Yesterday's event was a lot of fun. We had about 20 people through the door learning about robotics. One person brought a bluetooth controlled robot that he controls with his phone. We had the PC Bots (Vincent and Maria) on demo. Lots of little robots to work with for those with laptops.

Give it some time and we will post up some of the schematics, and code for the robots we have. The simple robots with only three sensors can hopefully be modified to do a few new tricks for next month. With only three sensors we can probably do really simple line following, and possibly follow the leader if we add an LED in the back of them and put the sensors up front.

All in all we have some cool things to work with and work towards. Share you ideas and we can keep having a lot of fun.

This library is located Ellsworth near Ocotillo. Just avoid Ellsworth Loop see this google map. This is the library we are at.

Reminder! Bring all your robots tomorrow to the opening Robotics Night in Queen Creek (Thursday August 15th from 5:30 - 7:55).

There will be simple robots to work with for anyone just getting started learning the basics. We will also have components for the basic Arduino learning examples.

I hope to encourage everyone from beginners and experienced to come out each month. You can help make this interesting by bringing your cool gear or suggesting things that we can do to make this more than an event for beginners.

The Purpose

Someone asked me why I am starting this robotics night.

To understand it would help if you new about HeatSync Labs. We call ourselves a Hackerspace. It's a community work-shop where people come to make pretty much anything they want.

Having access to tools, supplies, and especially people with a broad range of experience makes a huge difference in what you can learn.

With that context here is what I posted on our group about why I am starting the Robotics Night:
1. The librarian at this branch is interested in having a HeatSync booth at a larger upcoming event. I'm doing this instead since HeatSync is something you have to experience by making things, not just observing.

2. My HeatSync fanatic nephew lives in Queen Creek and it's not easy to bring him out frequently. So I'll bring this to him (He's really excited about it).

3. It would be nice to have more Hackerspaces in the valley. Things like this could be a step in that direction (not that I want to run a Hackerspace).

Sneek peek at the Robox

Reminder this is next Thursday August 15th. I had to correct the post about Vincent that showed the wrong date.


Here is a look at the inside of the really rough prototype. Robox alpha.

Yes this is a spaghetti circuit. There is a purpose in having a full Arduino and breadboard inside. These will be useful when trying the learning examples found online. If you have an Arduino board you can check out the Servo sweep example, and the pitch follower which shows a photo resistor being used.

If you don't have any hardware, or experience don't worry about it. These robots will be operational and you will be modifying some of the code, and then we will work backwards and show you the parts.

Just wrapping up at HeatSync. I finished all the wheels and steering mounts on the laser cutter. These are for ten basic robots that I'm building for anyone new to robotics that show up.

Besides the Arduino Uno to control it they have 2 servos for driving and steering, and 3 photo-resistors. There are two modes. Cockroach mode which runs away if you shine a flashlight on it. Driving mode which uses two photo-resistors for left and right steering, and the third for driving it forward.

I've had a lot of help figuring out how to put these together and suggestions on other ways to use the sensors. We may be able to get line following working. If we add a tail light on one of the robots we might be able to play follow the leader.

Today was very busy and I look forward to seeing some of the people I met tonight at the event next Thursday.

Join me tomorrow at HeatSync Labs from noon to midnight. I'm working on some basic robots to  bring to our first event. These simple robots interact with light and should be an easy way to get everyone without experience familiar with basic sensors, and servos.

I haven't mentioned on the blog that I am new pretty new to micro-controllers and haven't actually built robots. That means there is a good reason for you to come help out.

Demo of Vincent

Tom Burick will be bringing his robot Vincent for a demo. This is a really well designed robot. It is upgradable with common pc parts and there is space to easily access things for trouble-shooting or modifying. It’s practically a lesson in good design. Meet Tom and his robot Vincent and more at our first event August 15th from 5:30 pm to 7:55 pm.

Correction: Thursday August 15th