Jul 08, 2006
Attendance: 22
Class:
Jess Jackson - Mechanical Drive Systems
Jess has built several beefy drive systems, a 6 wheel and a 4 wheel version are seen below. Also heard were several examples of how to align the wheels, including stuffing the motors in PVC pipe for alignment. Jess discussed his experience with chain drives with multiple sprockets shown below.
Business (12:45):
1- Planned Classes:
August: DARPA Grand Challenge (Martin)
September: Visual Basic control of servos (Tim Lewis)
October: Ultrasonic devices (Ron Rose)
2- Planned Robot of the Month
August: Jess's Hall contest robot
September: Jeff Dunker
October: Steve's Bucket-Bot (pending)
3- Special Speaker planned in August showing JPL's "Athlete" rolling/walking robot! Make extra effort to invite a friend is August!
4- No new news on the 501c status for the club. The check has not been cashed; not sure how much delay to expect in this process.
5- The Talent Show is being planned for November, Jeff Smith volunteered to be the coordinator.
6- Misc:
a) Don Fears has put together a very impressive photo album that spans several years of our clubs history. Make sure to browse through it in coming months,
b) Don Fears has also put together a club tool box for use during the meetings,
c) Jim Ubersetzig offered 2 competition ideas to promote practical solutions for home robot; they were "find an electrical cord and plug it in" contest and a "open a closed door and drive through" contest. Contact the SDRS Yahoo Group to discuss and/or join in the contest,
d) Authorization was given to reimburse Jerry Woods for the web site costs,
e) Shane indicated that geek.com is selling BOE kits for $55.
[Business closed: 1:05]
Presentations:
1. Robot of the Month: Don Fears (15 min)
Don shared his Chicago robot kit that the club adopted as an offical kit last month. Don says the kit is for "serious" beginners in that it involves a lot of soldering and commitment to build, but that it is one of the best learning kits for beginners he has seen. It includes a Basic Stamp 2 with a very good instruction manual for building and programming. A line following kit and a wheel encoder kit are available as options. Chicago Robotics Club
2. Jeff Dunker (35 min)
Jeff showed 2 projects:
a) the first was a line follower, of course, it worked great at home! Thank you Don Fears for making the club tool kit just in time! After a quick solder we were treated to a very, very impressive line follower that not only navigated the tightest map I've ever seen, but would pick up bottles in the way with a gripper, turn around and drop off the bottle, then return following the line. Very cool Jeff.
b) the second was the a voice recognition circut, also, of course it worked great at home! After several attempts we called in our Robot psychologist (Bruce) to talk to it; more therapy is needed before next month.
3. Jim Ubersetzig (5 min)
Jim attended the LA chapter of dorkbot.com hack session and was able to hack/learn about a vending machine bill recognizor, a car side mirror mechanism, and a roll printer.
Finished 2:15