2000
Beginning the 2000-01 school year
10-04-00
We have just moved to a new room in the Planetary Robotics Building. It's about 40% larger than our old room, and has windows along one side. It's slightly more run-down, but I think we gained overall.
There are a few projects starting, though very little has actually happened yet due to all the moving. We still have quite a bit of sorting and arranging to do, but it will be a great place to work when it's all together.
In a couple of weeks, we are going to rent a moving van and move a bunch of parts and components, donated by Simon Mehalek, to the Robotics Club room. We probably won't have enough space, so a lot of it will be stored in the highbay of the PRB. There's a lot of very useful robotic stuff being donated, some of which would be impossible to find anywhere else.
Summer
07-09-00
Peter finished writing a new web page for Jim2, it looks great. I just linked it to the projects page.
During the summer, things are generally quiet around Robotics Club since most people aren't around. Some people, though, are thinking about what they want to build when school's back in session. If you've got ideas, let me know, I'll add it to the ideas page.
SURG Meeting of the Minds
07-09-00
Back in May, the Meeting of the Minds was held. Various groups gave presentations on their projects that were funded through the SURG program. Dan Vogel, along with others involved with the RoboVolley group, gave a presentation that was well-attended. Jonathan Bradbury gave a talk on his work with FPGA's. The talk given by Peter Sand and Jonathan Hurst about Jim2 won a cash prize from the Motorola Corporation.
We won the SAE Walking Machine Decathlon
04-23-00
Our point total was more than twice the points of the second place team, and we recieved two special awards: Best Technical Presentation, and Excellence in Autonomy. Now everyone on the team is struggling to deal with a week of missed classes during the busiest part of the semester.