[Robotgroup] Local kids and robots
Tim Rueger
trueger at yahoo.com
Wed Jan 24 19:00:02 PST 2007
Betty/All,
There haven't been any regular Austin Texlug meetings
for a while, but I'd be up for an ad-hoc gathering sometime.
Also: I'll be helping out with an Austin-area Robofest
coming up in March (see below for more info).
There is an information meeting this coming Saturday
(see also below); come on out and join in!
-Tim
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------
>From: Diana Heinig
>To: aah-announce at yahoogroups ; AAH-Robotics at yahoogroups.com
>Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2006 2:02 PM
>Subject: [aah-announce] Robofest, Austin 2007
Kate Young and I are partnering to bring a Robofest tournament to
Austin on Saturday, March 31st. Robofest comes from Lawrence Tech
University and uses two automonous robots of any kind and any
programming language to complete the challenge. The challenge was
released today and it called Miner Rescue. See http://www.robofest.net/
to learn more. The tournament will be held at Hill Country Middleschool
on Walsh Tarlton.
Robofest is an affordable tournament with a nice community feel. The
focus is on programming, and in addition to completing the course the
team the team must answer an question and solve an mystery challenge at
the tournament. The cost to register is $60, so more affordable than
most other tournaments. Team registration opens in a few days. The
Junior division is for grades 5th-9th & the Senior division is for
grades 9th-12th. Teams can register for either a competition or an
exhibition, which is a robot performance of your choice.
We'll be looking for not only teams to sign up for our tournaments but
volunteers to make it happen. I have both technical & non-technical
positions to fill. Please let me know if you are interested. And feel
free to foward to any group or school you feel may be interested in
participating!
thanks!
Diana Heinig
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>Subject: [aah-announce] Robofest Info Meeting
>Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2007 23:48:51 -0600
>From: Diana Heinig <moonlit-hunt at earthlink.net>
>To: aah-announce at yahoogroups <aah-announce at yahoogroups.com>,
<AAH-Robotics at yahoogroups.com>
Robofest Information Meeting
Saturday, Jan. 27th
Howson Library, 2500 Exposition
11:00 a.m-12:30 p.m.
All potential teams, students, coaches, parents, and volunteers are
invited to attend. We will talk about the Robofest history, explain
this year's challenge & rules, show past competitions, and answer
questions.
Robofest is an autonomous robotics competition for students grades
5-12. The first Austin tournament will be March 31st at Hill Country
Middle School. The Houston tournament is April 14th. Finalists are
eligible to complete in the World Robofest Championship on April 28th
at Lawrence Tech University in Michigan.
Go to www.robofest.net to learn about this year's challenge and
register a team . For more information about the Austin competition go
to www.learning-links.org/robofest.html . Or contact me at
moonlit-hunt at earthlink.net.
Diana Heinig
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On Jan 18, 2007, at 9:15 AM, Betty wrote:
> Hi Tim,
> Thanks for the correction. Any chance the Austin group will get going
> again?
> My neighbor (whom I've never met) posted his blog on our neighborhood
> list
> yesterday. It was photos of a water main break but was preceded by
> this:
>
> "Friday January 12, 2007
> It's a Lego world
> [Rampant Consumerism]| Permalink | Comments [0]
>
> I'm in heaven. My oldest, Jack, is way into Lego building blocks. For
> the
> past 35 years, with only a couple of misses, Santa Claus has brought me
> something Lego for Christmas. Sometimes it was huge, sometimes not so
> huge,
> but always appreciated. Legos, for me, provide a link to my past.
> Heck, I've
> even got some on my desk at work. And now one of my sons has taken an
> interest.
>
> This Christmas, Jack (and I) really made out. First, Grandma and
> Gramdpa
> came down with a 50 lb suitcase full of all of the Legos that I've
> received
> over the years. All of the individual sets have been co-mingled into
> the
> most uber-universal building set ever. So, what is the first thing I
> do? Try
> to recreate my favorite set from yesteryear, of course. That set is
> the auto
> chassis, which is the first "technical" Lego set ever. It is pretty
> cool
> [photo of box 893]. I lost the instructions over the years, but,
> confirming
> my belief that everything is now on the Internet, I found a site that
> contains instructions for just about every Lego set produced. How
> cool. So
> far, Jack and I have built the engine (an inline 4) and much of the
> front-end steering assembly.
