[chbot] Robotics Group meeting, Monday 15 June 2020, 6:30pm, 5 Idris Road

[Mark Atherton]

Hello everyone,

Several new faces this evening; welcome.

Good turnout with 22 attendees, and lots of huddles-of tech-talk. $18 + 
change (in gold, and flat-money) collected and transferred into the 
robotics loose-change jar (for later banking).

Quick reminder: equipment donations are welcome for the trading table, 
but no CRT based product, printers, toner or items that are likely to be 
a disposal burden. All sales from the trading table should go into the 
brown box on the wall, and are directly for the benefit of our host 
club, NZART Branch 05.

With thanks on behalf of the group, it's good to be able to meet again 
in person.

Mark Atherton

============

Graham Christie talked about his design and implementation for a novel 
ventilator which he created during the April 2020 virus lockdown. This 
was a long and interesting project, and much was learned.

Andy talked about some Ali-express failures, including a 5mW laser that 
turned out to have in the order of 350mW optical output - not very 
suitable for use in a public space as part of a beam sensing project !

Steven Graham brought a Misty II robot along to discuss. Quite a modern 
unit, with lots of sensors and plenty of connectivity, all programmable 
in java-script. One of our sneaky members hiding at the back of the 
audience managed to hijack it by Bluetooth, and drive it around the room :)

William demonstrated his home-made modular 200mm seven-segment clock. He 
also touched on the issues of getting the Chinese PCB manufacturer to 
also assemble the boards.

Andrew talked about his 3D printed home automation projects, and 
associated smarts.

Robin Gilks talked about Google Meetings, and related monitor sharing 
issues. He also talked about his latest Blue Pill STM32 environmental 
monitor project.

Brindsley Archer brought in his Creality Ender 3, 3D Printer. This seems 
like an excellent entry level machine with stock held in NZ, and a 
delivered price of around NZ$600.