February 8, 2014
Class: 11:00 to 12:00
John Willauer taught a class at 11am on how to install Linux operating system onto computers.
23 people attended his class. John demonstrated the use of linux utilities such as: lscpu, fdisk, mkfs.vfat /dev/sdb1, and provided detailed instructions for producing a live disk that allows you to try linux without changing the contents of your computer's hard drive http://www.pendrivelinux.com/ , or else install linux on your computer. John also covered the broadcom wireless driver, and linux versions available for the Beaglebone miniature computer.
Ubuntu images fo Beaglebone http://www.armhf.com/
A quick view of the latest Linux distributions http://distrowatch.com/
Announcement:
A major Linux event named SCALE will be at the LAX Hilton hotel, February 21-23. There will be conferences and an exposition floor with many booths for vendors and organizations.
Conferences cost $35 using promo code "tuxlg". http://www.socallinuxexpo.org/scale12x look for a Robotics and Linux talk in their schedule http://www.socallinuxexpo.org/scale12x/schedule
Break for Lunch 12:20 until 12:40
Business Meeting
$180 treasury balance
RSSC will be participating in the International Society of Automation Expo March 18-19th at the Carson Center http://www.instrumentation2013.com/inst2014.html We will be promoting our society and doing robot demonstrations.
RSSC will be participate in the National robotics week April 5-13, 2014 We voted to donate $75 to Boy Scouts of America, so we can have a space in National Robotics Week at the Sea Base in Long Beach. South to Pacific Coast Highway under second street bridge. RSSC registered as an event on the website.
www.nationalroboticsweek.org/events.php
RSSC will participate in the RCX Radio Control Expo a the Orange County Fairgrounds in Cost Mesa May 17th-18th http://www.rcx.com/ We will have robot fighting competitions, display or NAO and other humanoid robots, display of robots that have been on TV and much more!
RSSC will also particiapate in the next Orange County Mini Makers Faire. Dates and locations to be determined.
February 2014 Contest:
Firefighting Contest with many particitants from MtSac and RSSC. Congratulations to the winners! Thanks Prof. Martin Mason for organizing this fantastic event! Lots of prizes and thropies were awarded to the first, seond and third place winner. Congrats to Alex Brown out very own RSSC winner to winning first place!
Trial# Name Time .8 Touch .8 Home Rooms visited Score Place
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Snuffy 31s no yes 3 9.6 1st place
2 Snuffy 15s no yes 1
1 Rollo --
2 Rollo --
1 Ambitous --
2 Ambitous --
1 BTS --
2 BTS 20s no no 1 20 3
1 Zeus 1:07s yes no 3
2 Zeus 1:24s yes no 3 25.6 5
1 Mymphisym --
2 Mymphisym --
1 Extinguisher 19s yes yes 1 12.1 2
2 Extinguisher --
1 Insufficient 20 --
2 Insufficient 20 --
1 Dave (John Davis--
2 Dave (John Davis1:41s no no 3 42.3
1 B The Catasaur --
2 B The Catasaur --
1 Om Nom 2:32s no no 3 25.6 4
2 Om Nom 40s yes yes 1
1 Sunny --
2 Sunny --
1 Jonny V 49s yes no 2 33.3
2 Jonny V --
1 Wall-F --
2 Wall-F --
1 Woody 1:22s no yes 3 32.8
2 Woody 54s yes no 2
1 SRLyfe --
2 SRLyfe --
1 Nathan --
2 Nathan --
1 No4Bot --
2 No4Bot --
Photos provide by: Kids Talk Radio LA
Shown-N-Tell
Jim Ubersetzig described his efforts to interface a 3-dimensional sensor called Leap Motion to miniature computers such as the Raspberry Pi or the BeagleBone Black. Jim demonstrated the capabilities of the 3-1/8 by 1-1/4 by 1/2 inch sensor cabled to his notebook computer. Software installed includes ubuntu linux 13.10 operating system as well as the free Leap SDK (software development kit). The software provides x,y,x position and orintation for objects near the sensor, in a text format.
https://developer.leapmotion.com/
https://forums.leapmotion.com/forum/support/community-support/os-x/2218-how-to-use-leapmotion-sdk
Coming up Classes 11:00-12:00 every second Saturday of the month
March: Mars Rover Driver John Wright from JPL will update us on the Mars projects
April: Alex – Robotics Vision (http://opencv.org/ )with ROS and Leaf
May: Thomas - Chatbots
June: Tim - Reviving the animatronics figure from Tales from the Crypt!
Coming up Competitions
March: Sumo Robots – Two divisions one for adults and one for kids. Serigei sent his winning sumo code for his Pololu robot - search our mailing group for the code: https://groups.yahoo.com/group/RSSC-list
June: AI Robot (chatbot) (rules to be created by Thomas)
July: Mid Year Talent Contest ?
September: Get an object from the hallway (rules to be created by Bill) Object will be Calloway practice golf balls (orange plastic hallow balls)
An idea submitted by Bob Huss: I just thought of an idea for a future contest: You know how ants can move an object 25 times their weight. How about we have a contest for moving an object relative to the weight of a robot. In other words we weigh a robot and an object and if robot lifts it, determine the winner by the best ratio, (like lifting one fourth it's weight). A second part of the contest could be bonus points for autonomously getting the heavier object and putting it in a square 2 feet away. Bob Huss
Other News:
ServoCity has a scholarship for high school students
http://www.servocity.com/html/servocity_scholarship.html
