DPRG’s monthly meeting for June is on Saturday, the 9th, at the Dallas Maker Space. The meeting starts at Noon.
The topic for this month’s meeting is “Using CAN bus in Hobby Robots” and will be presented by member Scott Gibson.
CAN bus (Controller Area Network) is used in the Automobile and other industries to communicate between the multiple micro-controllers in their products without utilizing a central host computer. Scott has been using CAN bus in his robots for some time now. He will cover the architecture of the standard and illustrate its use by showing example code from one of his robots.
This will be a great opportunity, to learn from someone who has overcome the learning curve of CAN bus. Automobiles can have over 50 controllers, and CAN bus is how they communicate. Our robots generally have less than 5 controllers but the same principles apply. All are welcome to attend.
The April monthly meeting topic was LiDAR. Carl Ott led the meeting by presenting an LiDAR overview. Carl was followed by Doug Paradis, who discussed the ST VL53L0X and VL53L1X sensor boards available to the hobbyist roboticist. Doug also presented some data from tests he conducted on the Benewake TF-mini LiDAR unit that had just came out at the time of this presentation.
The meeting was held on April 14th, 2018 at the Dallas Maker Space starting at noon.
NOTE: This post was added at a later date to preserve the history of the club’s presentations.
DPRG’s monthly meeting for April is on Saturday, the 14th, at the Dallas Maker Space. The meeting starts at Noon.
The topic for this month’s meeting is “LIDAR – measure distance with lasers” and will be presented jointly by members Carl Ott and Doug Paradis.
Laser ranging technologies (LIDAR) have been around for a while. LIDAR enjoys an ever increasing number of applications, and an ever broadening range of sensor options. These days, it’s easy to find inexpensive LIDAR sensors and integrate them with Arduino and Raspberry Pi. This session will give a high level introduction to LIDAR. Part of the discussion, will cover ST’s TOF VR53L0X/L1X LIDAR sensors and the various modules using this sensors that are available. Insights will also be provided on the performance of the Benewake TFMini Micro LIDAR module’s outdoors performance and the the Neato’s LIDAR module’s signal in the Can Can Soccer’s arena.
DPRG’s monthly meeting for March is on Saturday, the 10th, at the Dallas Maker Space. The meeting starts at Noon.
The meeting will begin with a graduation competition for those who attended the “Make More Robots!” tutorial series. Participants will use the robot that they constructed in the class to compete in Quick Trip and Line Following contests.
After the competitions, DPRG member Ron Grant will present a short talk on low-cost Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs). The presentation will include a demonstration of the MPU-6050 sensor using a low-cost and easy to obtain hardware module. This gyro and accelerator sensor chip has available orientation sensor code that can be executed on an Arduino or other suitable micro-controller.
Dallas Personal Robotics Group (DPRG) is proud to announce the “Build More Robots” Tutorial Series.
What is it?
“Build More Robots” is a 5 part tutorial series that uses an inexpensive robot kit to teach people interested in robotics how to build robots.
Where is it?
All sessions will be held at the Dallas Maker Space located at 1825 Monetary Lane Suite 104, Carrollton, TX 75006.
When is it?
The series starts on Saturday, February 10th, at 12:15 PM (i.e., just after noon). The following sessions occur on the next 4 Tuesday evenings.
Saturday, February 10th, starting at 12:15 PM. The first session will coincide with the DPRG monthly meeting.
Tuesday, February 13th, starting at 7:00 PM
Tuesday, February 20th, starting at 6:30 PM
Tuesday, February 27th, starting at 7:00 PM
Tuesday, March 6th, starting at 7:00 PM
Who can attend?
The series is open to everyone, however It is not recommended for children under 15. Attendees should be interested in learning how to build robots and have some knowledge of the Arduino environment. Strong programming skills are not required.
Do I need anything?
It is recommended that you buy the robot kit used in the series from Amazon, and use the video below to assemble it before the first session. You will need to bring a laptop with the Arduino environment (version 1.8.5) installed. Also, you should bring a small toolkit consisting of screwdrivers, pliers, wire cutters, and wire strippers similar to what you used to build your kit.
