Minutes from the January 2007

Connecticut Robotics Society Meeting:

Total Attendance: 25

Due to several power glitches, we were unable to commence the meeting with our usual half-hour video. Instead however, John G. began the meeting with a brief introduction to the "Down & Back" contest which we would be running later on in the meeting (and hopefully every month).

Jake came up next with the usual introductions along with a tin of multi-flavored pop-corn!

Another member then demonstrated his latest gadget: a WowWee Roboreptile! He talked about what it’s capable of (including walking and simple programming) and gave everyone a live demo. Thanks for sharing!

Visar came up next discussing what he’s been up to lately: attending a university in Boston majoring in Bio-Mechanical Engineering. He also mentioned that he is planning on studying for a semester in Germany. Eine sichere Reise haben!

Al H., an independent film-maker, came up next with a demo of his latest creation: a prototype camera maneuvering thing (no doubt there’s a nice technical word for it that I’m unaware of) constructed using the Fischertechnik kit. In his discussion, Al not only explained what he was trying to build, but also gave a run-down of the various advantages to using Fischertechnik (including its ability to be programmed in a simple drag-and-drop style interface). Thanks Al!

George along with his daughter Melissa and her friends/team-mates came up next showing off their latest work for the FLL contest. In this very interesting talk, they discussed what the goals of this FLL contest were and showed everyone a video of the competition. George then ended the discussion by talking briefly about the MIT 6.270 contest. Great job everyone!

Someone else then came in with a quick demonstration of how Lego motors can be used as generators.

Art B. came up next showing off his school’s robotics program using the Lego NXT. In his discussion, he talked about the NXT (such as its hardware and software capabilities along with how it’s programmed) and also demonstrated a simple clap-on-clap-off program. Thanks for sharing!

Jake came up then with a quick discussion on light and how it can be split up and canceled out. He offered anyone interested a nice example of how this can happen in the room next door. Thanks Jake!

Next up was our first ever "Down & Back" contest. The competitors were James, George & Melissa, Mark W., John, Walter, Gabe, and someone else with robot "Boe". It was a very exciting contest and all competitors performed exceedingly well. However in the end, it turns out that George and Melissa won first place. Congratulations to all the competitors!

The meeting adjourned around 4:30pm