[chbot] Robotics Group meeting, 5 Idris Rd, 6-30pm, Monday 18 Jan 2022

[Andrew Errington]

Robotics Group meeting, 5 Idris Rd, 6-30pm, Monday 18 Jan 2022

Hello everyone,

The first meeting of 2022 went well. I'll shamelessly copy Mark's
report format for the meeting summary, and thank you to all who
rallied round to make everything run smoothly. Apologies to those who
wanted to present something but we didn't have sufficient time.

Good turnout with 28 attendees, and lots of huddles-of tech-talk. $40
+ change (in gold, and flat-money) collected and transferred into the
robotics loose-change jar (for later banking).

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, Christchurch
Amateur Radio Club, NZART Branch 05.

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.

With thanks on behalf of the group,

Andrew Errington (for Mark Atherton)


Andrew showed a 3D-printed enclosure for a Morse decoding circuit and
battery box, which may have convinced some attendees to buy a 3D
printer. He also showed the recently-released PinePhone keyboard,
which turns the PinePhone into a tiny laptop.

Graham brought in a classic racing car radiator that he had made. It's
about to be sent to the North Island, but we got to see it along with
a presentation on construction techniques and a little history about
the car.

Robin continued on the topic of STM32 debugging with a brave and live
demonstration of the tools needed to access the on-chip debugging
functions to delve into the operation of the chip while it's running.

Dave showed the mangled remains of a rocket, and did a short
presentation about testing rocket engines, both stationary and in
flight.

Local rocket builders Ethan and Jack talked about their rocket, which
they hope to launch into space very soon. Much discussion was had
about telemetry and the potential of sending live video from the
rocket.

David wrapped up the evening in the car park with a demonstration of
the recently released Christmas Light Show firmware for his Tesla.