[Robotgroup] Armadillocon report-

Mon Aug 14 12:19:30 PDT 2006

The young fellow's name was George Cav***os (I cannot remember the
spelling).  He and the young girl with the TroubleMaker shirt spent a lot
of time being entertained by the toys, 'bots, and projects.

Were we invited to World Fantasy Con?

All the best....

Mike

At 14:11 2006/08/14 -0500, you wrote:
>Only thing I might add was that I believe we got 4 new members and one shirt 
>sale.  A small boy, perhaps 10, was totally fascinated by the various 
>projects, and his mother was amazed that he seemed to soak it in. She sat 
>across the room for extended periods of time and let him just come and play 
>and poke around the RG table.  She couldn't believe that he could stay 
>focused for such a long time.  She joined so that her son can some and learn 
>some robotics.  With our later times for meetings, I am not sure if he can 
>really come during the school hear, but....If they come to the meetings, be 
>sure to take him under a wing or two and show him some techincal items.  I 
>think it is a great way to build some future creativity and enthusiasm for 
>the group. What a fun weekend.
>
>Thanks to all who came out and participated.  Are we going to be at the 
>World Fantasy Con in November?
>
>Denise
>
>
>>From: Vern Graner <vern at txis.com>
>>Reply-To: vern at txis.com,        Austin Robotgroup Mailing List 
>><robotgroup at puremagic.com>
>>To: Austin Robotgroup Mailing List <robotgroup at puremagic.com>
>>Subject: [Robotgroup] Armadillocon report-
>>Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2006 12:06:44 -0500
>>
>>Ok, I wanted to throw a bit of info about Armadillocon onto the list.. :)
>>
>>First the pictures:
>>
>>http://www.robotgroup.net/armadillocon28
>>
>>Don't miss Eric's dancing debut with the therepings!
>>
>>:)
>>
>>So, a show summary:
>>
>>The booth was completely setup and running a little after 10:00am.
>>Denise was nice enough to act as the "Hearse" for B0rkin Bob, (aka the
>>dungeon keeper) since the coffin wont fit in my car. :)
>>
>>The booth was in a corner of the dealer room and we had some comments
>>from show organizers that they might place us at the *end* of the hall
>>next time. Turns our many people came to our booth and stopped right
>>there, never getting to the back of the room. Our booth was a literal
>>show-stopper! :)
>>
>>Lots of robo-crew were wandering the halls. Rick manned the eggbot and
>>Eric made the babbling head babble with the help of the Haunt
>>Controller's power supply. and drove the Black Knight around a bit.
>>
>>We entertained folks with the Therepings using the Dungeon Keeper as a
>>PA system and talked to various folks that came by the booth. When it
>>was time for the "Automating Fear" presentation, we carried the dungeon
>>keepers coffin across the hall to the presentation room while repeating
>>the litany "Bring out your Dead!" :)
>>
>>Though it took a bit of time to get all setup, we had a standing room
>>only crowd and the people laughed and appeared to enjoy the
>>presentation. I don't know precisely how focused it was on the interests
>>of the type folks that attend Armadillocon as the presentation focuses
>>on the types of microprocessors used and software/hardware options.
>>
>>I think folks enjoyed the presentation nonetheless. We only had one
>>person leave "early" and that was after we had been on for about 45
>>minutes and someone standing in the back quickly took the empty chair. :)
>>
>>We then adjourned back to the booth and spoke to folks about the
>>projects we were working on. At the booth we had:
>>
>>XAR (Experimental Arachnid Robot) - Vern
>>RC-40 Bot - Eric
>>Tankbot - Eric
>>Robosapien - Denise
>>Robosapien Dog - Denise
>>S.U.V. (Shy Ultraviolet) - Vern
>>Babbling Head
>>Therepings
>>Haunt Controller board - Vern
>>Eggbot - Rick
>>Dungeon Keeper - Vern
>>Black Knight - Eric
>>Theremin Bot - Bob (on day 2)
>>
>>The table and area surrounding the robot group booth were FILLED with
>>lots of blinkin lights and babbling bots making for quite a traffic
>>snarl (hence the reason they would like to move us to the end of the
>>hall next year). I think we managed to obtain two new robot group
>>members thanks to the great efforts of Denise. :)
>>
>>We did have one person on day 2 complain about the shrill sounds
>>emanating from our booth to which Mike replied something to the effect
>>of "Yes the Therepings can be rather ear-drilling". The person responded
>>with "No I meant that squeaky sound coming from that silver robot! I
>>actually kinda like the Therepings". :)
>>
>>Also on day 2, we added a wireless video camera to the Black Knight's
>>"eyes" and used the video projector to display on the wall what the
>>black knight was "seeing" as he wandered about. Video Quality wasn't
>>good enough to use for remote navigation (i.e. Eric sitting in the booth
>>and using the video feed to drive the bot around) but it was more
>>entertaining eye-candy for passers-by.
>>
>>All in all, the displays we provided did add to the spectacle and there
>>really wasn't anything like our booth at the show. Lots of people
>>enjoyed our presence, especially the kids. However, as I type this, I
>>was hesitant to describe it as a "success" as I'm not sure *exactly*
>>what we were there to *accomplish*...? :)
>>
>>It was discussed that we use future opportunities of this nature to
>>either sell things for fund raising for the group, or as a way to
>>advertise for new members. I'm going to explore building a presentation
>>that details the groups history and activities and can be used to
>>encourage people to join the group.
>>
>>The title we played with was "From concept to concrete - making your
>>ideas into reality." or something like this... I think Denise and I had
>>a snappier name during a bit of brainstorming at the booth but I didn't
>>write it down.. (Denise did you?) :) I'll have it done right after I
>>finish robospin.. and SUV and uh.. hmm... ;)
>>
>>Anyway, it was a lot of fun and if you didn't come out, you missed out!
>>
>>:)
>>
>>Vern
>>
>>--
>>Vern Graner CNE/CNA/SSE    | "If the network is down, then you're
>>Senior Systems Engineer    | obviously incompetent so why are we
>>Texas Information Services | paying you? Of course, if the network
>>http://www.txis.com        | is up, then we obviously don't need
>>Austin Office 512 328-8947 | you, so why are we paying you?" ©VLG
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