Hi,

Sorry to have missed this earlier, I'm
out of town on vacation right now.

There was no meeting yesterday.  I haven't
set up any TexLUG Austin meetings recently
due to lack of interest.  Future meetings
will be announced as they are scheduled.

See:

   http://www.centraltexasfll.com/

for details on the FLL tournament to be
held at UT Austin in January 2007.

-Tim

--- ingrid3801 <ingrid@...> wrote:

> Is there a TexLUG Austin meeting tomorrow?
>
> Per the First Lego League website, the only remaining tournament in
> Texas this year is in December in Amarillo. There is not going to be
> one here in Austin? Amarillo is so far away...
> http://www.firstlegoleague.org/
>

Is there a TexLUG Austin meeting tomorrow?

Per the First Lego League website, the only remaining tournament in
Texas this year is in December in Amarillo. There is not going to be
one here in Austin? Amarillo is so far away...
http://www.firstlegoleague.org/

All,

This Sunday's TexLUG Austin meeting is
cancelled.

The robotic line follower contest
scheduled for 6/11 has been postponed.
Look for an announcement here for a
future date.

Future TexLUG Austin gatherings will be
announced as they are arranged.

-Tim

All,

Come on by the next Austin TexLUG meeting this coming
Sunday.  (And yes, it *is* on Mother's Day.  Show your
Mom you love her by getting out of the house for a
couple hours!)  Particulars are below.

If you have a creation to show, bring it.  I'll be
bringing tiles for the upcoming line-following
contest (the paint is drying as I type this), so if
you'd like to try out your 'bot before the 6/11
contest, now's the time.

For contest details, see:

    http://www.io.com/~rueger/lego/texlugaustin/line2006/

See you there...

-Tim

------------------------------------------------------------
Date: The second Sunday every month (next meeting 5/14/06).
Time: 2:30pm-5:30pm
Location:
       Austin Public Library, Little Walnut Creek Branch
       835 W. Rundberg Ln.
       Austin, TX 78758
       (Just west of the Lamar/Rundberg intersection)
Phone: (512) 836-8975
URL: http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/library/little_walnut.htm
(has map link)

Come on out and join in the fun!
------------------------------------------------------------

All,

Today's the day the folks in the NXT developer's
program were released from NDA, so there's
lots of new information being released.

I've been following these links to stay up on
things:

    http://thenxtstep.blogspot.com/
    http://mindstorms.lego.com/
    http://www.nxtbot.com/
    http://www.nxtclub.com/
    http://www.brick-labs.com/

Also, the lego-robotics list can be read via:

    http://www.nabble.com/LEGO-Robotics-f2053.html
    http://news.lugnet.com/robotics/

Does anyone else have others to share?

-Tim

Folks,

The Austin chapter of the Texas Lego Users Group
(TexLUG) is holding a robotic line following contest
on June 11, 2006.

In this line following contest, robots attempt to
complete a specified race course by following
a black line on a white background.  The robot
completing three laps of the course in the shortest
time is the winner.

There will be two age groups for the competition,
under 13 years old, and 13 years and up.

Complete rules may be found here:

    http://www.io.com/~rueger/lego/texlugaustin/line2006/

as well as helpful links to other line following
robots.

-Tim

All,

The next Austin TexLUG meeting will be this coming
Sunday, April 9.  Come on out and show off what
you've been working on!

If you have questions about Mindstorms NXT, come
by and we'll see if we can help you with the
answers.  (The library's wifi is A Nice Thing.)

See you there!

-Tim

------------------------------------------------------------
Date: The second Sunday every month (next meeting 4/9/06).
Time: 2:30pm-5:30pm
Location:
       Austin Public Library, Little Walnut Creek Branch
       835 W. Rundberg Ln.
       Austin, TX 78758
       (Just west of the Lamar/Rundberg intersection)
Phone: (512) 836-8975
URL: http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/library/little_walnut.htm
(has map link)

Come on out and join in the fun!
------------------------------------------------------------

Folks,

Attending the 3/12 TexLUG Austin meeting were:

    Louis Davis
    Lee Rahe
    Tim Rueger
    Ed Southerland

Ed brought a few more of his custom minifigs, but most
of his MOCs were really nice xpod-based spaceships.  I
really liked his stylings in various space themes,
including Blacktron, M:Tron, Ice Planet 2002, Spyrius,
and Life on Mars.

