Atlanta Hobby Robot Club

March 2010 Minutes

AHRC RBMO March 13, 2010
Ben Axelrod gave a tutorial on programming Microsoft Windows using Microsoft Visual C# (pronounced "See Sharp"). Several of us built small applications using various Windows user interface components, such as displaying a button and writing code that responds to a button press.

AHRC Regular Meeting March 27, 2010
Show and Tell:
Len brought an older laptop he bought at the Kennehoochee Hamfest.
An Altera DE1 Development and Education board as used in a Georgia Tech CS class was passed around:
http://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?Language=English&CategoryNo=53&No=83

A short demo of FreeCAD open-source 3D CAD software was presented:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/free-cad/
ViaCAD was mentioned:
http://www.punchcad.com/products/viacad2d3d.htm

This year's upcoming Robot Rally was discussed for the first time. As no major rule changes are expected, there should be less discussion and planning needed, so this will happen during regular meetings and RBMO's rather than at separate planning meetings. Exact date is to be determined, though June and Septemmber were mentioned.

Technical Presentation by Kirk Charles:
Reverse Engineering Circuit Boards with Photoshop (or GIMP)
Kirk showed how to photograph and align in Photoshop circuit boards out of commercial products, and decode their workings and connections. One was a simple single-sided button control board from a VCR, the other was a double-sided board from a remote-controlled motorized toy. The complete circuit schematic was not determined, only the power, ground, output and control points needed to use the board's functions, such as H-bridge control inputs.

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