[chbot] Robotics Group meeting, 5 Idris Rd, 630pm, Mon 15 Sept 2025 report

[Mark Atherton]

Hello everyone,

Good turnout with 32 attendees, and lots of huddles-of tech-talk. $33 + 
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,

Mark Atherton

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

Mark mentioned that he is planning to present ‘Dolby Digital, the 
Backstory’ at our next meeting (20 Oct 2025). Primarily aimed at a 
non-technical audience, and should run for around 30 min.

Our guest speaker Roger Corbett talked about bouncing radio signals off 
of the Moon and back - Moonbounce. Fascinating, thank you Roger.

Robin talked about running at text LCD off of 3.3 volts, he also spoke 
about his point-to-point link using LoRa.

Steven Graham talked about a homebrew Air-Band receiver he had been 
working on.

Darren introduced his Mesh-tastic label printer which spent the evening 
printing local traffic.

Andrew talked about his full-sheet laser-cutter, and associated shipping 
container which it is stored in.

Interesting YouTube Videos:

This is a must-watch: Breaking The Creepy AI in Police Cameras 
youtube.com/watch?v=Pp9MwZkHiMQ

Not (directly) tech related; last month Graham talked about his 
interaction with Gen Z and some associated concerns. I have never seen 
such rapid attention from the group. Found some fascinating commentary 
on the subject: Why are young men falling further behind: 
youtube.com/watch?v=B257Ppi129k

Off Topic: You Are Witnessing the Death of Capitalism 
youtube.com/watch?v=gqtrNXdlraM