Lee proudly showed off some excellent-condition pieces
from his recent vintage Lego acquisitions.  I, for one,
was very impressed with the details that Lego's
injection molding was achieving in the late 50's and
early 60's.

Louis was a first-time attendee; he got a Mindstorms kit
around Christmas, and was looking for help and ideas on
what to do with it.

On that note, I showed a simple line following robot
from Jonathan Knudsen's O'Reilly Mindstorms book to
demonstrate an upcoming line-following robotics contest.
Look for rules and schedules to be posted in the next
week.

Adminstrivia: I'd mentioned to a few folks that the
Little Walnut Creek library was scheduled to be closed
for remodeling in May 2006.  However, the remodeling has
been delayed some months, so I'm working on extending
our 2nd-Sunday meeting slot reservation there for as
long as possible.

Please keep in mind that we will eventually have to find
a new place to meet.  If you have any good suggestions,
please pass them along (either to the list or by private
email).

Play well,
-Tim

------------------------------------------------------------

Brickshelf gallery:

    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=174175

Lee, Louis, and Ed:

    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1682709

Ed's MOCs:

    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1682715
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1682716
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1682717
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1682718
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1682719
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1682720
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1682721
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1682722
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1682723

Lee's vintage Lego:

    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1682710
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1682711
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1682712
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1682713
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1682714

Jonathan Knudsen's simple line following robot:

    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1682724
    http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/lmstorms/

------------------------------------------------------------

All,

The next Austin TexLUG meeting will be this Sunday,
March 12.  It's been a few months since we've
gotten together, so come on out and show off what
you've been working on!

I'll be shortly announcing and posting rules for
a line following and maze solving robotics
contest, just to keep y'all sharp while we await
Mindstorms NXT.  Look for a demo at the meeting.

I'll also be bringing the mountains that I
provided for the recent display in San Antonio,
along with my photos from the event.

See you there!

-Tim

------------------------------------------------------------
Date: The second Sunday every month (next meeting 3/12/06).
Time: 2:30pm-5:30pm
Location:
       Austin Public Library, Little Walnut Creek Branch
       835 W. Rundberg Ln.
       Austin, TX 78758
       (Just west of the Lamar/Rundberg intersection)
Phone: (512) 836-8975
URL: http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/library/little_walnut.htm
(has map link)

Come on out and join in the fun!
------------------------------------------------------------

I have been wanting a UCS Y-Wing lego model. So I put
that on my watch list for BrikLink.

There is a seller in Germany who has set his price at
$79.99. Since this set is selling in other places for
$130, I was all hot to press the buy button. BUT he
wants to sell in lots of 5.

If there are 4 others out thier that would like to
take advantage of this deal, then perhaps we can team
up? We need to hurry though as he has only 1 lot of 5.


Please contact me if you would like more info.

Folks,

My wife and I will be traveling 12/29 to 1/9,
so I won't be attending the TexLUG Austin
meeting on Sunday, 1/8.  (I tried to find an
alternate venue and/or time, to no avail.)

The procedure for the meeting room at the
LWC library is very easy; whoever gets there
first, just ask someone at the front desk for
the key to the meeting room.  Also, make
sure the room is back in its prior state when
you lock up to leave.

The next following scheduled time is Sunday,
February 12.

-Tim

------------------------------------------------------------
Date: The second Sunday every month (next meeting 1/8/06).
Time: 2:30pm-5:30pm
Location:
        Austin Public Library, Little Walnut Creek Branch
        835 W. Rundberg Ln.
        Austin, TX 78758
        (Just west of the Lamar/Rundberg intersection)
Phone: (512) 836-8975
URL: http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/library/little_walnut.htm
(has map link)

Come on out and join in the fun!
------------------------------------------------------------

Folks,

Attending the 12/11 TexLUG Austin meeting were:

    Kurt Baty
    Lee Rahe
    Tim Rueger
    Ed Southerland

Kurt stopped in briefly on a trip back from Houston
Saturday evening, but mentioned plans of a steamship
with (pnuematic cylinders) to go with his other Texas
navy sailing ships.

