Minutes from the October 2002

CRS meeting:

Total attendance: 20

I got to the meeting an hour late, so I missed anything that was before then. Sorry.

Jim showed everyone his Lego robot that used shaft encoders. Jim used the standard Lego light sensors as the shaft encoder sensors. Good job Jim!

Another member then showed his Lego line follower. The robot was able to successfully follow a line following track. Nice work!

Next there was a discussion about the differences between the HC11, PIC, Lego RCX, AVC, OOPIC, and the Basic Stamp.

Jake talked about the PIC:

· Not everything in one big package...instead, you get what you need

· cheap

· easy to use

Jim then talked about the HC11:

· easy to download a program to

· several compilers

· small size

· easy to expand the memory

Scott discussed the Lego RCX:

· fast and easy to program

· only 3 input ports and 3 output ports

· a nice on-board LCD display

· programmed via an IR port (wireless)

John was up next and he talked about the AVR:

· fast speed

· no programmer needed (programmed via the serial port)

The OOPic was up next:

· easy to multitask your program using virtual circuits

· programmed in Basic, C, or Java

And then the Basic Stamp:

· easy to use

· slow (serial EEPROM is used for program memory)

Another member showed everyone his latest project which is a camera that can detect certain colors. For example a candle flame, or "furniture" from the Trinity College Fire Fighting Home Robot Contest. Very nice work!

The odometry contest was then run. The contestants where Jesse, Jim, Mark, Scott, and Walter. Everyone's robot did very well and at the end of the contest the results were:

Scott - 1'st Mark - 2'nd Walter - 3'rd Jim - 4'th Jesse - 5'th

Congratulations to all contestents and good job!

The meeting adjourned around 3:30pm