jet 
turbines) we had demos and discussions of the two robots present.  First 
was a live demo of the AVRcam attached to Peter's robot.  We were able to 
watch a laptop screen connected to the robot show the position of a 
(brightly painted) wooden block as it moved around within the robot's field 
of view.  This was impressive, and more remarkable is the fact that the 
AVRcam can track 8 objects of different colours at the same time!

Richard showed the progress on his MicroMouse platform.  It was executing 
square turns on the tabletop, but was not yet tracking wheel rotations so 
the 90 degree turns were not quite 90 degrees...  This is still an 
experimental platform, but looks very promising.  I am sure there are a lot 
of potential MicroMouse competitors here, once we can see what it's all 
about (no pressure Richard).

Thanks to Science Alive! for the use of the venue (and the heating!!).  The 
next meeting is scheduled for 21 February.  I hope to see more of you there 
(outside the holiday season, and in warmer weather).

Best wishes for the New Year,

Andrew