Ed brought yet another collection of his cool custom
minifigs.  Ed's in the middle of moving into a new
house, so his Lego work is a little stalled while he
gets settled in.

Lee brought a good-condition copy of "Wir bauen mit
Lego", an idea book from 1967.  Scans can be found here:

    http://www.peeron.com/scans/239-1/

I took some photos of pages that I really liked; I
really liked the huge micro-scale cityscape.

I was unaware of Lego's Shop @ Home's vintage set
auctions on eBay until Lee pointed them out to me:

    http://shop.lego.com/ebay/default.asp

I showed off a version of a square-wheeled vehicle (!),
which Philo Hurbain posted to LUGNET a few days earlier:

    http://news.lugnet.com/technic/?n=14938&t=i&v=a

Finally, Ed, Lee, and I discussed some ideas for the
upcoming Healthy Baby and Child Expo in SA on
March 3-5.  We discussed a Harry Potter train station
(Lee), a Mos Eisley spaceport (Ed), and an updated
monorail mountain (Tim).  Time is getting short,
though, to include any new nontrivial building for the
event (March 3-5).

-Tim

------------------------------------------------------------

Brickshelf gallery:

    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=158583

Selected pages from Wir bauen mit Lego:

    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1533829
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1533830
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1533831
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1533832
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1533833
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1533834
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1533835
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1533836
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1533837
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1533838
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1533839
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1533840

Ed's latest custom minifigs:

    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1533841
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1533842
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1533843

All,

I've been helping out the "Yellow Submarines", a
homeschool team in this year's First Lego League
challenge:

    http://www.firstlegoleague.org/default.aspx?pid=70

Their tournament was held here in Austin on 12/10.  A
homeschool team from San Antonio won the tournament
again this year:

    http://news8austin.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=151648

http://digital.ni.com/worldwide/bwcontent.nsf/web/all/
DCA7F3ABB469390F862570D5005756A9

Below is a recap by Diana Heinig, the leader of the
Yellow Submarines.  Her son, Evan Ryker, did rather well
in our sumobot contests earlier this year, so I was very
eager to see how they did.

I've also posted my photos from the event here:

    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=158599

-Tim

----------------------------------------

The Austin tournament was yesterday.  27 teams competed.
Undersea United, a homeschool team from San Antonio, won
the Director's Award and the Robot Performance award.
Great White Bots, a homeschool team, from Temple won the
Project Award.  The Pirates, a homeschool team from San
Antonio, won the teamwork & spirit award.  That team had
the high scores of the day in all the morning rounds,
with a high of 305 (I believe).  But something happened
in the first round of the finals, and they only got 197.
My team, The Yellow Submarines and also homeschoolers,
won first place in Robot Design.

I don't know if any team could have taken more of a
roller coaster of a ride than we did.  Luckily, our
technical presentation was first on our schedule.  The
judges gave the boys some pretty big compliments on
their robot, and I could tell they were impressed.  We
went out for our first round, and scored 52 points.  We
went with there a possibility of 300 and our most
reliable program failed right off the bat.  They had an
attachment that could get all the flags in one sweep,
but the change out for that was a bit complicated and
they fumbled there.  We had ice here in Austin on
Thursday, and we had to cancel our all-day work meeting
when we had hoped to polish those things.  2nd round
same thing--52 points.  Our misbehaving robot had even
gone over to wreck the green fish, undoing those points.
In the final round, our tweaking pays off and we get 185
points, and move from 2nd to last to the finals.

