Oct 1995
AHRC - Atlanta Hobby Robot Club
Meeting notes for October 28th.
Bill Raser brought in some donuts for members to eat.
We had 2 new visitors at our meeting this month. We welcome
Tim Wimberley and Larry Daniel. Larry used to attend our club
meetings back when we met at Dekalb Technical Institute.
Larry Daniel handed out flyers from America.Net a internet provider.
Charles redwine opened the meeting by talking about
several new lunch box computers for loan to members.
John Gutmann showed a 5 minute video from the OMRON company
on Fuzzy Logic. This video showed a desk with a computer, phone,
file folder, chair, file cabinet, waste basket, and a clock
on the wall. There was a guy sitting at another computer with
a microphone for voice input, and a speech generation card
for computer voice output. This second computer also had a video
image capture card fed by a video camera pointed at the desk
arrangement. Some item was moved on the desk and the guy asked
the computer to describe what had changed. The computer then
examined the scene using fuzzy logic and described what had happened.
Copies of a 3 page handout describing the fuzzy logic application,
was passed out to everyone.
James Gravely commented that he assembled the version 1.0 of the
D/A convertor, but that it had some traces that needed to be cut.
Ringo Davis brought in a copy of the latest "Robotics Practioner"
He showed us where the BBS is mentioned in the magazine.
John Gutmann passed around several handouts. Some of the handouts
were from last month that he forgot to bring to the meeting.
a) COMRAD 2 way radio control that works up to 38k baud.
b) Vector2x Compass modules sample program.
c) Vector2x Compass description.
d) Vector2x Compass application notes
John Gutmann discussed the progress made on the Robot digital
bus he designed and Charles Redwine is making the printed circuit
cards. In this first version John assembled it turns out
some leads to the connector were turned over. This unit
could not be demonstrated, but Charles will make the modifications
and hopefully it will be shown at the next meeting.
Paul Burrel passed around photos of his robot he built for
a IEEE contest for region 3 in 1991. The total cost of the robot
was about $200.00 and used a 80C451 micro.
Andrew Tracy brought along his grand parents to see what all this
hobby robot stuff is about.
Paul Burrel also discussed a IEEE spelling contest he entered.
On this robot he used MPM3002 Hbridge chips. They are capable of
12A max load, and run 4 amps no load. This robot used a 68332
micro chip. Part of the contest required a ball pick up mechanism.
Bill Moffitt discussed his robot the built for the Fire fighting
contest held in Hartford Conn. For his micro he used a 80C451
and he programmed it in forth. He used (2) 6 Volt motors.
Someone mentioned that "Circuit Cellar Ink" is a great magazine to
subscribe to.
BREAK ------------------
During the break we all enjoyed sodas and donuts.
During the break John Gutmann took several photographs of robots
that others brought to the meeting.
10:00 AM we started the Technical program for General and Advanced
Class members.
John (DOC) Manges showed his video on the ROBOCAM.
He bought a toy Excavator from Toys-R-Us. Then he built a opto-
coupled interface from the parallel port to the transmitter
supplied by the manufacturer of the toy.
For complete details of his robot call the ROBOTS-R4U BBS
at 404-978-7300 and read bulletin number 35.
Calvin Grier borrowed the metal structure template for a standard
structure for hobby robots from John W. Gutmann. Calvin also
bought (2) metal 18 by 18 plates so he could build one of the
standard frames.
Charles redwine addressed the meeting by talking about
TTL and 68xx trainers that he has available for loan
to AHRC members.
Freya Harris mentioned we should reconsider the meeting dates
for November and December. Currently we have November 25th and
December 30th. The November 25th would cause attendance problems
because of Thanksgiving plans with family. The December 23rd
and for that matter the December 30th because of Christmas
and New Years holidays. After a short discussion we settled
on November 18th and December 16th as the new meeting dates.
Charles Redwine discussed the requirements for loaning out
equipment from the club. You must attend at least 3 meetings
before you are considered a member of AHRC. And you will need
to attend 50% of the meetings during a year to maintain membership.
Ed Larson discussed his under water "sphere robot" he is building.
One of Eds favorite stores is "Ronnies Hobby Shop" He found a
6 volt motor control that runs at 20 amps, and costs $50.00.
Andrew Tracy brought in a Ominbot robot he purchased at a flea market
for $20.00. Andrew also brought in a off road radio control truck.
He plans to use the vehicle for a mobile base platform.
Ed Larson talked about a 3 axis gyro that you can buy at
Ronnies Hobby for around $150.00.
After the last part of the AHRC meeting was over, several of us
stayed around and toured the back rooms of the building.
We determined that if we all showed up next Saturday the Nov 4th,
we could assemble shelves and make room for the next club meeting
in November.
After the meeting Bill Moffitt, Ringo Davis, and John Gutmann
stayed around until Charles new sign arrived by truck.
All of us helped to get the sign in place against the building.
Member of AHRC - Atlanta Hobby Robot Club
Member of REAL - Robot Experimenter Amateur League
Edited by John W. Gutmann
MEET10C
--
__ _ _ _ _ John W. Gutmann Robots R4U BBS - 404-978-7300
|__) |__| | | 0...@robot4u.atl.ga.us Member of R.E.A.L.
| \ | |__| ROBOT HOBBY; The Complete Manual for Individuals and Clubs
Voice 404-972-7082 Ans Machine - FAX 404-979-3660,,,,11