Category Archives: Local Robotics

Meet Joe Willis

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Described by Jay Ingram as the “most remarkable young maker” that he has EVER seen, we are proud to introduce Joe Willis: Beakerhead’s much adored and hyper-talented youth ambassador.

 

L: What are you making/ building these days?

J: I have so many projects on the go that I don’t know where to start. The list of completed projects is much, much shorter. When it came time to prepare for CYSF 2013 I sadly couldn’t include everything that I had prepared. It was tough to cut some things out. Even then my trifold board was barely visible behind all the stuff I wanted to exhibit. When I go to places like Western Canada Robot Society (WCRS) or the Botzone, I am like a pinball, bouncing around learning about what other people are up to and it all sounds good to me.

Calling all Robo-teers

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We’d like to invite all competitors to join us for the 20th Annual Western Canadian Robot Games!

May 11, 2013 at the Calgary Aero Space Museum. This year we have some exciting new demo events involving UAVs (Quadcopters) and hacked Roombas. We’ll also have some special guests from the hit TV series: Canada’s Greatest Know-it-all and even Jay Ingram,  who will be handing out awards!

Bring your family as well; the day will be filled with robot action.

Watch ‘Canada’s Greatest Know-it-all’ contestants complete in a robot challenge to see who can come up with the best creation in a limited amount of time. We’ll have food from Calgary food trucks available on location, chances to win door prizes (like a GoPro Hero 3 camera), and our uniquely created Offroadbot Challenge is back again this year!

Come check out the action!

We’ll also be giving away a GoPro Hero 3 to a randomly drawn competitor; by preregistering your robot(s) for an event before May 10, 2013 you will be eligible to win!

For those wanting to spend the night at a nearby hotel, we were able to get a $91/night rate at the Calgary Airport Travel lodge, When making your reservation just mention that you are a Western Canadian Robot Games Competitor. If you’d like to stay across the street from the venue there is the Best Western Plus Port O’call but unfortunately we weren’t able to get a discount there.
Keep up-to-date with ongoing news and info leading up to the games by following us on Twitter and Facebook.

We hope to see you at the Games!

Beakerhead

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Jeremie and I had an opportunity to attending the announcement event for Beakerhead!

Aiming to be a fusion of science, engineering and creativity (a video presentation called to mind the kind of wacky robotic contraptions you see at Burning Man), Beakerhead is the brainchild of co-founders Jay Ingram, best known for his work with the Discovery Channel, and his partner Mary Anne Moser. Collaborating organizations at this point include the U of C’s Schulich School of Engineering, Mount Royal University,SAIT Poytechnic, Telus Spark, the Glenbow Museum and local arts groups such as the High Performance Rodeo, the Calgary Animated Objects Society and the Green Fools.

Check out http://www.beakerhead.org/ for more info!

You can also follow them on twitter @Beakerhead

Arduino Programming class

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I have been teaching introductory programming for the Arduino to a weekly class the past few weeks.  I missed collecting the email contact information for some of the people who joined the class in the last couple of weeks.  In the hope that they read these postings, I am publishing a notice here.

Here is a small homework reading assignment for the WCRS programming class attendees.  Read the Software Development Methodology article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_development_methodology) on wikipedia, at least up to the start of “Subtopics”.  From those methodology descriptions, decide which of methodologies are being used for projects by people at WCRS.  Why did you pick that / those methodologies?  Which ones seem like they would fit?  Again, why?

To be discussed in class.

–
Phil

Mini-Competitions are back; end of summer 2010

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We are happy to announce that mini-competition are back. We are beginning with these 2 first event that are very popular at the robot games. Completions will happen on Saturday Mornings, at the Aerospace museum of Calgary.

August 28 – Mini-Sumo: beginner to master.

September25- Full size sumo – autonomous and  remote controlled.

Other competitions will be Announced and schedule later for October and so on.

Mini competitions are the  perfect opportunity to get started in robotic competition. So you can test your robot and settings to improve your level for the annual Robot Games.

-Competitors: Fees for the mini-sumo will be around 5$. please refer to WCRG 2010 rule book. Confirming your presence in advance would be appreciate, by emailing to:  info@mail.robotgames.com