We hurry through a lunch of practically inedible pizza,
run out for our techinal call-back too early, wait out
there anyway, get back with 10 minutes before the finals
when the team finds a piece that some how got switch
around early in the day and has been causing all the
problems.  But, of course, when they switch back around
our earlier tweaking has changed everything.  Things
deteriorate further as we didn't get the robot put back
together right and we were losing parts on the table.
We again score 52 points (good old reef).  I actually
thought there was only one Robot Design award, and that
was awarded, and then a 2nd place.  And then he started
describing our robot!  We were sitting against the
backwall, and the boys starting standing because it was
obvious that it was us!  A lot of complimentary things
were said about our robot, and they even mentioned that
what they saw in the judging room had nothing to do with
the performance of the robot in the rounds. So even
though our robot didn't perform well, we got recognition
for it and it was a proud moment!

Over all it was a well organized event.  Last year I was
a parent in the stands, and I had no real appreciation
everything going on behind the scenes.  What a lot of
hard work!  I thought the judges and volunteers were
great.  My team had a great experience.  Some of them
look forward to next year.  My son turns 15 in two
weeks, so we will be looking on to other robotic
challenges.

----------------------------------------

All,

The next Austin TexLUG meeting will be this Sunday,
December 11.  It's been a little quiet lately
in TexLUG land, so come on out and show off what
you've been working on!

I'll be bringing photos of this Saturday's First
Lego League meet in Austin.  Come by to see
what the teams came up with to solve this year's
Ocean Odyssey challenge:

    http://www.firstlegoleague.org/default.aspx?pid=70

I'll also have an 8455 Backhoe Loader to demo.
It's an out-of-print set that I finally got
recently.  It's a pneumatic marvel.

See you there!

-Tim

------------------------------------------------------------
Date: The second Sunday every month (next meeting 12/11/05).
Time: 2:30pm-5:30pm
Location:
       Austin Public Library, Little Walnut Creek Branch
       835 W. Rundberg Ln.
       Austin, TX 78758
       (Just west of the Lamar/Rundberg intersection)
Phone: (512) 836-8975
URL: http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/library/little_walnut.htm
(has map link)

Come on out and join in the fun!
------------------------------------------------------------

Christi,

That's a cool idea.  I keep forgetting that not
everyone who does Mindstorms is an engineer
geek like myself.

There are lots of neat art and music creations
out there using the RCX; what would a "contest"
for that be like?  At our regular large meetings,
we often give out prizes for building creations.
People vote for what they think is cool, and
whoever gets the most votes wins.

It'd be super-cool to get people involved that
way, too.

Also, I'll have to get with Kevin Clague to see
if his one of his amazing walkers can play
Dance Dance Revolution.  And I'm only
half-joking:

    http://www.kclague.net/

-Tim

On Dec 2, 2005, at 10:43 AM, Christi Sanchez wrote:

> Tim,
>  
> My young daughter enjoys programming her bots to dance.  Maybe a fun
> little dance contest with music?  I know, not such a  technical theme,
> but a lot of fun!
>  
> Christi Sanchez
> mother of Julia - 6
>  
> ----- Original Message -----
>  From: Tim Rueger
> To: texlug-austin@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Friday, December 02, 2005 7:47 AM
> Subject: [texlug-austin] future robot contest ideas?
>
> Folks,
>
> I'm looking for good ideas for future robotics
> contests.  The sumo contests have been a lot of
> fun, and we can keep doing those, but I'm
> thinking we might be able to do other contests.
>
> Ideally, they'd be ones that work well for a wide
> range of ages: interesting enough for pros,
> but doable enough for younger builders.
>
> I've been following the contests at rtl.toronto
> and ChiBots:
>
>    http://peach.mie.utoronto.ca/events/lego/
>    http://www.chibots.org/
>
> and I'm thinking a line-following contest might
> be a good next step for us.  What would be
> some other cool ideas?
>
> There is a FLL competition in Austin on 12/10 (a
> week from Saturday), that I have permission
> to distribute TexLUG flyers at.  Last year I used
> this to announce the first sumo contest, and I'd
> like to have a similar contest announcement
> for early next year with the flyers.
>
> Many thanks,
> -Tim

Clendon,

Yes, that's essentially what the Chibots line
following contests do.  Their setups are made
with 12" "tiles" of track for robots to follow:

    http://www.chibots.org/contests/rules/basiclinerules.html

I'm considering making a bunch of 10" squares
out of masonite.  They'd have straight or curved
segments, and cover two or three of the 30x60"
tables that I've built for Lego train displays.  (The
10" unit is really 32 Lego studs, so the tables
are 96x192 studs each.)

