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In lugnet.org.us.lrgoaa, Jona Jeffords wrote:
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I think the lack of theme crossover is another big reason we haven’t gotten
together in the past. Looking forward, I can imagine a “show” which has some
of our robots wandering around one of your layouts, or something similar.
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I’m not sure there’d be enough room to have fully functional robots actually
wandering around on an actual theme layout (especially ones with moving trains
that could get derailed), but I can think of two options that could work.
Robotics could be added to an existing layout to help automate certain aspects
of it (RCX control on a Monorail system would be cool), or a table could be set
up to give your creations room to run around doing various challenges.
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This is confusing to me, but I am not close to the group.
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I’m pretty new to MichLUG, so I wasn’t around when all of this happened.
However, my understanding is that MichLTC had been around for a few years as an
organized club, but some of the members wanted to branch out into other themes.
MichLUG was formed to be a general catch-all organization, with the ability to
incorporate sub-organizations. MichLTC was grandfathered in as the first (and
currently only) sub-organization, which is somewhat amusing when you consider
the fact that MichLTC is more active than MichLUG.
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If I remember correctly, when I searched for LEGO robotics groups in
Michigan 3 years ago and I found MichLUG as a LEGo group, I was excited and
disapointed all at once. The lack of MindStorms as a theme for your group
was a contributing factor to my decision to start my own group.
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The only reason MINDSTORMS isn’t a theme of MichLUG is because noone has really
brought it into the group yet. Yes, there are a couple of members who use RCX
modules to control various aspects of layouts, but I don’t think that anyone
really concentrates on the sort of robotic creations that groups like LRGOAA and
rtlT do. When I started attending meetings last May, I was the only person
there who really did anything with BIONICLE parts, but I’ve already got at least
one other member seeing potential building applications for Space MOCs.
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Our monthly meetings are held in a busy, Main St. coffee shop with tons of
passersby. We always draw attention from the other patrons and often get good
questions from interested parties. Our events tend to be held in a member’s
house because they are not usually large enough to justify the cost involved
in holding them in a public venue.
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That’s the nice thing about doing shows. If you’re not getting paid to
participate, you’re at least not getting charged either (well, maybe parking).
Once the event coordinators realize how much of a draw a LEGO display is,
they’ll be all over it. MichLUG was one of two clubs that was put up front by
the door at Novi Toy & Hobby Expo last December.
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We had great success with Sumo-bot 5 this past September though. This was by
far the largest event we have held and it was in a public location drawing
participants from Indianna and Wisconsin.
There is a local professional group of software engineers who have invited us
to stage an event as part of one of their meetings too. There is definately
public interest in MindStorms and robotics in general.
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I was referring more to large public venues, like the Great American Train
Shows, Motor City Comic-Con, or Novi Toy & Hobby Expo, but any capacity to
interact with the public is great.
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