[chbot] Report on Meeting held Monday 16th May 2011

[Richard Jones]

Following the earthquake on 22nd February we have been unable to use our
usual room at Science Alive and have held a couple of meetings at the
Cashmere Club, with just 5 or so people attending. Our latest meeting was
held at Tait Radio Communications with 18 people in attendance. Thanks to
all those who came, and especially those who brought items to talk about.
Our next meeting will be held on Monday 20th June 2011 in Training Room 2 at
Tait Radio Communications, 175 Roydvale Avenue 6.30pm. See
http://kiwibots.org for info about our mailing list.

Here is a summary of what we got up to, please email the list with any
errors or omissions. Thanks.

Richard (me) brought along Lego Mindstorms, Micromouse and biscuits.

Robin showed us his AVR butterfly based controller for opening greenhouse
windows using temperature sensors and mechanisms largely built from skip
diving!

Charles brought along a sturdy mechanical prototyping workbench made from
18mm custom wood with a grid of holes sporting 6mm spiked nuts. Into each
hole could be firmly attached a range of handy attachments ranging from
clothes peg, battery drill, chuck, and a range of assorted supports. So far
its been really useful for coil winding and spray painting.

Paul brought along and talked about a university project based on an ARM
processor.

Carl brought along a prop scope and a $60 web server . See
http://dangerousprototypes.com/docs/Main_Page#Projects

Carl brought along Christopher who showed us nicely put together electronics
experiments kit from Dick Smith. He had it playing music, buzzing and
launching propellers to the ceiling. The instruction manual was well put
together with ciruit diagrams for each experiment. Highly recommended and
great value at about $50.

William brought along his clock based on some some scavenged timing
components, Picaxe 08M processors and custom designed displays.

Mark showed us some RFID chips and a cat flap lock arrangement for an
article that he's writing for shed magazine, and also showed us his
daughters picaxe based robot.

Jimmy offered to explore the possibility of meeting at the Polytechnic, and
showed a robot made from an $18 electroflash gearbox. www.electroflash.co.nz

Some photos of the meeting can be seen here,  thanks to Mark Atherton for
taking them.
https://picasaweb.google.com/113134050398543502524/ChchRobotics2011May16?authkey=Gv1sRgCPqpyfaB8pHDkwE&feat=directlink#

Jimmy suggested that we resurrect the challenges that we had run previously,
see the previous post announcing Mini Robot Wars.
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