Minutes from the January 2005

Connecticut Robotics Society Meeting:

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Total attendance: 25

The meeting commenced with a viewing of several different recordings of various Chinese robotic competitions including fire fighting, and soccer.

After this, Jake did the usual introductions.

Next up, John O. and Peter came up with a very interesting presentation on the FLL (First Lego League) competition. In this presentation, they explained what the contest was, and what it's goals were - to build a fully autonomous robot using Legos that is capable of accomplishing several different objectives such as moving up stairs, or placing "dinner" on a table. They also talked about RoboLab which is a programming environment similar to RCX code that can be used to program a Lego RCX brick.

After this very informative presentation, Peter demonstrated his FLL entry by having it run on an official track which they brought in. The robot was able to perform all the FLL tasks almost flawlessly! Great work, and thanks for the presentation!

Bill H. came up next with a demonstration of his fire fighting walker 'bot. This robot was able to move using four legs, without a single microprocessor! After explaining how the robot was able to do all this, Bill gave a short demo in the hallway by having the 'bot move around. Afterwards, he also talked about his "Vortex Shock Cannon" which he designed to actually extinguish the candle at the Trinity contest. This impressive device was able to create a powerful blast of air, putting out the candle very effectively. Great work!

After this, Mark W. came up with a translation of the Chinese manual snippet from last month's meeting for Jake (translated by a friend of Mark's). It turns out that the translation program originally used to convert the Chinese text to English, still needs some work... Mark W. also talked about some of the issues he'll be addressing in his speech next month. Thanks Mark!

Jake was up next with some robotic calenders he wanted to auction off. The winners were Jeff, Dan, Bill H., Daisy, and Andrew. Thanks Jake!

After this was settled, John G. came up with an introduction to the Robotic Mini-Sumo Competition. In his speech, John gave a brief history of the origins of the contest and also explained the rules and different strategies that are used by robots during the contest. John said that he should have the mini-sumo track finished soon so that we can try out this competition for ourselves. Thanks John!

Nathaniel came up after this and he gave a brief talk on some of the parts he recently found including batteries, sensors, and, best of all, an HC12 processor. Nice work Nathaniel!

The meeting adjourned around 4:00pm