If you can’t complete the robot before the 1st session, bring what you have. Help will be available after the session to assist with such things as soldering. If you already have a similar robot kit, you can use it. The basic robot requirement is a Arduino Uno controlled two wheeled differential drive robot with an ultrasonic sensor. Later in the series, you will have to buy a few additional sensors, available from local stores like Tanners (around the corner from the DMS) and Microcenter, or online from Amazon.
What will it cost?
The robot kit is currently available from Amazon for ~$23. The extra sensors needed later in the series will cost ~$12. The Arduino software and the “Build More Robots” series are free.
What will we do?
The 90 minute sessions will be broken up into 3 thirty minute portions: Build, Programming, Techniques. The build portion will modify the robot to create new functions and the capabilities. These will be, “Moth” (attracted to light), “Table Top” (run on table without falling), “Wall Following”, “Line Following”, “Going Straight and Turning” (positional feedback), “Navigation/Mapping” (know location). The programming portion of the session will outline the software needed to create the different functions and give hints on how to improve programming style. The techniques portion will teach basic skills, algorithms, and tricks of the trade.
DPRG will hold its annual member meeting this January 13th. The meeting starts at Noon and is held at the Dallas Maker Space. This important gathering is where the club’s plans for the upcoming year are discussed and determined. The election of officers for 2018 is also finalized at this meeting.
All members who want to have a say in the club’s activities for next year need to attend.
Agenda
Trophy and prize presentation to Scott Gibson for winning the 2017 RoboColumbus Plus competition in November.
Steve Edwards, the outgoing president, will sum up the club’s 2017 activities and discuss the state of the club.
The candidates for 2018 officer positions will be introduced.
The 2018 election will be closed after all attendees have had a chance to vote.
Ron Grant, the election overseer, will combined the votes received prior to the meeting by email and the votes made at the meeting, and announce the election results.
The new president will take office.
The new president will lead the annual planning meeting.
The club’s 2018 annual planning meeting will start:
Determine community events that the club will hold exhibits.
Formation of Roborama committee.
Determine topics that members want to have presented at the monthly meeting and ask for volunteers to cover topics.
Debate potential 2018 club projects.
Listen to suggestions and ideas on how to make the club better.
DPRG’s annual November indoor competition for 2017 is Saturday, November 11th. The competition will start at 12:30PM at the Dallas Maker Space. Competitors will have access to the course at Noon. The contest for this year is the 6 Can (see rules). Also, a competitor is taking on the unbeaten DPRG Challenge Line Following course (see course layout).
In addition to the competitions, Carl Ott will run his successful Challenge Line Following Simulation for the video. There will also be demonstrations of club member recent projects and robots.
Everyone is invited to watch or compete. Members are encouraged to attend and support the competitors.
The next DPRG monthly meeting is at Noon on Saturday, August 12, at the Dallas Maker Space. This month there will be two presentations at the meeting.
Member Carl Ott will make the first presentation, which will touch on the use of node.js and javascript in a robotics project from a beginner’s point of view. He will also give an update on his line following robot simulator. The simulator’s goal is to solve the DPRG Challenge line follower course that was first attempted in May of 2012. To date, no one has successfully completed the course. The course layout can be found at Challenge LF course diagram.
Member David Ackley will present how to prepare a STM32F103C8 minimalist ARM board, commonly called the “blue pill”, for use in the Arduino environment. He will also cover the new STMicro STM32 support package for Arduino. This initiative by STMicro allows programming of Nucleo boards and boards like the blue pill using the Arduino IDE.
NOTE: David’s presentation was actually made at the September 2017 monthly meeting due to time constraints.
As always, remember to bring and share your projects with other members in an informal show and tell session after the presentations.
The July DPRG monthly meeting is at Noon, on Saturday July 8, at the Dallas Maker Space.
Member Will Kuhnle is going to make a presentation on Closed Loop Feedback System (Servo) Design. He will be giving an overview of the design process including considerations taken for operating in discrete time, i.e., real-time sampled systems as we implement in our robot designs.
His design example system will involve a DC motor – certainly a common component in many our robotics control pursuits.
As always, remember to bring and share your projects with other members in an informal show and tell session after the presentation.
DPRG will hold its 2nd sesson at theLab.ms in Plano on Thursday, April 27th, between 6:30 and 11:00 PM. The event’s purpose is to help people complete their club or other robot. However if you have another project, please feel free to come work on it and socialize. Everyone is welcome.
