Subject:
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November 2002 SMART Meeting Notes
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.org.us.smart
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Date:
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Mon, 18 Nov 2002 08:12:21 GMT
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Viewed:
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1310 times
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Yesterday we had a great meeting. There was well over a dozen new people who
attended -- so many that I apologize for not having time to welcome each of
you individually, or spend time answering all the questions. I hope you
enjoyed watching, and hope that you'll come back. Feel free to bring a robot
-- either for one of the mini-challenges, or just something you've created
that you're proud of.
The mini-challenge we had at this meeting was to build a robot that could
climb a plank. There were lots of people who brought robots (including,
unfortunately a couple who didn't build one for a 2x8 plank, and hence
couldn't show their creations). Some of the robots were extremely creative.
A ratcheting robot and a robot that tried slowly extending a grappling hook
were some of the more unique ones, though all of them were interesting ones
to watch. Of course there was the minimalist 'robot' -- just a wheel
launched off a motor's loose axle also. The robot that climbed the steepest
slope would have to be Gus Jansson's, which managed to climb the plank even
when slightly inverted -- that is, at greater than 90 degrees. Thanks to
everyone who brought a robot! Too bad we couldn't spend more time trying
more angles of the plank. We were able to try 0 degrees, 22, 50, 70 and 90
degrees.
For our next meeting's mini-challenge we voted to do Token Finding: Build a
robot that will search for a black 2x2-inch square on a table, stopping 'on'
the square when you find it. Make sure you don't fall off the table either!
I suggest people attempting this challenge consider ways to accomplish it
without just randomly driving around the table, hoping to find it.
Doug Bell gave a demonstration of several different walking mechanisms for
robots, and a detailed description of how they work.
Finally we spent the remainder of the meeting discussing the various ideas
for a maxi-challenge. After a vote, the one we decided on was Figure-8
racing. I'll post specific details on it in the next day or two. For now, if
you're eager to get started, I'd suggest working on a robot that can stay in
the white area of the track, and broadcasts message 1 (or your robot's
"number") when it enters the gray area. There will be a strick size limit on
the robots, probably around 6"x8".
For those people who just need to know, Maxwell's Demons came in second, and
Crevice Crossing came in third.
I've posted pictures of the meeting at
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=28514
--
David Schilling
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: November 2002 SMART Meeting Notes
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| (...) David - Some questions about this challenge: 1) What are the dimensions of the table we'll be using? What is the corner radius? 2) Will we be able to pick our starting location and orientation, or will we all use a standardized one? If (...) (22 years ago, 1-Dec-02, to lugnet.org.us.smart)
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