And with branching tiles, one could also make
mazes.

Can anyone help me build up a tile set?  Email
me privately.

I think I can move all that stuff in my Honda Civic.
This is an unfortunate additional constraint on
future contests: transporting the 48" sumo arena
is hassle enough.

-Tim

On Dec 2, 2005, at 9:01 AM, Clendon Gibson wrote:

> Maze navigation might be a good one. You could define
>  the walls of the maze with black tape instead of using
>  some vertical walls. Whichever robot navigates the
>  maze in the least time over some number of trials
>  wins.
>
>  --- Tim Rueger <trueger@...> wrote:
>
>  > Folks,
>  >
>  > I'm looking for good ideas for future robotics
>  > contests.  The sumo contests have been a lot of
>  > fun, and we can keep doing those, but I'm
>  > thinking we might be able to do other contests.
>  >
>  > Ideally, they'd be ones that work well for a wide
>  > range of ages: interesting enough for pros,
>  > but doable enough for younger builders.
>  >
>  > I've been following the contests at rtl.toronto
>  > and ChiBots:
>  >
>  >    http://peach.mie.utoronto.ca/events/lego/
>  >    http://www.chibots.org/
>  >
>  > and I'm thinking a line-following contest might
>  > be a good next step for us.  What would be
>  > some other cool ideas?
>  >
>  > There is a FLL competition in Austin on 12/10 (a
>  > week from Saturday), that I have permission
>  > to distribute TexLUG flyers at.  Last year I used
>  > this to announce the first sumo contest, and I'd
>  > like to have a similar contest announcement
>  > for early next year with the flyers.
>  >
>  > Many thanks,
>  > -Tim
>  >
>  >
>  >
>
>
>
>
> SPONSORED LINKS
>
> Lego table
> Lego play table
> Lego land hotel
>
> Lego toys
> Lego
> Lego castles
>
>
> YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS
>
>
>  ▪   Visit your group "texlug-austin" on the web.
>  
>  ▪   To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
>  texlug-austin-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>  
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> Service.
>
>
>
>

Steve,

A combo sumo/line follower is a freaky idea.
I can see where a lot of conflicting constraints
would come into play.

The Indy 5.00 race looks really cool.  Is there
any way for me to get a copy of your field
graphic?

My brother-in-law does figure-8 demo-derby
races; I wonder if the gradient can be modified
to work that way.

Also, the constraints on the racer bots would
actually help.  For our most recent sumo contest,
maximum size and weight were constrained,
but since we had a lot of beginning roboticists,
they didn't really know where to start building.
The bumper specs would help with that.

Thanks, Steve...

-Tim

On Dec 2, 2005, at 9:04 AM, Steve Hassenplug wrote:

> On Fri, December 2, 2005 8:47 am, Tim Rueger wrote:
>  > I'm looking for good ideas for future robotics
>  > contests.
>  ...
>  > and I'm thinking a line-following contest might
>  > be a good next step for us.  What would be
>  > some other cool ideas?
>
>  Tim,
>
>  Line following is interesting, because it's totally different from
> Sumo.  It can
>  require more complex programming.
>
>  One contest that we did once was a combination line-following/sumo,
> where one robot
>  had to be able to do both events.
>
>  Another popular one that we do every May here in Indiana is the Indy
> 5.00.  The
>  rules are on our web site <http://www.laflrc.org> under Indy 5.00
> rules.  The hard
>  part about that is actually printing the track.  Once you have a
> track (or two),
>  it's pretty easy to build a robot, because only one light sensor is
> required.  Also,
>  it's fun to see them race head-to-head.
>
>  Steve
>
>
> YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS
>
>
>  ▪   Visit your group "texlug-austin" on the web.
>  
>  ▪   To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
>  texlug-austin-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>  
>  ▪   Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of
> Service.
>
>
>
>

----- Original Message -----

From: Tim Rueger

To: texlug-austin@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Friday, December 02, 2005 7:47 AM

Subject: [texlug-austin] future robot contest ideas?

