[chbot] Meeting Report for Wed 21st April

[jimmy allen]

Anyone remember the url where Timothy has put a copy of the code he showed us?
Would be great to have another look at it.


On 4/28/10, Richard Jones <rjtp at ihug.co.nz> wrote:
> Sixteen people attended on our first meeting this year without daylight
> saving. The gold coin collection raised $ for Science Alive.
>
>  Synco opened with a talk about problems with CAA approvals for GPS
> boomerang and his new powered plane with choices for autonomous and remote
> control to work around flight restrictions and address new markets. He also
> brought along servos adapted for 180 degree operation with additional
> resistors at the ends of the feedback potentiometer. The servos were driving
> a laser for test purposes but ultimately are intended to drive a tracking
> aerial. Hooked into the xplane flight simulator to track a simulated plane
> position the pointer looked very convincing with a neat swivel at times to
> overcome the lack of 360 degree rotation. See http://gpsboomerang.com
>
>  Timothy showed us the beginning of a football robot simulation written in
> python as part of the journey toward Junior Robocup football. The simulation
> accepts a mouse entered track and displays a graphic that turns in the
> direction of travel. Bravely Timothy also showed us the source code and
> walked us through its operation.
>
>  Hanno gave us a preview of his new robot development called TBot destined
> for schools. It has dual geared motor drive with rototion sensors on large
> wheels, 5 line following sensors, zigbee, bluetooth, usb, speaker,
> microphone, tri colour LED with a target price of $50 US. It interfaces to
> the 12 blocks programming environment and is based on the Parallax
> Propeller. The robot will recharge its batteries through the USB cable.
> Holes in the top plate accept many extensions such as Meccano, Lego and Vex.
> Further details on http://hannoware.com <http://honnoware.com/> as they
> become available.
>
>  Timothy took to the floor again and showed further developments on his
> tethered under water robot (ROV) made from electric motors, brass
> propellers, drain pipe directional tubes and polystyrene to achieve neutral
> buoyancy. Timothy showed a video of an ROV conducting a set of tasks for a
> competition in the US.
>
>  Charles brought along a vacuum forming jig for making model Dalek parts and
> had a number of different materials that he had vacuum formed.
>
>  Kay showed us his walking legs now with an energetic gait and steerable
> zimmer frame that walked rapidly across the car park.
>
>  Thanks to all who came and especially those who brought things to show. Our
> next meeting is planned for Wednesday 16th June. See http://kiwibots.org for
> final date and directions.
>
> Richard Jones
>