We had a good turn out. The gold coin collection raised $23.20 for Science
Alive which was much appreciated. Thanks to all who came, and to those who
brought items to show and share. For those who could not make it here is an
account of what we got up to. Feel free send errors, omissions, additions
and suggestions for next session to our mailing list. Neville (Science
Alive CEO) visited briefly and mentioned that our members would be welcome
to contribute robot exhibits to a forthcoming robot exhibition at Science
Alive. More details as they become available.
Here is a link to pictures of some of the robots attending the event: 
http://picasaweb.google.com/rjchchnz/ChchRobotics2009October?feat=directlink

We started with the challenge to locate and push drink cans off the table.
Hayley came along with a Lego robot with an innovative pusher linked to a
table edge detector using a touch sensor. It performed really well and
Hayley gave us a good description of the software that drives it. 

Peter brought along the Roomba vacuum cleaner which did an eccentric but
effective job of pushing off all the cans. Peter also had his lawn mower on
display tethered by an electric field indoors, but also doing a good job of
cutting the grass verge outside while navigating away from obstacles like
walls.

I brought along a Lego robot with can lifter ready for next sessions
challenge to locate cans and lift them off the table. Next time I'll bring
it along with the software and charged batteries!

Simon showed a great video of a cup catching robot programmed as part of
the mechatronics degree coursework.
http://www.mechatronics.canterbury.ac.nz

Jimmy spoke about V-USB (formerly AVR-USB) and derived projects that can be
used amongst other things as a USB boot loader
http://www.obdev.at/products/vusb/index.html

Sanchin and Jimmy talked briefly about progress on the hexapod.

I showed the ATmega328 kits, Ladyada usb programmer housed in an old usb
mouse and a bootloader serial interface. Most of the kits were collected
and hopefully we will see some of these kits built into robots in future
sessions. I propose to hold a construction evening at Chch Creative Space
on Wednesday 4th November 7pm. I expect the primary goal of this session
will be to assist with surface mount components and program bootloaders for
those who want them. Bring you own tools and a tray or mat to protect the
tables. Phil says pizza boxes work well. Construction details on http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~rjtp 

Phil mentioned that Chch Creative Space will be closed for Kiwi PyCon 2009,
on November 7 - 8 http://nz.pycon.org/

Hanno spoke about 12 bricks and his forthcoming book to be published in
February. More details at http://mydancebot.com/

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 15th December just before Christmas, I
suggest we bring along some special eats to celebrate. Robot themed even
better!

Richard
 
Chch Robotics 2009 October
 

We had a good turn out, on another cold and wet winter night. The gold coin collection raised $11.90 for Science Alive which was much appreciated. Thanks to all who came, and to those who brought items to show and share. Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 20th October at 6.30pm.  Here is an account of what we got up to, feel free send errors, omissions, additions and suggestions for next session to our mailing list.

Following on the the Robocup Christchurch competition held on the 9th of August we had a nice collection of Rescue robots along:

Hayley demonstrated her 1st prize winning robot from the primary section. The robot performed nicely, running around all the obstacles, taking the green hint squares and pushing the victim out of the swamp. Hayley then gave us a captivating talk about how the robot software works and fielded heaps of questions. Thanks Hayley, and best of luck in the national competition in Auckland on 5th September.

Luke and Sam brought along their rescue robot and showed it running running on the tiles. Thanks guys.

Yuito brought along his sister and Dad and a rebuilt rescue robot that also started out along the tiles but did not complete. Thanks for showing us the new build.

Not to be outdone John (from Science Alive) showed us his rescue robot. That too ran but needs considerable work before entering into the wrinkly section of Robocup Junior! John plans to be a Dad by the next meeting date. Good luck.

Hanno showed us his new Robotic creation called 12 Blocks. Thanks for another great product Hanno, more info here: http://12blocks.com

Jill told us about the great programming environment from MIT called Scratch. If you have not played with Scratch have a go: http://scratch.mit.edu/ and of course show it to any young ones who might be interested.

Sachin and Jimmy told us about progress on the Crab / Hexapod. Next step is to order servos, prototype PCBs, locate some bearing supplies, and figure out mechanical design. More to follow on the mailing list... You can find Sachins robot designs here: http://sachin.surendran.googlepages.com/

Jimmy showed us his 4 wheeled robot platform built for a school project. It certainly ran nicely under our chairs and will have its brain fitted soon.

Peter stole the late show with his radio controlled lawn mower which lumbered around the room, flashed warning lights and had a threatening amount of power to the cutters. Next steps will be autonomous operation within a defined boundary and safety cutouts.

I brought along my micromouse, seen for the first time last session and showed the Eclipse IDE with the CDT and AVR plugins for handy AVR 'C' code development using the AVR-GCC tool chain. More info here: http://www.eclipse.org/

Phil showed us a USB Arduino board and also showed us around the development tools and how to move beyond the first LED flashing step. It certainly de-mystified the Arduino toolchain for me. Arduino a great way to overcome the first hurdle if stuck on either hardware or software development. More info here: http://www.arduino.cc/ Phil has listed hardware distributers here: http://code.rancidbacon.com/ArduinoNewZealand

You can find our mailing list archives or join the mailing list here: http://lists.ourshack.com/mailman/listinfo/chchrobotics

Richard Jones

Chch Robotics 2009 August