>
> Jack got two nifty sets - the construction crane and the passenger
> plane.
> Technically, the plane is a bit of a disappointment - too many of the
> pieces
> (esp. the fuselage and wings) are unique to the plane - they are just
> molded
> plastic with some Lego bumps on them. The crane, however, is a piece of
> work. I wound up doing most of the assembly - it is a little too
> detailed
> for Jack. I had him do what he could until he failed, and then I
> completed
> the task. The crane is extremely well-made - there are significant
> sub-assemblies that enhance the overall structural integrity. It
> really is
> impressive.
>
> I also got the Holy Grail - a Lego Mindstorms NXT kit. This is the
> robotics
> kit. Part of it is building the mechanics of a robot and part is
> programming
> it. The programming environment is quite nice. I'll use it until I get
> comfortable with robotics and then I'll probably ditch the OEM'ed
> environment and go with a Java-based one. These things can communicate
> via
> Bluetooth, which is quite provocative. I'd love to put together several
> (i.e. 10 or more) robots that can communicate with each other and try
> to get
> them to exhibit flocking behavior. Way too expensive, but a neat
> dream."
>
> Makes wonder who else living just down the street is into Lego
> (besides the
> obvious ten-year-olds)? And who else is inspired by their new NXT kit?
> It's
> still a top seller on Amazon (who no longer makes you buy through Toys
> R
> Us).
>
> I'll have to look at the TexLUG site again to see what's goin' on. And
> what
> used to go on here!
>
> Betty
> (at Sumobot I told you I'd just got the Unofficial LEGO Builder's
> Guide, and
> we entered a robot copied from David Perdue's book. Neither book has
> helped
> me much - I think a hobbyist club would be more inspiring and
> informative.)
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tim Rueger [mailto:trueger at yahoo.com]
> Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2007 7:48 AM
> To: The Robot Group Mailing List
> Cc: Betty
> Subject: Re: [Robotgroup] Local kids and robots
>
> Betty/All,
>
> To be more precise, TexLUG hasn't been active in
> Austin recently.
>
> TexLUG just had a very successful event at a children's
> hospital in Houston, and we're doing a booth again
> this year at the Healthy Baby and Child Expo in San
> Antonio March 2-4.
>
> But no, not much in Austin as of late.
>
> -Tim
>
> On Jan 17, 2007, at 9:10 PM, Betty wrote:
>
>> I talked to Tim Rueger at August's Sumobot tournament (which happened
>> when
>> the line-following event didn't get enough entries, I think). He said
>> the
>> TexLUG isn't currently active. That's all I know.
>>
>> Betty
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: robotgroup-bounces at puremagic.com
>> [mailto:robotgroup-bounces at puremagic.com] On Behalf Of Gray Mack
>> Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2007 8:05 PM
>> To: The Robot Group Mailing List
>> Subject: Re: [Robotgroup] Local kids and robots
>>
>> I didnt see a mention of http://www.texlug.org/ (Texas LEGO Users
>> Group) in
>> your email.
>> However, it looks like the austin chapter
>> http://www.io.com/~rueger/lego/texlugaustin/index.html has not been
>> too
>> active since their line following contest in June 2006.
>> Have they merged into one of the other groups you mentioned?
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----
>> From: Betty <bettydingus at austin.rr.com>
>> To: robotgroup at puremagic.com
>> Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2007 4:59:37 PM
>> Subject: [Robotgroup] Local kids and robots
>> Hi,
>> This is Betty Dingus. I've attended two meetings now, plus a Dorkbot.
>> I
>> uploaded an article about the One Laptop Per Child program a few weeks
>> ago.
>> I homeschool my eleven-year-old son, Eric, and we both joined the
>> Robot
>> Group last week (although Eric wasn't physically there). We'd heard of
>> the
>> group years ago from Bob Comer, our neighbor. I signed up for the
>> Meetup
>> group, also.
>>
>>
>>
>> I'm interested in robotics and teaching it to kids, although I'm
>> neither
>> technical nor an artist (my degree being in Anthropology). Locally,
>> there
>> are summer camps (such as the pricey IDtech , as recently discussed)
>> and a
>> tiny program at the Children's Museum. Most of the ongoing action is
>> in
>> contest teams, though. So here's the scoop about what Austin kids are
>> involved in (at least, that I know about):
>>
>> ...
>>
>>
>>
>> ______________________________________________________________________
>> _
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