Bufbotics: Meeting Minutes 30-Nov-2004

Club Overview
- Ethan gave a brief introduction to the Buffalo Hobby Robot Club
Personal Introductions
- Eveybody introduced and told a little about his/herself.
- Experience with robots/electronics
- Different interests
Show & Tell - Room Rover
- Mark brought his room rover robot to show everyone. On the tabletop, Mark demonstrated the different behaviors and showed how the robot reacts to the different sensors and bump switches. The "emergency kill switch" was a crowd pleaser because it really has the feel of an "ABORT" button from a James Bond movie.
- The machining of the body looks very professional and includes wheel encoder sensors (pardon me, Mark, but I forgot what type of sensors they were. Not Hall-effect, but something inductor based. And in either case, they look really cool).
Show & Tell - Lego
- Dean brought a small Lego model with moveable arms and legs. He described some other Lego creations that he plans to bring to the next meeting, including a really exciting Dinosaur.
Finding a Site for Future Meetings
- We're looking for somewhere better to meet. The ideal location will have space for more people, an area where we can spread out for competitions and demos, an Internet connection, and allow food & drink.
- Some suggestions: People's houses, Hotel conference rooms, Churches, YMCA, Pepsi Center, Community Centers (Harlem Rd. and/or Cheektowaga).
Generating Interest in the Club
- Personal "networking" will be one of our best ways to find a few more members, so everyone spread the word.
- The BEE newspapers offer free advertising for clubs like us.
- Posting flyers at appropriate events and locations.
BEAM Robotics
- BEAM is a great entry-level area of robots.
- Minimal tools are needed to build some of the basic robots.
- Some websites sell inexpensive kits that are great for beginners.
- BEAM requires soldering, so its a great project for a Parent and Child to do together.
- A possible competition for our Club is Solaroller.
Club Flyer
- Ethan will draft a club flyer suitable for posting at stores and schools. He'll distribute it to the email list for comment. Once its finalized, it'll be posted to the website. When a member posts a flyer somewhere, they should email the group to help make sure we don't overlap.
- Some ideas for where to post flyers: UBR, Public Schools (specifically at Science Fairs), Community Colleges, Boys & Girls Club of America, Boy Scouts, Hobby Shops (Niagara, Fields, Hobbytown USA, Trainstore at Southgate), Museums (Buffalo Science and Strong).