Comments for WCRS

Comment on Join by Brutus

Brutus — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 05:44:05 +0000

Bring them by Shawn! We still meet every Saturday between 10am and 12pm.

Comment on 2010 Robot Games by Elizabeth Pecharka

Elizabeth Pecharka — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:51:17 +0000

We want to be a sponsor.Please e-mail me.

Comment on Join by Shawn

Shawn — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 01:43:41 +0000

Hello, I am 14, I would like to join. I was wondering if I could bring in my robots to club gatherings, and maybe get a few pointers or tips about them. I am very interested in robotics and considering entering the The Robot games that your club hosts.

Comment on The Robot Games Are Coming by Robot Games

Robot Games — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 20:16:18 +0000

Robot games totally rock, I’m suprised this wonderful inovative genre is back, thumbs up guys!

Comment on Arduino 0018 Released! by Tweets that mention WCRS » Arduino 0018 Released! -- Topsy.com

Tweets that mention WCRS » Arduino 0018 Released! -- Topsy.com — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 01:24:08 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Arnon Katz and delabassee, delabassee. delabassee said: RT @nonikatz: WCRS » Arduino 0018 Released!: mirroring the current structure of the hardware folder in Ardui… http://bit.ly/cfIOBA #Ar … [...]

Comment on Join by Mina

Mina — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:41:53 +0000

Hi there,

I’m a teacher at Westmount Charter school and I’ve been given a robotics class to teach last minute. I know nothing about robots and I’m looking for any guidence you can offer. Perhaps you have some guest speakers that could come in? We will be using the LEGO mindstorms kit. Please contact me if you can help me out. I would truly appreciate it! Thanks!

Comment on The Robot Games Are Coming by skater_j10

skater_j10 — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:50:23 +0000

I’ll be bringing some robots built out of recycled materials and electronics

As for microcontroller [uC] preference, I think I prefer ATMEL micros, solely based on compiler software costs. It’s funny that I learned on Motorola and Microchip uC’s but ended up moving over to Atmel chips due to the low cost of the software.

I went from the 68HC11, PIC16F877, & PIC16F84 at tech school to the ATMEGA32 when I purchased the Devboard-M32 from Wrighthobbies. I programmed with a ‘BASIC’ compiler on the M32 which cost $85 at the time as compared to ‘PICBASIC PRO’ which was around $300.

From there I moved over to the ATMEGA169 AVRbutterfly kit from Smileymicros and began to program in ‘C’ because the compiler was free!

Now I very recently have moved over to ‘WIRING’ (also a free compiler) and the ever popular world of Arduino’s to see what everyone is raving so I purchased a FreeDuino from Solarbotics. I also wanted to gain some experience with an Arduino so that when I try to help people who are trying to join the Ardunio Revolution, I’ll know what I’m talking about.

I think I’m with Brutus, I favour Atmels.

Comment on The Robot Games Are Coming by Skater_j10

Skater_j10 — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:21:24 +0000

In my experience I’ve found that the only thing holding me back from going back to PIC microcontrollers is the price of the programming software needed. I started out programming PICs (PIC16F877 & PIC16F84) in tech school but the years after school were lean with having to pay off debts so I naturally moved over to cheaper Atmel development. I went from programming in ‘BASIC’ on the ATMEGA32 from wrighthobbies.net, then to ‘C’ on the AVRbutterfly (ATMEGA169) from smileymicros.com, and now very recently to ‘WIRING’ on the FreeDuino (ATMEGA328) from solarbotics which, as Brutus alluded to, is largely supported and very popular (The Arduino Revolution as I like to call it) and has free programming software. My opinion is the same as Brutus’. At the moment I prefer ATMEL uC’s but more specifically the Ardunio kits because they are very affordable way to get into microcontroller development and are widely supported.

Comment on The Robot Games Are Coming by Brutus

Brutus — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 02:58:06 +0000

From a hardware design aspect, I really do enjoy the PIC lineup. It has been fairly complex in the past to get up and running with them, however.

I’ve noticed recently bootloader advances have brought PICs to the same level as Atmel, but I think for a hobbyist, specifically talking about Arduino, there are far too many shields and accessories and help forums to ignore as a starting point.

Every month there are new Offerings, and the software is under constant development as they listen to the community and adapt.

Both are great options however! Although I do favor Atmels, I really enjoy working in the PIC relm as well.

Comment on Registration by Brutus

Brutus — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 02:54:10 +0000

We are currently redesigning our registration system, so as soon as it is completed.

Goal is Feb 15, but may be done earlier.

There will be an announcement on the front page as soon as we are accepting registrations for this year’s event.