UK Humanoid robot Event 2 - Sat. 24th November 2007

[NovaOne]

The organisers of the MicroMouse competition said that they have another -albeit much smaller competition in November in Birmingham. He welcomed us to go to that as well.

However after speaking to all the Humanoid roboticists it appeared that almost most of us are from the south of England and perhaps a meet up in London instead of Birmingham would be more convenient for almost everyone (although the Birmingham facilities were absolutely excellent).

ROBOtic'07 will be held on Sat. 24th November 2007

Is anyone still thinking about an event in November?

Chris

[Robo1]

Have you got a link to that info.

Where do they say it will be.

I'm up for any where the date thin with me to. Should have my new bot built by then and my KHR-2 upgraded to Gumstix + openservo

Bren

[NovaOne]

Hi Bren, its at the same place:

http://www.tic.ac.uk/micromouse/

With a name like "ROBOtic'07" it sounds like it "should" be more general?

Chris

[BillB]

I would definately be up for another UK RoboOne event in November.

[limor]

has anyone contacted them about doing a humanoid meeting at the ROBOtic'07 ?

[NovaOne]

Other than BillB speaking to the organisers at the last event, (I witnessed the conversation with Tony Wilcox)

The organisers of the MicroMouse competition said that they have another -albeit much smaller competition in November in Birmingham. He welcomed us to go to that as well

But yes perhaps we should make contact with Tony soon, to confirm we intend to go, so they can allocate us space etc

Shall I email him?

If so how much space do we need?
What other facilities do we need?
How many people are going, wasn't it about a dozen last time?
They were very kind to offer use free refreshments last time..I think we should contribute?

Chris

[Robo1]

Hi there

Novaone do you want to send them a e-mail. Just ask for the same amount of space. Last time I gave them some prizes to 'pay our way'. We could give them something again.

Bren

[BillB]

I have not had any further contact with Tony since our casual conversation where he welcomed us all back.

Please go ahead NovaOne and send him an email.

[NovaOne]

Tony replied to my email at lunch time today:

Yes, you are welcome to come along and we'll make space. I have booked the same area that you used last time for the event, but without the 'downstairs' theatre and foyer. This means the main maze will be in the same room as everything else, and the pits areas will be combined. The attendance tends to be a bit less than the June event, but who knows?

Look forward to seeing you again, keep an eye on the forum at micromouseonline.com and the micromouse.tic.ac.uk website.

Regards

Tony

Tony Wilcox GRSC PhD CEng MIET
University of Central England, Birmingham
Technology Innovation Centre
Birmingham B4 7XG
UK

[BillB]

Great - Sat. 24th November 2007 is confirmed then.

For anyone who is thinking of attending here are a few of my observations/guidance from previous UK event.

1. All humanoid robots are welcome (owners optional ) . Standard Robonova builds are as welcome as much as the highly customised humanoid robots. The more the merrier.

2. If you have a Humanoid robot – please bring it no matter what state it is in. It is fascinating to see how other robots are built and the solutions to the problems. Some of the semi-working robots in the June 2007 UK event were the some of the interesting robots. In June there were plenty of soldering irons, oscilloscopes that you can use for do quick fixes. etc. (You never know Limor may even be there with some spare parts for sale).

3. There will be a wealth of knowledgeable people at this event. So if you are struggling with the construction of a robot, or can’t get a motion to work, or wondering how to route the cables in a Bioloid then do come along. You will be able to find people who can wax lyrical about how they have fixed (or at least approached) a similar problem.

Hope to see you there

Bill

[Robo1]

Thought to Bill's comments.

A 4 way power adapter is very useful I think we only had one at the last event so please bring one along for your robot.

Time to start practicing those killer moves.

Bren

[Pev]

Gents,

JUst a quick question: Any idea what the challenges may be?

I am guessing a wrestling ring but anything else on the cards yet like a bottle race of whatever? Justed wanted to get an idea what I should be preparing for lol

thanks

Pev

[NovaOne]

Hi Pev,

Its all really up to us , the most common events seem to be:

Biped Race (same as June, 2 or 3 metres....)
Sumo or Kung-Fu ? (same as June)
Demonstration/Acrobatics
Stair Climbing*

*I'm currently making a set of "Standard" stairs, that I will bring with me:
As defined here: http://robogames.net/rules/r1-stairs.php
I'll clad them with smooth white plastic (hopefully ABS). They should be accurate within +/-1mm. Picture to follow soon.

Anyone, any ideas for more events?

Chris

[BillB]

I think a speed trial round a simple figure of 8 course would be interesting.

We could do the RobotsDreams/Robot magazine "4 bottle race", except we would need to shrink the dimensions to perhaps 50cm or so depending on the table size, and introduce a time penalty for knocking a bottle.

see: http://www.botmag.com/articles/06-10-07_4bottle_robot_race.shtml.

Some will run round, others will cartwheel, either way it will be fun!

[tempusmaster]

I think a speed trial round a simple figure of 8 course would be interesting.

We could do the RobotsDreams/Robot magazine "4 bottle race", except we would need to shrink the dimensions to perhaps 50cm or so depending on the table size, and introduce a time penalty for knocking a bottle.

see: http://www.botmag.com/articles/06-10-07_4bottle_robot_race.shtml.

Some will run round, others will cartwheel, either way it will be fun!

That would work pretty well.

Another variation that we've used for competitions here is just a simple turn around a pylon. The robots have to go out, say one meter, and make a u-turn around the pylon, then come back and cross the start line.