December 8, 2012
Class : EZ Robot Board, by Thomas
Thomas gave an overview of the EZ Robot Board (http://www.ez-robot.com/). He began by asking people if they have tried programming a Roomba before, and how painful it was. Then, he showed how EZ this is with the EZ Robot board, by going over a video ( video here ) that covers how to add joystick and voice control to the Roomba. Thomas said he had this working in only 10 minutes.
Thomas then demoed some of Santa's behaviors.
Unfortunately, there were some technical issues with the computer and projector (not the robot!) so we didn't get to see all the details.
Business Meeting
Announcements
Patricia talked about an event that she is setting up called "Solder Sunday" at the Long Beach Sea Scout Base. She is looking for volunteers to present at the events, which will be the 4th Sunday of each month.
Richard came to announce the creation of the San Diego Robotics Club. He would like to organize competitions with RSSC, such as a Sumobot competition in March 2013.
Next month, we will collect voluntary dues of $10. Funds go to supporting the club, in terms of prizes, contest trophies, and occasional lunches (such as this month's holiday pizza lunch).
Walter and Ron discussed becoming a federally recognized non-profit organization, which may allow us to get corporate sponsors for better prizes, etc.
Officer Elections
President - Walter will return for a second term as President. Jim also was in the running but Walter won by a narrow margin.
Vice President - Bill
Treasurer - Ron
Secretary - Doug and Patricia will share the Secretary position next year.
Upcoming Classes (11:00 – 12:00)
| Month | Class | Presenter |
| January 12 | Dynamixel ARM Board | Martin / Jinux |
| February 9 | ROS Launch Files | Doug |
| March 9 | Creating Custom Hardware for Arduino | Bill |
| April 13 | Animatronics | Tim |
Upcoming Competitions:
January 2013 - Sumo robot contest
February 2013 - Fire fighting robot contest
March 2013 - Pick up a can contest
April 2013 - (Autonomous) Rock Crawler contest
May 2013 - (maybe) Walking contest
June 2013 - Hallway Contest
Annual Robot Talent Contest
We had another great contest this year! See all the details here : http://rssc.org/annual-talent-contest-december-2012
Show and Tell
Phil
Showed a power supply using a breakout board designed by Bill. He said it works great!
Sergei
Showed the Pololu Zumo and MinIMU9, which he got a great deal on at the Pololu Black Friday sale. He also demonstrated the stability of the MinIMU9 with a quick GUI that he set up in Microsoft Robotics Studio. He also showed an inexpensive parking sensor that he hacked to work with Arduino. For the meeting, he mounted them on a ladybug. You can see all the details on his website here : ( http://trackroamer.com/Sensors/parkingsensor )
Tim
Tim talked about the Crypt Keeper animatronic figure and some of the work he had recently done on it. It will be seen in the upcoming Tales From the Crypt marathon on FEARnet New Year's Eve.
Tim also brought in several other piece he was working on. Below you can see pictures of the stripped down robot Elvis bust, a working Elvis, an animatronic skull that recites (I believe) part of the warning message on the Pirates of the Carribean ride at Disneyland, and a couple of hexapod walkers.
