This page is an accumulation of photos and comments from all the february wednesday evening FRR meetings.  Photos and comments are in approximate order of appearance each week.  Click on a picture to get a larger version.

The first wednesday meeting of the month featured some more older robots for new folks to see.  It was interesting, some of the more newer robots had low battery power problems that night, whereas some old dusted off bots just kept going strong!

The Robo-Magellan project had some more bits added to the robot.  Left is the mast and enclosed gimbaled digital compass.  The gimbals is still being worked on and the mast idea may be modified.  Presently its designed to fold down to the side of the robot for transport.  The Right photo shows the rear bumper assembly that wraps around the rear tail wheel.

Galen brought in his walker, we haven't seen it in probably a year.  Galen calls it Stomper for a good reason, it really does give a good stomp to the ground as it moves.  The robot will sound a insect like chirp every time its sonar sensor sees an obstacle. It then trundle's about trying to avoid a collision.

Dave's good old Chatty bot was fun to see again.  This bot has no goal but to be entertaining.  Its only sensors are bump switches on the ends.  The robot will play recorded speech as it wanders about and bumps into things.  The speech is some recordings of Dave with lots of effects to make the robot sound like a drugged chipmunk!  Its great fun and doesn't get old.

Ed showed a Sonar that can be had for surplus at about $10 each.  The only major problem, the units need 8 to 16 volts to operate.  The shortest distance that can be read is about 13" the greatest distance appears to be at least 10'.  In the back of the photo is Ed's first attempts at iron on transfer of the FRR 'logo' on a shirt.

Dennis Clark showed his newest robot.  The board is a new low cost design using the AVR tiny AT26.  The plan is to keep costs low for a new class Dennis will be teaching at the Front Range Community Collage.  The base is the ever versatile Mark 3 robot chassis.  The robot can be a basic Sumo, Line Follower or classic 'wander about and avoid bumping into things' learning platform.

Galen had his Mini-Sumo out for a few bouts.  The bot is also based on the Mark 3 chassis.  This bot has an odd problem, the tires keep coming off the rims.

Dennis had some more stuff to get rid of, for Nearly Free!

During the meeting Galen did some calibration with the 'official' Objects for the Object Grabber contest.  The cool feature was the use of an older Palm computer used as a very handy terminal for the robot.  On the screen is the Red, Green, Blue and total White values gathered by the color sensor system mounted in the gripper of the robot.

The Robo-Magellan project digital compass needed a gimbals system to keep the compass level as the robot moves over odd terrain.  Left photo is the gimbals system in its protective PVC pipe enclosure.  The tilt assembly is made from a single plate of PVC plastic milled out on a CNC mill.  The assembly allows the PC board to be keep level with a pendulum weight below it.  The right photo is the first of the Robo-Megallan PC boards.  This is a relay kill safety system using a RC car receiver that will plug into the board along with a classic big red panic button mounted on top the robot.

Dennis Clark showed some nifty strain gauge based whisker sensors.

Dennis L has a new innovative Mini-Sumo design.  The two IR range sensors are positioned so the sensors not only sense an opponent but also the arena edge.  The sumo uses the Acroname Brain Stem board, Lithium Ion batteries. Novel gearing allows the motors to sit on top each other but still have the wheel axles to be in line with each other.

The Robo-Magellan project has another board made.  This board is a buffer interface between a hand held GPS and the master processor.  The right photo shows the CNC cut PC board traces.

Dennis Clark, showed his latest efforts for the next Critter Crunch.  The controller uses a PIC to control high power relays to run the 4 X 4 motor, wheel robot.  The plan is to make it light enough to qualify as a 2 pound Critter Crunch, add weight for the new FRR Enhanced Sumo competition and maybe to use it in the normal RC human remote controlled Critter Crunch events.  For the meeting Dennis demonstrated the robot using RF remote control.  The relays control direction.  PWM signals with a power Fet controlled speed.  This design compromise allows for lots of power at a modest price.  If you listened closely, when the robot changed direction you could hear the relays operate.  Also a fun demo with the power off, spin by hand one motor and its twin on the same side of the robot would also spin with a slight delay, showing a motor can be a generator!