Folks,

I'm looking for good ideas for future robotics
contests.  The sumo contests have been a lot of
fun, and we can keep doing those, but I'm
thinking we might be able to do other contests.

Ideally, they'd be ones that work well for a wide
range of ages: interesting enough for pros,
but doable enough for younger builders.

I've been following the contests at rtl.toronto
and ChiBots:

   http://peach.mie.utoronto.ca/events/lego/
   http://www.chibots.org/

and I'm thinking a line-following contest might
be a good next step for us.  What would be
some other cool ideas?

There is a FLL competition in Austin on 12/10 (a
week from Saturday), that I have permission
to distribute TexLUG flyers at.  Last year I used
this to announce the first sumo contest, and I'd
like to have a similar contest announcement
for early next year with the flyers.

Many thanks,
-Tim

On Fri, December 2, 2005 8:47 am, Tim Rueger wrote:
> I'm looking for good ideas for future robotics
> contests.
...
> and I'm thinking a line-following contest might
> be a good next step for us.  What would be
> some other cool ideas?

Tim,

Line following is interesting, because it's totally different from Sumo.  It can
require more complex programming.

One contest that we did once was a combination line-following/sumo, where one
robot
had to be able to do both events.

Another popular one that we do every May here in Indiana is the Indy 5.00.  The
rules are on our web site <http://www.laflrc.org> under Indy 5.00 rules.  The
hard
part about that is actually printing the track.  Once you have a track (or two),
it's pretty easy to build a robot, because only one light sensor is required. 
Also,
it's fun to see them race head-to-head.

Steve

On Fri, December 2, 2005 10:01 am, Clendon Gibson wrote:
> Maze navigation might be a good one. You could define
> the walls of the maze with black tape instead of using
> some vertical walls. Whichever robot navigates the
> maze in the least time over some number of trials
> wins.

Another way to do this is the way Chibots does it, where the black represents
the
path you can follow.  The, the robot is trying to follow the line, not avoid it.

Steve

On Fri, December 2, 2005 8:47 am, Tim Rueger wrote:
> I'm looking for good ideas for future robotics
> contests.
...
> and I'm thinking a line-following contest might
> be a good next step for us.  What would be
> some other cool ideas?

Tim,

Line following is interesting, because it's totally different from Sumo.  It can
require more complex programming.

One contest that we did once was a combination line-following/sumo, where one
robot
had to be able to do both events.

Another popular one that we do every May here in Indiana is the Indy 5.00.  The
rules are on our web site <http://www.laflrc.org> under Indy 5.00 rules.  The
hard
part about that is actually printing the track.  Once you have a track (or two),
it's pretty easy to build a robot, because only one light sensor is required. 
Also,
it's fun to see them race head-to-head.

Steve

Maze navigation might be a good one. You could define
the walls of the maze with black tape instead of using
some vertical walls. Whichever robot navigates the
maze in the least time over some number of trials
wins.

--- Tim Rueger <trueger@...> wrote:

> Folks,
>
> I'm looking for good ideas for future robotics
> contests.  The sumo contests have been a lot of
> fun, and we can keep doing those, but I'm
> thinking we might be able to do other contests.
>
> Ideally, they'd be ones that work well for a wide
> range of ages: interesting enough for pros,
> but doable enough for younger builders.
>
> I've been following the contests at rtl.toronto
> and ChiBots:
>
>    http://peach.mie.utoronto.ca/events/lego/
>    http://www.chibots.org/
>
> and I'm thinking a line-following contest might
> be a good next step for us.  What would be
> some other cool ideas?
>
> There is a FLL competition in Austin on 12/10 (a
> week from Saturday), that I have permission
> to distribute TexLUG flyers at.  Last year I used
> this to announce the first sumo contest, and I'd
> like to have a similar contest announcement
> for early next year with the flyers.
>
> Many thanks,
> -Tim
>
>
>

Folks,

I'm looking for good ideas for future robotics
contests.  The sumo contests have been a lot of
fun, and we can keep doing those, but I'm
thinking we might be able to do other contests.

