The Portland Area Robotics Society
Welcome!
We are an Oregon non-profit formed to help those interested in robots. Our monthly
meetings are open to the public. Everyone is welcome.
The PARTS yahoo group is
a lively forum for public interchange on robotics; anyone is welcome to join
the group. However, we will be migrating a lot of our online presence to our
new colaborative web space -- part blog and part wiki:
Visit the PARTS
Wiki at: http://colab.portlandrobotics.org
Whether online or in person, we offer an active group of people building robots
who are willing to help out anyone who also wants to learn about and build robots.
Meetings are the first Saturday of each month at 10:30 am, room 103 Engineering
Bldg., Portland State Univ (SW 4th Ave & College St.)
Next Main Meeting - September 4, 2010
Beginner CTL: Battery Technologies with Tim
Advanced CTL: TBD (Perhaps ARM / Camera / Ball demo)
We'll explain how to use the new GIT repository for PARTS projects, including the Brushbot codebase.
We're also running the Table Top Challege Level 1. Level 1 means: build a robot that moves around on a table top without falling off. Levels 2 and later will be at subsequent meetings.
Next Group Meeting - September 6, 2010
Time: Monday 9/6, 7:00pm
Location: bRainSilo: http://brainsilo.org/wiki/Location
Topics: brushbots, GIT repository usage, or bring your own thing to hack!
Upcoming Group Project Meeting Schedule:
- September 20, 2010
- October 4, 2010
- October 18, 2010
- November 1, 2010
If you are active in the group project, please sign up for an account at http://colab.portlandrobotics.org.
Previous Meetings
August 7, 2010
Beginner CTL: PWMs and H-bridges with Monty
Advanced CTL: None, though we hashed out details for the Table Top Challenge.
We planned to run PARTS Indoor Challenge again this month, but cancelled due to lack of participants.
July 3, 2010
Beginner CTL: Basic Physics Review with Jeff
Advanced CTL: Zigbee Communications with Pete
We're running the PARTS Indoor Challenge again at the August 7th meeting.
NOTE: we might not be able to get into the building and the room for the meeting. We'll meet outside the building if the weather is nice. Otherwise, we'll try to find a nearby location and leave a note on the main building entrance door.
June 5, 2010
Beginner CTL: Monty
Advanced CTL: Kinematics with Tim
We heard a brief report from Monty on Maker Faire, learned more about capacitors, and learned a lot about wheel contact forces, friction, traction, and other vehicle/driving surface interactions.
May 1, 2010
Beginner CTL: More basic electronics with Monty (Ls and Cs)
Advanced CTL: Dead Reckoning Calibration with UMBMark
We ran the PARTS Indoor Challenge again. We only ran stage 1 due to lack of programmed entrants. Pete's Rogue Blue was within 1.5" of the line and 8" to the side; Paul's robot "I Don't Have a Name For It" was within 16" of the line.
April 3, 2010
Beginner CTL: Monty reviewed basic electronics
Advanced CTL:
We had a pretty successful first try at the PARTS Indoor Challenge: four entrants.
Event #1: all four competitors gave it a try:
4th place: Brian with 23'4" short of the end
3rd place: Marc with 19.7' short
2nd place: Jeff with 11'5" short
1st place: Pete with 5' short
Event #2: no one was ready for obstacle avoidance; skipped
Event #3: three competitors made attempts; no one really finished,
though Jeff was declared winner as his made it back near the start
3rd place: Marc, DNF (did not finish)
2nd place: Pete, 24' (hit a building support column)
1st place: Jeff, 9'1" (did not round any corners)
The course turned out to be too large for the space. Next time we may go for
a smaller square, maybe even in the meeting room.
Event #4: two robots made attempts, no one finished.
March 6, 2010
Beginner CTL: We had a good discussion about how to mix 3.3v and 5v logic
Advanced CTL: Surface Mount Circuit Board Soldering (Scott Dixon, Monty Goodson)
Announcement: the rules for the new PARTS Indoor Challenge are posted. Get your robots ready for the April 3rd Meeting!
After the main meeting, the group build of the BrushBot controller took place. It was a great success.