RobOrchestra will be playing in Skibo Cafe this Friday (11/20) from 6pm to 8pm. The show will include their instrument-playing robots, featuring:
- old favorites: BassBot, XyloBot, and SnareBot
- veteran back from retirement: Flutophone
- new faces: Whamola and High Hat

Come to the show to hear a great selection of songs, including Flight of the Bumblebee and Mr. Roboto. We hope to see you there!

Stay tuned for an update after the show (with video for those who couldn't be there).

We have created a channel on YouTube where we will post videos from the Robotics Club. You can find our page here:

YouTube - CMURoboclub's Channel

The first two videos have been posted, so take a look:

The Office theme - RobOrchestra

Hunter Prey - Colony

We will post more videos soon, so subscribe to our channel and stay tuned!

Thanks to all the projects that participated in this year's sponsorship competition. We saw some great presentations, and have decided to award prize money to the following projects:

• ASME EarthSaver: $500
• StairBot: $500
• RobOrchestra: $300
• Mascot Robots: $200

If you would like to learn more about any of these project, take a look at the Project page .

The club is offering two $500 project sponsorship awards for current club members. If you are interested in funding to start a new project or continue a current one, there will be a presentation session this Sunday (October 11th) at 3pm (location TBA) where you can present your project ideas to us. To apply, please send a short abstract (a few sentences) about your project proposal to us at officers AT roboticsclub DOT org by Wednesday October 7th. This abstract should just be a brief overview of your project. For the presentation, we will require more detail about your project:

1. Project Overview - this should be similar to your abstract
2. Current Team Members and/or Plans for Recruiting Members
3. Timeline
4. Budget - a list to justify your use of club funding
5. What do you want from officers? - besides funding, what will you need from the club officers? equipment? publicity?
6. Why do you deserve funding? - is your project a cool, new idea? will it provide a good experience (learning or otherwise) for its members?

Again, please send your submissions to officers AT roboticsclub DOT org. You can also direct any questions you have to the same address.

In case there is any confusion, here are the details about becoming a member of the Robotics Club:

You must pay your dues to use the club facilities. Dues are $25 for the entire year, and you get a free t-shirt (a $12 value). Or you can pay $15 for a single semester. The only other requirements are that you are a student at Carnegie Mellon University, and that you have paid your Carnegie Mellon Student Activities Fee.

Remember, you dont have to be an a project to be a member of the Robotics Club. As a member, you can use the club resources for personal project as well. If you have any questions, refer to our FAQ or send an email to officers (at) roboticsclub (dot) org.

Training and Seminar schedule for this weekend. All of these sessions take place in the Robotics Club room in the UC.

• Tool Training (machine shop) on Saturday 9/12 & Sunday 9/13 at 11:00am
• Electronics Training (soldering, wiring, electronics equipment) on Saturday 9/12 at 4:00pm
• "What's in a Robot" Seminar on Sunday 9/13 at 4:00pm

Thanks to everyone who came out for the General Body Meeting on Friday. We had a great turnout and are looking forward to a productive (and fun) year.

In case you missed anything, the presentation given at the GB meeting is attached here. Also, you can check the Projects page for more information about meeting times and contacts: http://www.roboticsclub.org/Projects.

Roboclub will be at the Activities Fair on Wednesday (9/2) from 4-6pm. See here for location info. Rumors going around are saying that Red Robot will be making an appearance. We do not confirm nor deny these rumors.

Our General Body Meeting will be on Friday (9/4) at 6pm. If you want to find out about the club, this is a meeting you should not miss! We'll be presenting our club activities, projects, competitions, social events, and candy! That's right, even robots like candy.

After the General Body Meeting we'll be giving tours of the club space. We'll be determining Officer Hours soon for members to come in, ask questions, and sign up. Stay tuned.

Last week, the Robotics Club had yet another successful showing at CMU's Undergraduate Research Symposium, Meeting of the Minds. Two of the club's projects, as well as a couple of individual members took home some great awards this year.

First, congratulations to the Colony project for winning the IBM "Innovation That Matters" Award and also for making it to the finals of the Sigma Xi poster competition. For these awards, Colony members presented on their work of building a diagnostic station for testing and analysing the reliability of their robots.

Also, congrats to RobOrchestra, which won the "STUDIO for Creative Inquiry" Award for the third year in a row. This year, RobOrchestra constructed a bass drum playing robot. Additionally, they developed a new user interface for controlling their robotic instruments. You can see both in action in these videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XLYji3QoPE - Bass Drum Robot in testing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJioL5yehS8 - Multi-Instrument Demonstration

Congratulations to Brad Hall for winning this year's Roboclub T-Shirt Design Contest! The winning design is attached.

Also, thanks to everyone else who submitted a design. This year's selection was the best we have seen. We will hang on to your submissions, and they might be considered in subsequent years.

Edit: Congrats to Rich Pantaleo for the design as well. Brad says "it was a team effort."