Robofest Newsletter, 12-04-2003

 

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Contents

(1) Robofest Sponsorship Update

(2) Robot 2004 Informational Meetings

(3) OCCRA Women�s Robot Competition, 12-6 at LTU

(4) FLL State Final at Novi Center

(5) A New Book published by a Robofest Judge

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(1) Robofest Sponsorship Update

A sponsor of Robofest 2003, RIIS, is committed to sponsor Robofest 2004. Research Into Internet Systems (RIIS, www.riis.com) is a consultancy based in the Detroit Metro area specializing in ASP.Net development, performance tuning web based applications and telco software solutions. The Robofest family greatly appreciates their kind continued sponsorships.

 

We have a new sponsor: ABB. ABB is one of the world's leading manufacturer of robots and robotic systems.  Their automotive systems can be found in all areas of automotive
manufacturing:  Automotive components, Powertrain, Press Shop, Body-in-White, Paint Shop and Trim & Final Assembly. ABB supplies a broad range of systems to the General and Consumer Industries for welding, coating, dispensing, picking, packing, palletizing, material removal and material handling. To find more about ABB robotics, go to www.abb.com/robots

 

Robofest has never charged a registration fee to its participants. Because of the rapid growth and associated rise in costs of Robofest, we must now seek additional sponsorship if we intend to keep registration free to all students. We would like to invite anyone and any company to become our corporate sponsor.Together, we can realize our mutual educational goals for the future. For more information about Robofest sponsorships and benefits, please go to www.robofest.net/sponsors.htm

 

(2) Robofest 2004 Informational Meeting

 

Two identical sessions will be held on:

- Saturday, January 17, 9:00am-10:30am (~11am), Science S321

- Saturday, January 17, 1:00pm-2:30pm (~3pm), Science S321

 

The agenda of the meeting will be: Introduction to Robofest, Robofest 2004 Rules, 2004 Competition Game Rules and 2004 Game Demos. After the informational meeting, a brief seminar on �Lego Robot Programming with Java� is being planned (about 30 min) for prospective advanced robot division teams.

 

(3) OCCRA Women�s Robot Competition, 12-6 at LTU

The 3rd OCCRA Women's Robotics Competition will be held on Sat. December 6 at 9:00am at Lawrence Tech. OCCRA (Oakland County Competitive Robotics Association) is an association of Oakland County high school robotics teams that have joined to form a league where 110-pound robots compete against each other in a sports-like game. On that day, during the lunch break around noon, Lawrence Tech students are going to demonstrate autonomous Laptop robots to the audience.
 

(4) FLL State Final at Novi Center

There will be another robotics competition on Sat., Dec. 6. The FLL (First Lego League) State Tournament will be held at the Novi Expo Center. For more details, go to the FLL Michigan homepage at http://eng-sci.udmercy.edu/precol/fll/ or Michigan FLL tournament list at http://eng-sci.udmercy.edu/precol/fll/2003/2003_tourn_list.htm 
 

(5) A New Book published by a Robofest Judge

Don Wilcher, a Robofest 2003 Judge, published his second book on Lego robots: �LEGO Mindstorms Mechatronics: Using Systems and Controls to Build Sophisticated Robots�
The objective of this book is to teach techniques using inexpensive development software tools, electronic components and LEGO bricks with detailed laboratory procedures for advanced Mindstorms robotics applications. For more information, including the how to guide lab manual discussed in the mini seminar by the author on Dec 1 at LTU, can be found at www.family-science.net.