Pick-Up-The-Can April 2010

Submitted by admin on Mon, 2010-11-15 10:22

Robot Mechanics

This was our second pick-up-the-can contest. This time, we had autonomous robots compete. The first edition was RC-only. Way to go RSSC. This competition was cooked up by Thomas Messersmidt, hoping to one day fulfill his lifelong dream of sitting back in his lazy couch and order his bot to go pick him a can from the fridge. Now you got to realize that it is technically easier to point a cruise missile, launched from a submarine in the Gulf, dead-center in the 3rd window from the right, on the second floor in downtown Bagdad, than it is to make your bot do that for you (the main reason is probably because DARPA has not yet discovered the mighty military advantage in that skill). But do not dispair: the RSSC is here to fill the void. With our pick-up-the-can contest, we will spearhead research into this worthy cause and one day we will prevail.

Admittedly, by the pace we have been able to progress this skill, I suggest you put the DVR on pause and get that can yourself, before you dehydrate, but that is just a suggestion.

In the mean while, enjoy the pics & vids below, and start building your own competing bot for next years contest.

The rules for the Pick-up-the-can competition can be found here.

The results

autonomous

CAN-R (39 secs) by Jim Ubersetzig

NEXT (2 minutes) by James Welton

R/C

VX-9000 (31 seconds) by Craig Jeffries

The prizes

Our brave competitors went home with a complementary issue of Circuit Cellar, specially dedicated to robotics, and a full version of RoboRealm vision software.

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On top of that, our winner, Jim Uberzetsig went home with a SCON Technologies SB020M serial servo controller.

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The club has many more great prizes to hand out to any competitor, brave enough to show up with a bot. You don't even have to be a regular member. It pays to compete. Find out more about our prizes here.