Ideally, they'd be ones that work well for a wide
range of ages: interesting enough for pros,
but doable enough for younger builders.

I've been following the contests at rtl.toronto
and ChiBots:

    http://peach.mie.utoronto.ca/events/lego/
    http://www.chibots.org/

and I'm thinking a line-following contest might
be a good next step for us.  What would be
some other cool ideas?

There is a FLL competition in Austin on 12/10 (a
week from Saturday), that I have permission
to distribute TexLUG flyers at.  Last year I used
this to announce the first sumo contest, and I'd
like to have a similar contest announcement
for early next year with the flyers.

Many thanks,
-Tim

Folks,,

Due to an event conflict at the Little Walnut Creek
library, there will be no TexLUG Austin meeting this
coming Sunday.

Our next scheduled time is Sunday, December 11.

-Tim

On Mon, November 7, 2005 2:36 pm, wsyamada wrote:
> Does anyone know if a RCX can be programmed with NQC and the RIS code
> at the same time?
>
> For example, could I put NQC code in program slot 1 and RCX code in
> program slot 2?
>

Yes, you can.

NQC compiles to the same type of code as the RCX code.  Anything that uses the
standard firmware is interchangable.  RoboLab programs can also be intermixed.

Steve

Does anyone know if a RCX can be programmed with NQC and the RIS code
at the same time?

For example, could I put NQC code in program slot 1 and RCX code in
program slot 2?


Wade

All,

Sometimes you just need another RCX, but can't
justify $199 for a second full RIS kit.  The following link:

https://botballstore.org/catalog/product_info.php?
products_id=61&osCsid=df37f46b5827e8abb2cbbb826f6c232a%7C

gets you the following:

RCX 1.0 Brick
Serial IR Tower
Serial 9-9 pin cable
Light Sensor
Touch Sensors (2)
13cm Motor Wire
6 AA Batteries
1 9V Battery

for $75.  Note there are no other Lego parts, motors,
or software.  Also, the RCX is the 1.0 version without
the AC adapter jack.  When I ordered mine, I got
a second light sensor for $5.

If  you want a full mechanical set, with motors, parts,
but (again) no software, try Lego's "Robo Technology
Set" for $152:

    http://www.legoeducation.com/store/detail.aspx?ID=329

This has the 1.0 RCX with the AC adapter jack, two
motors, light sensor, two touch sensors, and various
parts.  A full inventory is here:

    http://www.peeron.com/inv/sets/9786-1

-Tim

The Texas book festival is sponsering a number of
events downtown this halloween weekend.

Of particular interest to the lego group is David
Perdue who will be presenting Lego Sumo bots from his
book and talking about how kids can get started making
there own.

This will be in the Children's Demonstration Tent from
2 pm to 3 pm on Oct. 30th. This is located at 11th and
congress.

The website is here
http://www.texasbookfestival.org/

All,

Per Steve H.'s request, I've posted photos and notes
on my Brickfest05 Super-Mega Sumobot:

    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=151065

It's not anything spectacular by global standards,
but I had a lot of fun working out the building challenges
of making the thing reliable enough to compete.

