[Robotgroup] Armadillocon report-

Mon Aug 14 12:36:09 PDT 2006

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If we were it would surprise the hell out of me, World Fantasy is more
of a  writers convention than a fan convention. It's a place were
writers and publishers make deals. If there is enough interest we might
want to start a once a month Saturday meeting to kids.

Tom

Def Egge wrote:
> 
> 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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>>
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