-Tim

On Sep 8, 2005, at 1:46 PM, Steve Hassenplug wrote:

> On Wed, September 7, 2005 8:37 pm, Tim Rueger wrote:
>  > I'll be demoing my entry to the Brickfest Super-Mega
>  > Sumo contest, which was easily the most complex of the
>  > entries.  (And not surprisingly, also didn't perform
>  > very well.  But wait til next year...)
[...]
>  Tim,
[...]
>  I doubt I'll be able to attend the Sept meeting (from Indiana), but
> I'd love to hear
>  about your robot.  Care to post any details?  It's hard to get much
> from this
>  picture: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1353355 and
> I hardly have
>  pictures of anything this year.
>
>  How about it?
>
>  Steve

All,

Here's a recap of last Sunday's TexLUG meeting in
Austin.  Our building theme was castle; we also put up a
Great Ball Contraption and held a robotic sumo contest.

The meeting was well-attended, despite the last-minute
change of venue from National Instruments to the Little
Walnut Creek library.  Among the regulars were Ed, Kurt,
Laura, Lee, Mark, Pat, and myself.  Also attending were
three sets of kids/parents who entered the sumo contest:
Evan Ryker and his mom, Michael Johnston and his dad,
and Joey and Gavin with one of their dads.

Ed and Lee brought in a nifty set of castle MOCs.  Ed had
a number of small scenes with some of his as-always cool
customized minifigs.  Lee's black castle was also
stunning.  (I wish I'd taken more time to admire and
photograph them, but I was swamped with GBC and sumo.)

Kurt brought in his fleet of Texas navy ships.  It was
really cool to see them all on display at once; he has
done a fantastic job maintaining style and detail across
his various sailing ships.  His cutter is still in
progress; I and others had a couple suggestions for
working out a few details on his railings.

Laura and I showed off a small Great Ball Contraption,
which got a lot of crowd attention.  Laura brought in
her scoop lifter module and James Loftus' ball counter.
I had a rather free-form multipart construction, which
Laura eventually managed to work into a loop with the
other two modules.  She was justifiably miffed at my
lack of adherence to GBC module standards; next time
I'll make my things fit.

James' ball counter dutifully registered a total of 1465
balls while we ran the loop.  The mpg of the GBC is a
little shaky (I used the movie mode on a small digital
camera), but it captures the ball movement nicely.

The sumo contest was well-attended, and got lots of
great reactions from the crowd.  There were four
entries, so there were six round-robin matches in all
(two points were awarded for a win, one for a draw):

                              Y    J    M   SoF    Total

Yokozuma (Evan)             -    1    0    0       1

JoJo4000 (Joey & Gavin)     1    -    0    1       2

Michael10000000 (Michael)   2    2    -    0       4

Son of Flatliner (Tim)      2    1    2    -       5

Evan's Yokozuma was a low-speed caterpillar tracked bot,
while both JoJo4000 and Michael10000000 also used
caterpillar tracks and ran somewhat faster.  My bot was
an unabashed rework of Steve Hassenplug's Flatliner
sumobot which he showed at Brickfest:

    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1352550

My enhancement was using rows of teeth (vs. Steve's
flags) as the edge of the wedge surface.  I also had to
fit it inside the 30x30 stud dimensions required by the
rules.  (I'll post more details shortly.)

The two tie matches were the most fun: Yokozuma held on
for the full 3-minute duration of the match against
JoJo4000, and was pushed off the arena only a few
seconds after time elapsed.  Son of Flatliner's match
against JoJo4000 ended quickly when both bots spun off
the edge of the arena simultaneously.

I also gave a brief talk about my Brickfest sumo contest
experience, and demonstrated my super-slow, uber-complex
Remington sumobot.

All in all, a fine meeting, especially considering the
last-minute difficulties in bringing it off.  Many
thanks to everyone who helped make it a success.

-Tim

------------------------------------------------------------

Brickshelf gallery:

    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=149377

Castle MOCs:

    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1434156
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1434157
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1434158
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1434159
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1434160
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1434161
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1434175
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1434176
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1434177
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1434178

Baty's ships:

    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1434162
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1434163
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1434164
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1434165
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1434166
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1434167

GBC:

    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1434168
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1434169
    http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/trueger/Texlug051009/hpim0210.mpg
    (1:04 mpeg movie, 12MB)

Sumo contest:

    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1434170
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1434171
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1434172
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1434173
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1434174
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1436549
    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1436550

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